When Barbie was released in July 2023, social media was immediately flooded with discourse as people reacted to the highly-anticipated movie.
And the Barbie discourse erupted once again earlier this year when Margot and Greta didn’t receive Best Actress or Best Director Oscar nominations, but Ryan Gosling did receive a Best Supporting Actor nomination, as well as a nod in the Best Original Song category.
Now, almost nine months after Barbie’s release, the debate around its feminist themes has once again gained traction due to Shakira’s claim that watching the film had been an “emasculating” experience for her two sons.
In case you missed it, Shakira made a series of eyebrow-raising comments about Barbie in a new interview with Allure that was published on Monday.
Suffice to say, people had a lot of opinions on Shakira’s comments and took to social media to share their thoughts.
It was also pointed out that Shakira’s quotes validated the entry-level feminism that previously saw Barbie receive backlash, with one popular comment reading: “When I watched it I thought that the feminist message was a bit basic and superficial, but it seems that actually that message is needed a lot.”
While another claimed: “If your sons hated a freaking Barbie movie because they felt ‘emasculated’ then you have failed to raise them correctly, like that’s on you beautiful.”