For some women in China, “Barbie” is more than just a movie — it’s also a litmus test for their partner’s views on feminism and patriarchy.
The movie has prompted intense social media discussion online, media outlets Sixth Tone and the China Project reported this week, prompting women to discuss their own dating experiences.
One user on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu — a photo-sharing site similar to Instagram that’s mostly used by Gen Z women — even shared a guide on Monday for how women can test their boyfriends based on their reaction to the film.
According to the guide, if a man shows hatred for “Barbie” and slams female directors after they leave the theatre, then this man is “stingy” and a “toxic chauvinist,” according to Insider’s translation of the post. Conversely, if a man understands even half of the movie’s themes, “then he is likely a normal guy with normal values and stable emotions,” the user wrote.
I mean, actual Marxist thought is explicitly feminist, at least under the definition that women are the intellectual and legal equals of men. The Soviets, for all their flaws, flipped one of the most rigid patriarchies in the world into one with… Well, some semblance of women’s liberation.
And whatever other societal problems they have, or whether you can even call them Marxists, China isn’t attacking womens’ right to not die to a miscarriage.
I’m not overly familiar with that aspect of Marxism, but I can certainly believe it. I can’t imagine that a philosophy with hundreds if not thousands of aspects to it, would be completely without merit, even if the whole is flawed.