Bill Maher Slams The ‘Barbie’ Movie, Calls It A “Preachy, Man-Hating, And A ZombieLie” Of A Film
Josh Berger
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Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher weighed in on the fairly recently released Barbie movie, taking to social media to slam the film over its overt condemnation of the patriarchy.
(L-r) KINGSLEY BEN-ADIR as Ken, RYAN GOSLING as Ken and NCUTI GATWA as Ken in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “BARBIE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photo Credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
In a lengthy post shared to his personal Twitter account, the Real Time with Bill Maher host went on to detail his experience watching the film, labelling Barbie as “preachy” and going over what he perceived as a dig at men in general.
“OK, ‘Barbie’: I was hoping it wouldn’t be preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie – alas, it was all three,” Maher prefaced.
He then posited, “What is a Zombie Lie?” before explaining, “Something that never was true, but certain people refuse to stop saying it (tax cuts for the rich increase revenues, e.g.); OR something that USED to be true but no longer is, but certain people pretend it’s still true.”
Monologue: Return of the Mask | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO) via Real Time with Bill Maher YouTube
“Barbie is this kind of #ZombieLie,” he pointed out. “Spoiler alert, Barbie fights the Patriarchy. Right up to the Mattel board who created her, consisting of 12 white men! The Patriarchy! Except there’s a Mattel board in real life, and it’s 7 men and 5 women.”
Maher clarified, “OK, not perfect even-steven, but not the way the board IN THE MOVIE – which takes place in 2023 – is portrayed. And not really any longer deserving of the word ‘patriarchy.'”
“Yes, there was one, and remnants of it remain – but this movie is so 2000-LATE,” the comedian mockingly condemned.
(L-r) RYAN GOSLING as Ken and MARGOT ROBBIE as Barbie in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “BARBIE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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As he goes over one of the film’s main plot points, Maher recalled, “At one point the Barbies have to win over the Kens, and they are told to do it by pretending to act helpless and not know how to do stuff. Helen Gurley Brown called, she wants her premise back.”
“Yes, that WAS a thing. I saw ‘Barbie‘ with a woman in her 30s who said, ‘I don’t know a single woman of any age who would act like that today,'” the talk show host claimed.
MARGOT ROBBIE as Barbie in Warner Bros. Pictures’ “BARBIE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Copyright: © 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photo Credit: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
As he shifted his focus towards his own experience with patriarchy among his circles, Maher declared, “I know, I know, ‘How could I know about the patriarchy, I AM a man!’ That argument is so old and so silly.”
“Of course, none of us can know exactly what others go through life, but I can see the world around me, and I can read data,” he added, further noting, “The real Mattel board is a pretty close mirror of the country, where 45% of the 449 board seats filled last year in Fortune 500 companies were women.”
Will Ferrell leads the Board of Directors as the CEO of Mattel in Barbie (2023), Warner Bros. Pictures
RELATED: Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz Reveals ‘Barbie’ Film Made To Create “An Experience With Societal Impact”
Maher explains, “Truth is, I’m not the one who’s out of step – I’m living in the year we’re living in,” before ultimately admitting, “Barbie is fun, I enjoyed it – but it IS a #ZombieLie.”
“And people who don’t go along with zombie lies did not take some red pill – just staying true to CURRENT reality. Let’s live in the year we’re living in! Hi Ken!!!” he concluded, adding the #BarbieMovie hashtag for good measure.
Bill Maher slams the Barbie movie via Twitter
As Maher pointed out, though a tad off regarding the numbers he gave, Mattel’s Board of Directors consists of six men including CEO Ynon Kreiz, R. Todd Bradley, Michael Dolan, Soren Laurse, Roger Lynch, and Dominic NG, as well as five women including Adriana Cisneros, Diana Ferguson, Noreena Hertz, Ann Lewnes, and Judy Olian.
The Real Time with Bill Maher host still makes a valid point, as Mattel’s real board of directors is far more “diverse” than the all-male board featured, and ridiculed, in the Barbie movie.
Mattel Board of Directors via Mattel
Given Maher’s political leanings, identifying as a liberal and staunch opponent of political correctness, the response to his take on the Barbie movie did not go unnoticed by both agreeing and dissenting individuals, who expressed their opinions in the comments section.
Soona Studios CEO Liz Giorgi decried Maher’s post, asserting, “I’m sorry, are you comparing the fiscal policy of a former president to a movie about a doll? That alone speaks volumes.”
@lizgiorgi weighs in on Bill Maher’s take on the Barbie movie via Twitter
“Yeah it feels almost insidious presenting the Mattel Board especially as a group of all white men when it’s actually almost 50/50 men/women. I was surprised finding that out after,” wrote Twitter user @DANsplained0.
@DANsplained0 weighs in on Bill Maher’s take on the Barbie movie via Twitter
“The Kens all live in a matriarchy – a fairly oppressive one at that, yet we never hear that word mentioned once,” noted @verifiedjeff, adding, “Did they give Greta Gerwig an extra million for each time she had someone say the word ‘Patriarchy’?”
The user then declared, “I found myself really rooting for Ken.”
@verifiedjeff weighs in on Bill Maher’s take on the Barbie movie via Twitter
Comedian and political commentator Konstantin Kisin found himself in agreement with his colleague, simply writing, “Well said.”
Konstantin Kisin weighs in on Bill Maher’s take on the Barbie movie via Twitter
Without an ounce of artistic creativity, Twitter user @ThinkspaceArt simply resorted to insulting the talk show host for having an opinion on Barbie.
@ThinkspaceArt weighs in on Bill Maher’s take on the Barbie movie via Twitter
“So agree… I wanted amazing clothes… and so much man hating … it was just not even nice… not necessary to demonize a man to lift a woman…” @tbasseghi wrote, agreeing with Maher and expressing her disappointment with the film.
@tbasseghi weighs in on Bill Maher’s take on the Barbie movie via Twitter
Mahr’s post didn’t go unnoticed by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who responded with the political commentator’s take on Barbie by pondering, “Why do they keep pushing these lies?”
Elon Musk weighs in on Bill Maher’s take on the Barbie movie via Twitter
What do you make of Bill Maher’s reaction to Barbie?