Barbie Crushes The Right – The Liberal OC

With Senator Ted Cruz and Conservative Talk Show host Ben Shapiro ripping the “Barbie” movie a new one (and in Cruz’s case, without seeing it), just shows how devoid of humor our friends on the Conservative Right can be sometimes.

So let Ben burn Barbie and Ken dolls in the trash while spending 43 minutes trashing a movie about a doll. “The reaction to me burning a Barbie car with, like, a Barbie and Ken in it is like the reaction of the Islamic world when someone burns a Quran in Sweden,” said Shapiro. I highly doubt that.

Here’s what he didn’t get: Barbie opened to a historic $155 million domestically, which s crazy box office. Internationally, the film added $182 million for a global total of $337 million.

But here’s the critical part of the movie that many women will identify with , delivered by America Ferrera, to Barbie:

“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. 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. 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.”

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