This story contains spoilers for Barbie.
Summary
- Bill Maher criticizes the film Barbie for having a preachy and man-hating message, calling it a “Zombie Lie.”
- Maher points out the discrepancy between the movie’s portrayal of the “Patriarchy” and the real-life Mattel board, suggesting that the movie is not reflective of current reality.
- While Maher argues that the movie’s premise is outdated, he says he still “enjoyed” the film.
While the majority of critics and filmgoers have greatly enjoyed Barbie, late-night talk show host Bill Maher is apparently not a fan of the film’s “preachy” themes.
On the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Maher shared a lengthy post addressing how he really feels about Barbie. The comedian would claim that he “enjoyed” the film, but at the same time, he said that Barbie was a representation of a “Zombie Lie.” To explain, Maher argues that the film’s message about the “Patriarchy” is out of date, suggesting that the way things are portrayed in the movie isn’t how things are any longer in 2023.
“OK, Barbie: I was hoping it wouldn’t be preachy, man-hating, and a #ZombieLie – alas, it was all three,” Maher says. “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. Barbie is this kind of [Zombie Lie].”
Maher continues, “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.”
Bill Maher Says Barbie Is “2000-LATE”
Pointing out how he saw the movie with a younger woman who had a similar reaction, Maher would add, “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. [Pioneering journalist] 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,” the Real Time host went on to say. “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.”
Maher concludes, “Barbie is fun, I enjoyed it – but it IS a [Zombie Lie]. 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!!!”
Directed by Greta Gerwig, Barbie has been a box office sensation following its release in theaters alongside Oppenheimer on July 21. Having since surpassed $1 billion at the box office, the movie stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, respectively, as they venture outside of Barbie Land into the real world, shocked to discover how different things are in reality.
Barbie is playing in movie theaters.
