Summary
The Barbenheimer wave has overtaken the summer of 2023 as millions of fans pilgrimage to the historic double feature of Greta Gerwig’sBarbieand Christopher Nolan’sOppenheimer. While both films have received overwhelmingly positive reviews from both critics and audiences alike, there is still a small-but-loud group making their disagreements with Barbie’s feminist themes known, and Bill Maher is the latest to join this club.
Gerwig’s rendition ofBarbiefollows Margot Robbie as the titular character as she makes her way out of Barbieland’s eternal state of perfection and happiness into a more sinister and dangerous real world. The film deals with concepts such as feminism and patriarchy as Barbie realizes the real world is mostly ruled by men rather than women, as is the case in her native land. Though the film’s intended purpose was to inspire audiences to reflect on society’s power imbalance while celebrating womanhood, there is a group that does not seem to agree with these ideas.
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Political commentatorMaherposted a lengthy critique of Gerwig’sBarbie, most of which dealt with his disapproval of the portrayal of patriarchy. The HBOReal Timehost categorized the film as a “Zombie Lie,” a blatantly portrayed lie, yet people refuse to accept it as false. Maher argues that the so-called patriarchy portrayed in the film no longer exists given thatbig corporations like Mattel— the company responsible for the Barbie doll and a collaborator for the film— have women being represented through their executive boards. Maher arguesBarbiegoes out of its way to portray men in an overly-negative light. “Yes, there was one [patriarchy], and remnants of it remain— but this movie is so 2000-LATE,” he wrote.
But the portrayal of the patriarchy is not the only thing the comedian critiqued. Maher also expressed his thoughts on how unrealistic some scenes were, particularly one in which the Barbies must act helpless and lost towin over the Kens. He mentions how he and one of his female friends believe this scenario is highly unlikely. “Barbieis fun, I enjoyed it— but it IS a #Zombielie,” Maher said, “and people who don’t go along with zombie lies did not take some red pill— just staying true to CURRENT reality. Let’s live in the year we’re living in!”
But despite these accusations,Barbieis still thriving among critics and at the box office, marking a historic run not only for female-led films but also for the industry as a whole. Barbie currently holds an 88 percent critic score and a similarly impressive 84 percent in audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Simultaneously, the film crossed the $1 billion mark at the box office, making it the biggest box office haul for a live-action film by a female director in history.
