DID YOU KNOW I RECENTLY HAD A BROTHER DIE, TOO?

stuff richie says (1/?)

Her house is hers. She bought it and furnished it with money she made in her own job. In STEM, in politics, in healthcare, in fashion, in academy, in customer service. Her credit card is in her name (women in the US couldn’t have their own regardless of marital status until 1974). And it’s all pink and fashionable because femininity and badassness aren’t mutually exclusive. No matter who you are, you can be anything.

That’s why Barbie’s slogan is “you can be anything”. Teaching these ideals to little girls is why Barbie was created. Empowering women and empowering femininity is the original meaning of the Barbie doll. It’s not that you have to be all this to be a woman, but if you are all or some of this, you too are awesome.

And somehow pop culture deliberately changed that narrative. Sexualised, bimbofied, and villainised her, when she actually isn’t responsible for the impossible beauty standards — people are, she’s just a stylised, not-to-scale toy like most others.

Men are frothing because he’s just Ken and I guess they were expecting her to be just Barbie, but that’s exactly what Ken is. Canonically. A badass woman’s himbo boyfriend.

I think a lot about Taika's outfit here. It's gotten a lot of hate, but I'm not sure why. It's certainly one of the more understated of his outfits from this show. I've heard people call it the Amish fit, or the Mary fit, or that he should have pumped it up with platforms or color or some other accessories, but...

I like that it's understated. It doesn't feel performative. It's not camp. Not that there is anything wrong with camp, obviously. There's something to be said about the power of camp, the power of that sort of theatrical expression. Lil Nas X springs immediately to mind as a trailblazer in that arena.

The thing is, not every deviation from gender norms needs to be like that. Demanding that this look be elevated, or over the top, or flashier, or brighter feels like demanding inauthenticity. I am reminded of something Taika said in an interview about Hunt for the Wilderpeople:

I come from a country whose idea of masculinity is quite extreme and I've grown up around a lot of that energy, I've been part of that a lot. And it's very draining, it's quite tiring trying to be macho.

I see this outfit as another type of subversion. It is plain, but then not. It's conservative, but then not. Why does every foray into the feminine need to be bright and fuzzy and sparkly and pink? Can things not be simultaneously soft and serious? Cold and kind? We don't know to what degree Taika had a say in the choice of this outfit. What I do know is that as an indigenous man growing up in Aotearoa and then later entering into an industry that not just reaffirms but galvanizes traditional gender roles, he most likely sees nuances that others miss.

This ABSOLUTELY works.