EP 167 - Barbie and parenting

[00:00:00] Pops in a pod, Pops in a pod Pops in a pod, Pops in a pod, Nadir amp

[00:01:32] I have to be honest, I saw Nadir a marketing thing that Barbie and their team did. I'm guessing with, in collaboration with Burger King all the way in Brazil where they had a pink sauce burger. I mean that's the level of marketing they're doing.

[00:01:49] Oh yeah, I mean Barbie is everywhere. You must be living under a rock. Even in India people know what's happening in cinemas, in theaters. It's just there right? So it's not creating the film but also marketing it. I think they've done a fantastic job at it.

[00:02:11] Okay, so we've got clearly a lot to talk and the movie's left quite an impression on you. So give me the TLTW if I may? Too long didn't watch because I'm certainly not going to go for the Barbie movie. I can't find time to watch any movie let alone Barbie.

[00:02:29] So for all those like me who are not going to watch it, give us the synopsis of the short version of it.

[00:02:36] When the Barbie trailer first came out, it could have been a little misleading. Right? Because you would just assume that oh it's a Barbie franchisee film and you would assume that it's real life Barbie characters coming together playing.

[00:02:51] And that was the first impression that I got when the short trailers came out right? But then in the conversation started flowing I realized okay this is not your typical action doll film.

[00:03:04] Because what's the first thing you'd assume that hey we can take our kids right? But no, Barbie is an adult film. Let me start with that.

[00:03:14] The film is divided into two portions. There is the Barbie world which is your fantasy world and nothing goes wrong and everything's all pink and shiny and plastic and cute and clean and basically how kids imagine Barbie.

[00:03:29] And then there's a real world which is our world, which is what we are doing today. Creating a podcast, a real world with real problems.

[00:03:36] And somewhere in the film they show that Barbie somehow manages to hop over into the real world and her entire concept or understanding of what a world should be is completely destroyed because she notices what happens in the real world.

[00:03:57] Which is great because in Barbie land all the women, which is all the Barbies hold the power. Everything right? Right from the precedent to all the important posts to all the awards everything is for the women and the kens are just tag along.

[00:04:15] Right? Arm candy. But in the real world we know what happens in the real world right? It's the men who rule and so it's a very strong dialogue on women empowerment which is what Barbie as a doll as an action figure when it came out that was what was meant to do for the young girls representation and so on and so forth.

[00:04:33] Obviously took decades for them to realize what an actual Barbie should be doing with representation, inclusiveness and so on and so forth.

[00:04:41] So that's what the film is actually trying to tackle. They're trying to say that the real world is all about patriarchy and it should be about equality. And yeah, that's the basic film.

[00:04:51] So when you go watch it you realize that, ah okay now I get Barbie is just in the name of the film but the film is something very different.

[00:04:59] When the trailer dropped for me I was like, wait it's 2023 who cares about Barbie? Like is Barbie even like a relevant conversation because I mean like as guys also we grew up with our cousins, sisters having Barbies and we all know like what it's like right?

[00:05:21] Like there is that association that's there towards the doll. So I was like who's playing with Barbies in 2023 which is actually one of the questions I had to start off with you is like you've not bought Barbies for your daughter have you right?

[00:05:39] Because I don't remember you talking or saying anything about it earlier. No, no we very very consciously stayed away from the stereotypical toys for girls. For my daughter whatever we thought was interesting exciting.

[00:05:56] We got so there was no there was no differentiation between girl toy boy toy or even girl color pink and boy color blue. No like she loves her black clothes and she loves her multi-colored clothes as well.

[00:06:10] So for us buying a Barbie just to fit into that stereotype never ever arose. In fact, very recently somebody just gave her a Barbie and Ken and I don't think she even understands the concept of what a Barbie is supposed to be and inclusive.

[00:06:25] And you can be anything and it's your world and it's your imagination. I don't think she was ever inspired by that. It's just lying in the bathroom and she just plays it during her bath time and that's it.

