

are you a fed?
italian grandmother asking you this before making you a delicious meal
one of the cooler parts of growing up is realizing that you were being incessantly lied to throughout highschool and that fat gay people are not only capable of being desired, but are actively and often voraciously lusted after
Given how humanity reacts to life in general, can we picture the INSANELY good memes that would have been made in the Martian universe while they tried to rescue Watney?



Apparently some people think America Ferrera's speech in the Barbie movie is "corny" or "obvious" or something like that. But here's my personal perspective
First thing out of the way: I am nonbinary. I am not a woman. I am AFAB, though, and was therefore socialized like a girl and young woman, even if I felt like those words never really applied to me. Most of the time, though, other people who don't know me will see me as a woman. It's whatever.
No, this movie is not saying anything new. It is not a groundbreaking statement to say women face all these exhausting contradictions that cause them to bend over backwards to do the slightest thing.
But I don't think it's supposed to be groundbreaking. I don't think most people at the Barbie movie are going to have a huge revelation because America Ferrera said something that never heard or thought before. In the context of the movie, the character is speaking to a literal doll who has only recently learned that the real world is kinda shitty for a lot of people. Because this doll is literally something little girls project on, and little girls very often grow into women who deal with this shit. Yes, this is feminism 101, because it's speaking to a character who, until a day ago, lived in a matriarchal society where she never HAD to learn feminism 101. The oppression she faces is literally new to her!
And let's not forget that this is being said by a Latina woman in a blockbuster film. How often do you see that? She describes herself as a "boring mom with a boring job," and then she gets to rant about the fact that she's expected to always be extraordinary, but at the end of it all, she just wants her daughter to love her back and have a good day. And because of that, she's the hero of Barbieland!
Yes, it's cheesy. No, it's not subtle in the slightest. But sometimes, it's nice to hear someone say the words out loud.
And honestly, if you're going into the Barbie movie expecting subtlety, that's on you.
ah spoilers but i genuinely think the majority of the real feminism actually happens in the final scenes of the movie, not in this part of the movie.
the "feminism 101" part of the movie, as you said - is still groundbreaking when a latina gets to say her piece to an actually-receptive crowd. nobody interrupts her. nobody shouts her down. she says her piece, and it's correct, and it saves the day.
also (like you said!), in the context of the movie: these women never actually needed feminism 101 until then, because the influence of the patriarchy literally hadn't even been known to the world. ken brings an invasive species into the world, one without any natural defenses. these women need basic feminism because they haven't had to battle injustice in the same way. this is also notably not framed as the climax of the movie.
because i think the climax might be barbie - stereotypical barbie - turning away from an idyllic world of basic feminism ... and accepting something else entirely. she has seen the humanity of the real world (that first moment with the old woman) and she knows it is loud and obnoxious and strange and complicated. and then she turns to her creator (a woman!), and she asks her creator: can i be a person?
feminism 101 is "it is hard to be a lady!" and "i am woman, hear me roar!" ...and it is still occasionally exceptionality. it is still assuming we are all powerful and smart and brave and supermom whatever else. but sometimes you are just 30 and bad at math and you're still a fucking person. feminism isn't just "women can be presidents" it's women can be failures. they can be cruel, manipulative, violent. because women are humans.
a woman's personhood shouldn't rely on how palatable she is. you shouldn't have to be white and thin and pretty and pouty with bouncy hair and margot's face in order to be taken seriously. being a woman is also the """"ugly"""" parts that men fucking hate thinking about - being a woman is also hair caught in a zipper and eye gunk and sweat stains and and blood chunks and cellulite and ripped earlobes and yes going to the gynecologist.
the final scene of the movie isn't a woman who accepts her role as president or who is gleefully ready to try to rebuild society: it's a human person having to deal with her human body. it is her Creator giving her the same choice she was given at the start of the movie - perfection, feminism 101, the ideal! ... or mortality, and just having to be a person inside of the patriarchy, every single fucking day.
and this time... barbie chooses the world where it is hard, and ugly, and painful. she chooses the hard way.
and that's a kind of feminism i think... like. might have gone unnoticed. that's all i am trying to say.
how do people get through their lives without thinking about fiction during their every waking hour
backdoor pilot episodes my beloathed </3