News/Commentary

‘Barbie’ director claims character’s speech made men around her cry, Twitter says ‘bring back manly men’

July 26, 2023 | | Print Article

The director of “Barbie” revealed in an interview this week that one of the main character’s speeches about being a woman even made the men cry.

According to Variety magazine, in the film co-star America Ferrera plays Gloria,”a Mattel executive who helps Barbie land back on her feet.”

During one part of the film, the character Gloria breaks into a lengthy speech about the double standards that women face every day.

Below is a transcript of the rant:

It is literally impossible to be a woman. You are so beautiful, and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.

You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin.

You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas.

ADVERTISEMENT

You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about your kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people.

You have to answer for men’s bad behavior, which is insane, but if you point that out, you’re accused of complaining.

You’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood.

But always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful.

You have to never get old, never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line.

ADVERTISEMENT

It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory and nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong, but also everything is your fault.

I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie herself into knots so that people will like us. And if all of that is also true for a doll just representing women, then I don’t even know.

 

Or you may listen to it directly below:

ADVERTISEMENT

Speaking with The Atlantic this week, “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig — reportedly a hardcore feminist — claimed she saw the men around her sobbing when the speech aired.

“When America was giving her beautiful speech, I was just sobbing, and then I looked around and I realized everybody’s crying on the set. The men are crying, too, because they have their own speech they feel they can’t ever give, you know?” she said.

“And they have their twin tightrope, which is also painful. There’s something about some of these structures that are just, you know, ‘Somebody make me stop!’ That’s sort of, I suppose, the feeling behind Ken,” she added.

Ferrera previously revealed in a Vanity Fair interview that it’d taken two days to film the speech from beginning to end.

“It was probably 30 to 50 full runs of it, top to bottom. By the end, [co-star Ariana Greenblatt] recited the monologue to me because she had memorized it because that’s how many times I had said it,” she said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Neither one of us went into it feeling like it’s got to grow and crescendo to this big moment where you burst into tears or you’re laughing so hard you cry. There were no targets to hit. It was much more a moment-to-moment drop in,” she added.

Responding to the report about men sobbing during “Barbie,” critics were rather in disbelief:

The backlash stems from the belief that “Barbie” is a woke, politically correct feminist dream that’s entirely detached from the real world.

One major critic, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, has argued that it distorts reality by turning women into victims.

Another major critic, British commentator Piers  Morgan, has made the case that if men treated women the way women treat men in “Barbie,” there’d be hell to pay.

“If I made a movie mocking women as useless dunderheads, constantly attacking ‘the matriarchy,’ and depicting all things feminist as toxic bulls–t, I wouldn’t just be canceled, I’d be executed,” he wrote for the New York Post.

But “Barbie” has its defenders as well. Over at National Review, commentator Jack Butler penned a column this week contending that conservatives are looking at the movie in the wrong way.

And then there’s Whoopi Goldberg of “The View.” In a speech/rant of her own, this week she made the argument that “Barbie” is simply a … movie.

“It’s a movie! It’s a movie about a doll! I thought y’all would be happy. [Barbie] has no genitalia, so there’s no sex involved. Ken has no genitalia, so he can’t — it’s a doll movie! And the kids know it’s colorful and it’s Barbie,” she said.

“You guys, I want y’all to tell your daughters why you’re not taking them to the ‘Barbie’ movie. I want you to explain to them what’s wrong with Barbie…It’s a doll movie, guys. I’m shocked that that’s what’s freaking you out these days,” she added.

Listen:

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles