Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
Political satirist Bill Maher dropped his take on “Barbie” this week in a lengthy rant on Twitter slamming the film for perpetuating what he called the “Zombie Lie” that the patriarchy is still suppressing women.
Maher began his review of the blockbuster film, writing Monday, “OK, “Barbie”: I was hoping it wouldn’t be preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie – alas, it was all three.”
Maher then explained what a “Zombie Lie” is as he came down on the side of right-wing critics who also slammed the film for preaching a “woke” message regarding feminism. “What is a Zombie Lie? 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,” Maher declares, adding:
“Barbie” is this kind of #ZombieLie. 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. 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.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.” 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. 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. Truth is, I’m not the one who’s out of step – I’m living in the year we’re living in. 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!!!
Many on the right were quick to embrace Maher’s take, which quickly went viral. Elon Musk replied, “Why do they keep pushing these lies?”
Conservative thought leader recently revealed to have written for white supremacist publications, Richard Hanania, added, “Agree it was pretty bad! But I think that it was an indication that feminism has run out of steam and is out of ideas. It can’t even present the real world accurately and make the points it wants to make.”
Critics on the left, however, offered some scathing replies:
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