[00:06:34] It never comes out of the bathroom. So yeah, that's the Barbie life in my house.

[00:06:40] Yeah, no and I think that's the thing that right. I mean, I just felt like Barbies are a very outdated concept and I'm sorry if that's like just probably my view right but in like just the parents I've interacted with or like friends I know who have kids and stuff like that.

[00:07:00] I don't really recall like and again this is comparison right like because Barbies were like the most requested toy for birthdays and all those kind of things right. I mean, I'm sure you've at least attended friends birthday parties which were Barbie themed and stuff like that.

[00:07:20] But that doesn't happen anymore. At least I haven't come across and I'm guessing like this movie is for lack of better word like a retro comeback or something of sorts right it seems like that at least to me.

[00:07:35] No, that's exactly I think what a lot of people thought would be right like a Marvel film right The Avengers. You would go to watch Avengers to enjoy the action and all those superheroes and coming together saving the world killing the bad alien whatever whatever whatever right and people would just assume that

[00:08:01] of course Barbie is going to be all about that it's going to be pink and sparkly and blingy and rainbow and whatever you know shiny things all over but yeah I the film is meant for adults. It has a very very strong message.

[00:08:19] I think parents would enjoy it new new parents parents of young children would definitely enjoy it but you can't take your child.

[00:08:29] And I'm glad you brought that up right because at least here in Bombay or India, I saw a couple of posts which go went viral right where parents were furious to put it mildly right about the fact that you know they took I think one TV action

[00:08:49] actress put like they took that 10 year old for the movie and then ended up leaving after 15 minutes and they went into like multiple like an entire paragraph of sorts and I was like, wait, hang on.

[00:09:03] Is the movie like you or which for everyone or is it like, you know, you a which is where you have kids under 13 not allowed so how did first of all people get there under 13 year olds into the movies my question and was that your experience when you went with their kids also

[00:09:23] or loads of kids. It seemed like you know one parent thought that oh it'll be a great idea to take six and seven year olds for this birthday thing and they got them for Bobby I don't know how they survived that film because you first of all the theme was extremely heavy it was about women empowerment it was about patriarchy it was about men ruling the real world and not women and

[00:09:45] equal pay and you know the dialogues that we keep hearing anything to do with women empowerment or equality right I don't know how a six or seven year old kid would understand girl or boy doesn't really matter even if you're 10 or 11 I still don't get how these kids like it's not possible it's

[00:10:04] not possible for these children to get apart from that there were a lot of college students and I 16 17 year olds they would get it boys and girls they would totally get it right but parents bringing the six and seven year olds I found that very odd I found that very very odd I mean I'm quite sure when you're booking your tickets

[00:10:24] you would have read something right you can't just read the title Bobby and show up with your kid assuming that it's going to be a certain film. No the film is not meant for children they use all sorts of words that are perhaps not meant for kids at that age but forget that forget

[00:10:45] forget the fact that you have a popular TV actors and a TV actor who's gone all out and sort of banned the film and blame the filmmaker that how can you make such a film like this but it's not the director's fault you should have figured it out from the start when you were booking the tickets it's not meant for kids.

[00:11:05] I mean more than that is I think just watch the trailer.

[00:11:09] Yeah, I didn't in prior to recording this I went and watch it and I'm like yeah I mean like let's be honest in the first 30 seconds of the trailer she talks about that I'm not talking to my kid about that so like I'm not taking him for a movie about that addresses that period like that's my thing right and it's just not death right it's

[00:11:30] it's death then it gets into private body parts and then there are a few expletives that are being thrown around in the film.

[00:11:39] Then there's an entire monologue on how women have got it bad in the world in life in general I think it's too much for any kid and why should any kid be exposed to that at that age.

[00:11:53] Okay leave that aside. Okay parents made mistakes and see the trailer they didn't do research about the film they didn't read the synopsis or whatever it is what are cinema owners doing why are they allowing the kids inside that doesn't make sense to me why are they allowing kids inside.

