I think we got swept up in the Barbie of it all and missed the BARBIE of it all.
This will be a time-piece film. It perfectly shows where feminism has led us and how we need to grapple with where we are now. We are in well into Post-GirlBoss Land and now are entering into Post-CallHerDaddy World too. But it stresses me out that during the year we received Barbie, we also started tying bows on everything and saying "I'm just a girl." What started as a harmless soft girl epidemic has evolved into an infantilization of womanhood.
Priscilla having also come out this year says something too. Did we learn nothing from Sofia's exhibition of what happens when a girl subverts her own coming-of-age to be a man's doll. It's torture. Sofia's Priscilla is lonely and full of longing inside of an idyllic world of emptiness. How does "girl math" factor into that? Doesn't look fun to me.
I know I'm speaking a little too absolutely about things that at their core at very innocent. Bows really are cute and most of these trends fostered a sweet sense of connectivity and reliability. But when corporate marketing teams get their hands on them and feed them to the nation at large... I don't love. And men get the Roman Empire?!
It cannot be lost on us that this is also the year of the ground-shaking Eras Tour. Where a grown woman was able to command power and influence and use it for good and to bring people together – a true celebration of female friendship and girlhood.
Ornaments are cute & I love them more than the next girl, but that doesn't mean we need to be them.
It's like coquette core is our attempt to remain in a perpetual state of girlhood where we are blissfully protected from the woes of womanhood but that means we are also exposed to dangers that are inherently linked with the air of naivety that girlhood brings. The "me if you even care" tagline says it all.
a/n on Jan. 10th, 2024:
it is INSANE that Jo Koy's Golden Globes monologue happened on the night that was meant to honor the achievement of these movies. Like genuinely mind-boggling.