Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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WHEN a friend jokingly asked me at the weekend whether I intended seeing Mattel and Warner Bros’ Barbie my reply was “I’d sooner rub acid in my eyes!” But now, having read an attack on the film by Christian reviewer Dr Ted Baehr, inset above, I’m having second throughts.

Baehr, who runs faith-based Movieguide, told Faithwire:

The movie is worse than you could possibly expect. It’s hardcore propaganda … Barbie just is terrible.

Baehr said the movie opens with a scene featuring girls playing with baby dolls and the children “bash them and slap them” and proclaim something along the lines of, “We don’t have to be mothers anymore.”

He insisted Barbie is “hardcore feminist” and paints men as the “problem” in society.

Barbie has to leave [Barbieland] because she’s not adapting to … this hate of the patriarchal society … Men are the villain (sic) and … there are a couple of trans people playing characters—Barbies … It’s an attack on women and men alike.

In it’s official review, Movieguide says that Barbie:

Promotes the idea that women and men should be independent, totally self-determining beings and has some strong politically correct leftist attacks on society, specifically the ‘patriarchy,’ and strong implied attacks against the biblical system of the family established by God in Chapters One and Two of Genesis and confirmed by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in Matthew 19:1-12 where Man and Woman are created by God to be together.

It also points out that, having escaped Barbieland, Ken (played by Ryan Gosling)

Is proud of himself when two homosexual males are clearly attracted to his handsome looks.

The review concludes that although the film contains some “abhorrent, objectionable content” which is “excessive and unacceptable”, it’s “not totally evil”. 

Some would disagree:

That tweet appeared on The Mary Sue site, which said under the headline “Right-Wing Christians Think the Barbie Movie Is Demonic and Want You to Boycott It”:

The Barbie movie celebrates a woman-centric dream world, where little girls are inspired to do and be anything they want. It’s feminine, feminist, and irresistibly fun. So of course, Christian Republicans think it’s demonic.

To be honest, I haven’t had the time to read any objective reviews of the film, other than the one posted on my most trusted site, Rogerebert.com.

There Christy Lemire wrote:

Barbie director and co-writer Greta Gerwig’s summer splash is a dazzling achievement, both technically and in tone. It’s a visual feast that succeeds as both a gleeful escape and a battle cry.

The critic concluded:

If such a crowd-pleasing extravaganza can also offer some fodder for thoughtful conversations afterward, it’s accomplished several goals simultaneously. It’s like sneaking spinach into your kid’s brownies—or, in this case, blondies.

Thoughtful conversations are, of course, anthema to faith-heads, which would explain the panic over Barbie.

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