[00:12:08] So I actually went for a movie at the same cinema that you did but this was a few years ago and this was for the movie A Star Is Born and I'm not kidding my son was two years old.

[00:12:20] I didn't check I was at that point like yeah he's two years old whatever he watches is not gonna remember or things like that right and it's a musical so I had no idea even what it was about it was pretty critically acclaimed we went to watch it.

[00:12:38] The security stopped us they refused to let us enter with our son and this is like once the movie had almost started so I was like okay so I have two options either one of us my wife or I don't go for the movie or I just make a noise and just somehow end up going

[00:12:57] and the guy very begrudgingly let us in and I was like listen like how I always say it's my son I'll decide I'll take a decision for him but to my surprise that movie was UA and they didn't let a two year old so how are they letting 10 year old 6 year old 7 year old for a UA movie just blows my mind.

[00:13:17] I mean you can blame it on the marketing or you can just blame it on the blind pink shade you know because you just assume oh of course it's Barbie how bad can it get but that's the whole point the film is not a typical candy flaws mindless film it's a very heavy film it's a very heavy film with a message which is great for adults it's great for parents to go watch it because hopefully then they can pass it on to their kids when they start growing older.

[00:13:47] And yeah that is something that I've noticed because there are some very heavy topics that they brought up right like I mentioned earlier it's about patriarchy they're talking about how women have it so bad in today's day and age and men get away with everything and from a certain audiences point of view you know they would assume that it's a male bashing film but it's not it's I mean that's my perspective it's not a male bashing film.

[00:14:17] It's just fun they've done it in a very fun tasteful manner and it's got its cute moments but it has a very strong, strong societal statement that it's making. I mean like I would use it as a Barbie is basically a sugar coated pill right?

[00:14:35] Like you lure them in with like the pink and the gloss and all of this and of course you know Ryan Gosling of course men want to be him women want to be with him so obviously everyone's going to show up for a movie like that so yeah I mean casting all of that is kind of well done right?

[00:14:55] So of course you'll end up with people coming for the movie. That's true it's got great casting and you know great analogy that it's a sugar coated pill.

[00:15:10] It starts off all sweet and cute and candy floss and then you know the bitter truth hits you and that's where the narrative sort of begins and it's great I went and watched the film with my wife and there are certain references that she got it immediately I was like hey what happened I missed it like it went off so fast right?

[00:15:26] Like because a woman would probably get it and for us or at least for me it took a while I was like oh okay I missed it completely okay that is what it meant haha okay that's funny right?

[00:15:37] But it's done in a certain way and if people are used to watching you know the sketches and these short comic snippets the movie felt like that. It felt like this nice long tour sketch because that's what Sataya is all about right?

[00:15:58] You get heavily political and you have a very strong message on what's really happening in the society today and that is the representation of the film so no way a 7 year old is going to get it.

[00:16:09] No chance he or she is going to get it even a 13 year old will probably not get it because there are so many references that people like us who are so well I didn't even be might just miss it because again it's the American eyes and the culture is very American and so on and so forth.

[00:16:24] But it's an enjoyable film for adults only. I will keep repeating that. Okay so wait I have to ask you then right? I mean like the name of the movie is Bobby but why would you cast Ryan Gosling as Ken?

[00:16:40] Like is he significant in the movie? Does he have a role? I mean I don't know dude he's blonde. When I saw the trailers I'm like wow like they've gone all out with him also. I don't even remember a blonde Ken but whatever tell me about this.

[00:16:54] Absolutely. No absolutely right Ken actually plays a very very significant role but believe it or not Ken is a villain in the film in a way.

[00:17:06] I'm just going to leave it at that but yeah he's he Ken has a negative role simply because he's a man and I've always spoken about the fact what the film is about right?

[00:17:16] It's about men having their way with the world and patriarchy and so on and so forth. So yeah Ken is the villain of the film. Damn Ryan Gosling as a villain didn't expect that.

