'Barbie' and Korean patriarchy

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Opinion

Mark Peterson

'Barbie' and Korean patriarchy

Posted : 2023-08-27 15:58

Updated : 2023-08-28 09:02

By Mark Peterson

One of my editors at the Korea Times suggested I examine the recent summer hit, Barbie, and perhaps contrast it with Korean patriarchy.

That was certainly an interesting idea, a challenge and a gauntlet, thrown down at my feet. So, I took the bait, and went to see the movie.

First off, what about the movie? In short, I'd give it two stars ― not the five it has gotten at the international box office. The more intriguing question is why did the movie bomb in Korea? It has been a megahit everywhere in the world, but a major flop in Korea. Why? Is it indeed, a problem with "patriarchy?" And has Korean patriarchy militated against the movie?

To examine the question, let's review the movie briefly. The opening scene was just awful. Whereas there were some funny scenes in the movie, thus two stars, but the opening scene should go down in the annals of cinematography as an example of failed humor, and bad taste. The opening scene depicted young girls from the beginning of time playing with dolls, baby dolls, in mimicry of motherhood, for little girls to look forward to growing into motherhood. Then suddenly a supersized Barbie doll appears, like the monolith in "2001, A Space Odyssey", and indeed, the icon music from that famous scene was playing loudly in that scene. The monolith, however, was a Barbie that all the young girls suddenly idealized, and therefore ― here's the bad taste in humor ― the little girls start smashing their little baby dolls. Left and right baby dolls are smashed against the ground, against rocks, their little head exploding into fragments. Funny? No, misguided violence and disturbing imagery. Why in the world did the writers and directors think that was funny?

Then we meet Barbie and the scenes are all in pink, and happy. And there are lots of Barbies in addition to the star of the show, Barbie. And we meet Ken. Lots of Kens, too. And as the thin-as-bullion plot develops, Barbie and Ken visit the real world where Ken learns about "patriarchy" and when they return to Barbieland, Ken stages a coup and with all the other Kens they establish good, old-fashioned male dominance ― patriarchy. The villain in the show is patriarchy.

Which leads to the question, "Did Korea dislike Barbie because of the entrenched patriarchy of Korean society?" That was the question my editor asked me.

The answer I have come up with is that there's more to it than that. And if Barbie is seen as a statement against patriarchy, why didn't it have supernal success in Korea where Korean women could laud the movie as an ally in the battle against Korean patriarchy.

I think the movie failed in Korea because of the deep-seated American cultural idioms that were the framework of the movie. Iconic cultural images that were deeply seated in American culture over the last fifty years were the fabric of the movie. Subtle cultural tropes that make sense, and are humorous, to an American audience, fell flat, and were "missed" by most of the Korean audience.

Some jokes don't translate well into other cultures. Barbie was full of such jokes. And images. Sexist tropes such as the "running gag" of a pregnant Barbie that failed to catch on commercially ― "thought we discontinued you". And the Mattel board of directors, all men in suits, 20 men in suits, was an obvious visual joke, and they played it out by having Barbie ask the CEO why there weren't any women in the boardroom, by his response that there was one in 1975, and another in 1980― "well, that's two", he said.

The resolution to the story was to have the "real" inventor of Barbie, a matronly, old, wise woman make sense of it all with some matronly wise advice. A feel-good moment that fell flat. More nonsense than resolution. More half-baked cultural distillation that was designed to make you feel good about the two hours you just wasted watching this cardboard pink fluff.

Did Barbie fail in Korea because of the "patriarchy"? I don't think so. It failed because it was one fully-loaded package of American culture of the last 50 years, which didn't convey much meaning to Korean audiences. In a sense, that's a very good thing. Korea is so "Americanized" in many ways that one would think the Barbie thing would work well in Korea. It is to Korea's credit that they are not sufficiently Americanized to "appreciate" the movie. In a sense the movie serves a useful purpose in Korea ― it tells us that Korea is not as Americanized as we had feared. And that's good. Thanks Barbie for proving that to us.

Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is a professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.