Welcome to #TransTuesday! We’ve got the Tillyvision sign! And that means it’s time for THE INTENTIONAL (!) TRANS ALLEGORY OF BARBIE (the movie), PART 7! To heck with the false shell! But then… what comes next?
The setup, PART 1.
The intro, PART 2.
The trouble, PART 3.
The more trouble, PART 4.
Oh god so much trouble, PART 5.
Wait maybe there’s a way out of this trouble, PART 6.
1:16:35 – Barbie: “By giving voice to the cognitive dissonance required to be a woman under the patriarchy, you robbed it of its power.” I mean, this applies to everything. When you see the lies, they no longer have any power over you. You can’t make me pretend to be cis again.
1:17:27 – As they set about their plan to stop the Kens and free the Barbies, they’re all in pink jumpsuits because there’s doubt about if this plan is going to work. CAN Barbie truly kick out the male simulacra and become the woman she is?
1:19:46 – Hari Nef as a decoy damsel Barbie in glasses: “Gee, I am so awkward and don’t feel pretty at all, and will anyone ever like me?” Ken takes her glasses off. “There. Now we can see your beautiful face.”
That line from Hari Nef certainly applies to how society wants all women to feel, but again, that’s compounded for trans women who don’t just need to be PRETTY to be accepted… if we don’t look CIS our chances at cis acceptance fall off a cliff. Again, they gave her this line for a reason.
1:20:49 – Gloria’s doing Barbie’s makeup. Barbie: “What if this doesn’t work? What if he doesn’t like me anymore?” Gloria: “He knows deep down you don’t like him the same way.”
So this is Barbie psyching herself up to be rid of the false shell of a man forever, but why is it in a scene of Gloria doing Barbie’s makeup? We didn’t see Barbie put makeup on… ever, the entire movie, even though she clearly had it on.
To me, this speaks to a trans woman putting makeup on for the first time, in the hopes it will help her feel more like her true self. In fact, one of the first things I did was get a makeover from a (cis) hollywood makeup artist, and it’s what let me know I NEEDED to transition all the way.
It was, at that point, the closest I’d ever gotten to seeing the real me in the mirror. And a lot of us trans women go through being shown how to do makeup from both other trans women and cis women. And at this moment, for Barbie, it kind of reads that way.
But they’re looking at each other, right? And talking about how to get rid of Ken. So it also feels like Barbie putting on makeup for the first time, as herself, letting her see (and start to be) the real woman she is inside. She’s looking into herself.
1:21:32 – Barbie goes to confront Ken, in pink, because she’s lying to him to try and exert control, but look at them… PINK AND BLUE. The transness can’t be denied. Look at the PINK AND BLUE “fire” between them!
1:22:58 – The Kens play “Push” at the Barbies. This is, like, SUPER-supertext. Because Barbie’s trying to exert control and be rid of the false male shell forever, right? And it’s pushing back because he can’t possibly be trans! Look how toxically masculine he’s become!
And look, this is a movie and metaphor, so things are taken to extremes. I’m not saying all trans women go hard right into toxic masculinity before accepting our truth (though some do), but if you dial that back a little…
It very much reads as “I can’t possibly be a trans woman, I grew a beard! See?” or “I can’t possibly be a trans woman, look at this suit I’m wearing!” or “No no I like football and cars!,” etc. A lot of us try so hard to be that man to hide the truth we can’t yet accept. But it doesn’t work.
1:23:11 – And so we see, now on the beach, which is Ken’s JOB and what he thinks he’s BEST at, Barbie is now in a white top and denim shorts, closer to earth tones than she’s ever been. And the entire beach has become ROYAL BLUE. She’s connecting to the truth.
1:26:32 – Ken’s song before the Ken war sure sounds a WHOLE lot like a person accepting their transness and realizing their fake cis shell is about to cease existing. Look at the lyrics.
Doesn’t seem to matter what I do
I’m always number two
No one knows how hard I tried
I have feelings that I can’t explain
Driving me insane
All my life I’ve been so polite
But I’ll sleep alone tonight
Cause I’m just Ken
Anywhere else I’d be a ten
Is it my destiny to live and die
A life of blonde fragility
I’m just Ken
Where I see love she sees a friend
What will it take for her
To see the man behind the tan
And fight for me
As the Ken war wages, her false male shell fighting for its existence, did you notice the beach is now… entirely pink? This existence they’re fighting for IS. A. LIE.
1:28:27 – More of Ken’s song continues to read exactly how it read before, a false persona realizing it no longer needs to exist.
I want to know what it’s like to love
To be the real thing
Is it a crime?
Am I not hot when I’m in my feelings?
And is my moment finally here,
Or am I dreaming?
I’m no dreamer
1:29:06 – And if you’re doubting my assertion that this is Barbie coming to terms with and accepting her transness and choosing to be rid of Ken, the false male simulacra waging an internal war for its own existence, did you… did you notice the colors during the dance-off?
You might as well have painted a trans flag on that floor, friends.
Is it my destiny to live and die
A life of blonde fragility
Ken fought for his existence, but lost… because Barbie IS trans, that’s the truth, and so
1:30:18 – The EARTH TONES return to Ken, as the truth has been accepted.
1:32:14 – And now, for the first time since her egg cracked on the dance floor, Barbie’s in yellow. ALL EARTH TONES. The truth is on its way.