[00:17:30] I mean I wouldn't to our listeners not in the literal sense but yeah like when you watch the film you'll realize what I'm talking about. Okay so in case you haven't watched it already I hope now this is not spoiled too much for you.

[00:17:47] In the pink world there are shades of gray let's just put it that way. Okay so wait what did you end up leaving watching the movie?

[00:17:58] I think that's a good question to ask like what kind of mood thoughts take a ways did you end up leaving the movie with?

[00:18:05] You know let me draw a parallel over here because even from our listener perspective not too many people would know a lot of things about Bobby except for the toy right?

[00:18:19] If you notice in the last two or three years there's been some very interesting stories that have come out even in India through films and through shows right? Where they are showing you some very hard hitting stuff right?

[00:18:35] Especially in the countryside of India you have very interesting shows whether it's your Mirzapur or whether it's Sacred Games or whether it's recently Kohra and Kalakut and all of those kind of films.

[00:18:50] They really talk about the real India where a certain section of the society is going through a lot of trouble for whatever reasons right? Mostly aimed towards women.

[00:19:04] And this is exactly the kind of film like a Bobby where they have used it so smartly, they've used the whole Bobby angle so smartly where Mattel who owns Bobby the toy are also very shamelessly putting out themselves saying that they are not going to do it.

[00:19:20] I think we made a lot of mistakes with Bobby and hopefully we are trying to correct it by coming out with the movie by saying that the whole point of creating a Bobby was to empower little girls to dream and imagine whatever they want to do.

[00:19:34] But somewhere maybe that has failed and we are using this film to tell them that yes I think we failed in our journey to empower the little girls and we are trying to fix it.

[00:19:45] And the world is not proper but hopefully this movie will have a strong enough message to change that. And I walked away by saying that okay I think it's a great narrative, it's a great dialogue but it's still on, it's still a Hollywood film right?

[00:20:01] The real world is very different. Nobody is going to watch the film and say oh so well done, so well written.

[00:20:07] I am now going to go and tell my peers and my kids and my cousins that this is not how the world works, the world is very different. We will all be equal. It's not going to happen overnight right?

[00:20:19] But yeah that's the message and I think that is the flavor of this decade where we want to change, we want to bring in equality and inclusiveness and these are the kind of stories that are being told.

[00:20:30] And Barbie is just one such film where they've used this great brand to basically talk about real world and real issues and what women are going through and how men are, you know, well idiots I guess.

[00:20:43] And yeah that's it. So the take away is very simple that equality is on the rise and we better embrace it now because it's going to happen now or maybe 50 years from where we are today I guess.

[00:20:59] And that's interesting right? I mean like you see so much especially like on the sports field right where I think in India recently you had the entire thing where women's cricketers were also being given like contracts and all of those things.

[00:21:14] So it's good to see that there was a time where a lot of what we would see in Hollywood movies or stuff like that felt like a different reality.

[00:21:30] But now we're seeing all of that in our same country society also happening right? These are the strong messages where and again I'm glad our kids are witnessing all of this.

[00:21:44] As they grow up unlike what we did when we were growing up right? But okay I have to ask you then. What are some of the two or three scenes or two or three things from the movie that like will stay with you?

[00:22:00] I mean I'm sure there has to be at least a couple. Not the death one please Nathir just say.

[00:22:06] No, no, no. The death one is just a trigger but I think for my wife that this film is going to be quite memorable because there are some very interesting things from a parenting lens that we took away and there are two things,

[00:22:24] there are two dialogues, two lines that I would like to talk about. One this is a very interesting scene where Barbie's in the real world and she's crying like she's weeping and you've never seen a crying Barbie ever right?

[00:22:40] So that's something very new in the film. You've never seen Barbie unhappy or sad or disappointed or whatever. Barbie's always gleaming and whatever smiling.

[00:22:49] And she's at a bus stop and there's this very old lady sitting next to her and Barbie turns to her and says my god you're so beautiful.

[00:22:58] And the woman is old right? She's got wrinkles and she's bent over and you know you would assume that the woman turned around and say oh thank you so much you made my day, you said something so nice.

[00:23:09] No, the woman just looks at Barbie and says I know that. I was like wow I did not expect that. It was a cute moment.

[00:23:19] And my wife just turned around and told me isn't it amazing that a woman has to take 60 to 70 years to build that confidence and realize that yes she is beautiful and nobody needs to tell her that.

[00:23:33] And that moment really stuck with me because my wife interpreted it for me in a very different manner because that's not how I would have looked at it.

[00:23:44] I just said yeah you go man you're confident but she said it that it takes us like a woman so many years to be that confident to own it and say that yes I am beautiful so what?

[00:23:55] Like I don't need you to tell me that. So that was the moment that really stuck with me.

[00:23:58] And the other one was as I said from a very parenting angle so they brought in this Ruth Handler who's the creator of Barbie and she modeled Barbie the doll after her daughter Barbara.

[00:24:11] That is also something that's there in the film and she says something I don't know I don't remember the exact dialogue but she says that a mother will always stay still to show their daughters how far ahead that they've gone.

[00:24:26] And that also was the line that stays that because you know as parents at some point we become anchors and we don't move and our kids move along and they go really far behind.

[00:24:38] And the day that they turn down they realize that the parents are left way back we can't even see them right that dialogue stayed with me because as a parent it's a beautiful line it's a very inspirational line but it's also for me it's a scary line.

[00:24:56] Because as a parent I would love to move along with my kid but I know at some point I need to leave her hand and she needs to go and you know find her own freedom and independence or whatever it is.

[00:25:07] So yeah those are two lines that really stayed with me two scenes that really stayed with me. Okay I think that's a great note to kind of end this episode but I had to obviously do some read up or research on this.

[00:25:21] And Bobby is actually the first of the next 14 movies that Mattel is doing. So it's going to be an interesting I mean like there's for us boys men who grew up there's a movie which is going to be and I'm going it called Masters of the Universe.

[00:25:45] So it's He-Man and Masters of the Universe. There's Polly Pocket with some kids may remember I know my son is going to be very excited about Thomas the Tank Engine.

[00:25:57] But what I'm really curious to know about is there's a movie that they're making on Uno the card game. Yeah yeah so wow. What are they going to show like families fighting like multiple families fighting for two hours.

[00:26:14] No after the reverse you got to draw two you got multiple draw two. It was going to be the premise of oh my god I want to know how that ended. The number of relationships that got strained after the draw four.

[00:26:28] Oh god and then suddenly you realize that oh god Uno is not a kids film it is an adult film there is like mass murder. Families are killing each other. But I would have to go for a film like that.

[00:26:44] Who knows this I mean it's still in work though if the writer is listening to us please don't use this or give us credit. They went very true to their like the back color which is black usually. Like I'm going to make a dark Uno film that's it.

[00:27:04] Basically Mattel is going the Marvel way and instead of Avengers assemble it's going to be toys assemble. I mean it's all IP right so it's all stuff that they've been sitting on for years so why not. So they will start making money out of it. True true.

[00:27:24] Alright so that's all from us but as always I'm going to keep saying this till you'll actually do it.

[00:27:33] If you don't already follow or subscribe the podcast well go check out the app that you're listening to this podcast on and hit follow subscribe like share it with your friends.

[00:27:47] Yeah I don't know I mean like why don't you tell them what another in Peter think about the movie. Alright thanks a lot guys and yeah go watch Barbie without your children please unless you have a teenager then yeah then I guess it's fine.

[00:28:00] But yeah write to us if there's anything exciting that's happening in your life if you've seen a great film or a show that you'd want us to review.

[00:28:09] Go ahead write to us you can also write to us on popsandapot at gmail.com and yeah we'll definitely have a look and maybe even talk about it on the podcast but yeah until then see you guys and we'll see you in the next episode.