1:32:55 – Barbie to Ken: “Are you crying? It’s okay, I cried too. It’s actually kind of amazing.” Listen, when you spend your life in a cloud of dysphoria, when it starts dissipating even a little due to transition, you suddenly have access to all kinds of emotions you never did before.
1:33:12 – Ken: “It was hard running stuff. I didn’t love it.” It wasn’t natural for Barbie’s false cis shell to be in control. It’s not easy putting on that act. He tries to kiss her, she pulls away. Again, no, she was never a guy, and doesn’t want to pretend to be one anymore.
Barbie: “I didn’t mean to suggest, uh…” Ken: “I just don’t know who I am without you.” Barbie: “You’re Ken.” Ken: “But it’s Barbie AND Ken. There is no just ‘Ken.’ That’s why I was created. I only exist within the warmth of your gaze.”
He was created ONLY to protect, cover, and hide the real Barbie, until she was ready to cast the lie aside and live her truth.
1:35:27 – Barbie: “You have to figure out who you are without me.” Ken: “Why?” Barbie: “You’re not your girlfriend. You’re not your house, you’re not your mink.” Ken: “Beach?”
Barbie: “Nope. You’re not even beach. Maybe all the things that you thought made you you aren’t… really… you.” Barbie is realizing she’s talking to herself here, metaphorically and literally!
“Maybe it’s Barbie, and it’s Ken.” They are SEPARATE. They are no longer one. Barbie is on the path to self-actualizing!
1:37:06 – The CEO comes out of the treehouse playset crying. “Ken is right. It’s just so hard to be a leader.” Yeah, boo hoo, feel bad for the people with all the power, money, and control. Sure.
1:37:30 – CEO: “Do you know how many times I’ve wanted to stand up in a board meeting and just say, ‘can we just tickle each other?’ Let’s have a company retreat and just tickle each other.” Funny and weird, yes, BUT-
Tickling is a physical action that forces a certain response from the receiver, whether they want to or not. Do you get how insidious that is? Coming from a white non-disabled cishet white man? What does he want? CONTROL OVER YOUR BODY.
CEO: “But thanks to the Barbies, I, too, can now relieve myself of this heavy existential burden while holding on to the very real title of CEO. And we can restore everything in Barbie Land to exactly the way it was.”
See, I GET you. Yes yes, trans rights and women’s liberation… we’ll put it on mugs and t-shirts, and do nothing else, AS LONG AS WE GO BACK TO THE STATUS QUO WHERE I AM IN CONTROL.
1:37:57 – President Barbie: “Mr. Mattel…” CEO: “Please, call me mother.” Do you see how badly he wants to be respected? In control of women? And everyone else?
President Barbie: “No thank you. I don’t think that things should go back to the way that they were. No Barbie or Ken should be living in the shadows.” NONE OF US should be forced to live a lie, hidden in the shadows of a false persona that wounds us.
1:38:15 – President Barbie to Weird Barbie: “I just want to say I’m sorry we called you weird Barbie behind your back and also to your face.” Weird Barbie: “That’s okay. I’m owning it.” Gettin’ weird is LITERALLY what the subconscious does. Just look at dreams.
President Barbie: “Would you like a job in my cabinet?” Weird Barbie: “May I please have sanitation?” Sure that’s funny, but ALSO… she wants to keep things healthy and clean the place up! So you don’t wind up ill and suffering. If that ain’t the subconscious’ job…
Also, remember before how Weird Barbie was all in pink, because Barbie didn’t know if she believed her yet? (even though transness was present in the squiggles on her forehead). LOOK AT WHAT SHE’S WEARING NOW. ROYAL BLUE (connection) WITH PINK (transness).
1:38:55 – Gloria: “I have an idea.” CEO: “Tell me your secret dream, child.” Gloria: “What about ordinary Barbie. She’s not extraordinary. She’s not president of anything, or maybe she is. Maybe she’s a mom. Maybe she’s not. But it’s okay to just want to be a mom…
“…or to wanna be president or a mom who is President. Or not a mom who’s also not President. She just has a flattering top, and she wants to get through the day feeling kinda good about herself.” Women can be anything. A trans woman can be ANY kind of woman!
CEO: “That’s a terrible idea.” Executive: “That’s going to make money.” CEO: “Oh. Originality Barbie. I love it. Fantastic.” This confirms what I told you about him earlier, when Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House was selling well and he said he didn’t care about money.
Here you see he CLEARLY does, so he should have been elated at the Mojo Dojo sales. But he wasn’t, and he claimed he wasn’t in it for the money. But he is.
Again, the only reason he didn’t want Ken stuff selling is because he’s more concerned with the CONTROL he had over women and trans people and how he was losing it.
1:39:42 – Sasha: “What about Barbie? What does she get?” CEO: “That’s easy. She’s in love with Ken.” Sasha: “That is not her ending.” Even now, society is trying to force her back into the simulacrum, and both Barbie’s inner child and inner woman know that’s not it.
They’re clearly trying to figure out where her place is, but they don’t know for sure because Barbie still hasn’t fully accepted herself. So they’re both in pink, because they’re full of doubt about where Barbie goes from here.
And next week, we’re going to get to the most important and heart-wrenching scene in the entire movie, because it’s time to god damned self-actualize.
Tilly Bridges, end transmission.
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