Origins are everything: Barbie was originally the German Lilli doll, an adult toy for men, a joke about acquisitive beautiful women. She was "a gold digging sex symbol" for drunk men. And low and behold little girls liked her so much she became their favorite doll. So "Barbie" by definition is a symbol of the sexual relationship between men and women. If you leave men out of the Barbie story you deeply misunderstand and misrepresent the ambivalence women have about their power in relationship to male sexuality. Lilli was a savvy comic strip seductress and that is why German men found the doll funny. Yes, there really is no fool like an old fool, and men seem to start right out as old fools. Lilli knew that and the doll emphasized it. https://www.messynessychic.com/2016/01/29/meet-lilli-the-high-end-german-call-girl-who-became-americas-iconic-barbie-doll/
I just returned after seeing the movie and suggest not to waste time or money. Condescending grotesque without a single followed through idea, just a string of politically charged vignettes. The movie is not for mature audience, for sure
I enjoyed both films. I see where the right is freaking out about barbie, but respectfully, I found it to be mostly satire. Just kind of seems like one of those autistic and “anything i disagree with is woke” arguments.
I had no interest in seeing the Barbie movie until I taught 12 teenage girls in a journalism summer camp. Just their excitement, not the actual marketing, turned me around. I don’t care if its woke or fascist or consumerist. It’s Barbie for goodness sakes. All I care about is that it’s funny. That it satires that pink car and dream house.
Or....the film that nobody wants to talk about but many are - The Sound of Freedom.
Saw it last night in a packed theater. This film needs to be seen, understood and be a call to action.
The astounding rise in child pornography. America's consumption of it. The fact that so many are held in cruel bondage today yet we screech and obsess about the slavery that America ended almost 160 years ago. The fact that it took five years for this film to be released. And that there is a movement afoot to normalize pedophilia and soften the image of the fiends who engage in it. Why is this film derided by the Left? Why did Rolling Stone insanely screech that it was a superhero film for conservative men with brain worms? What was it about this story of incredible courage and compassion in the face of an unbearable depravity that garnered the sneering condemnation of the Left? Why do we put up with an Administration of freaks that has criminally opened our borders to a tidal wave of drugs and human trafficking? Let's start demanding answers.
I am talking about the left's movers and shakers, the woke tyrants not the lemming like followers. Although you can't just absolve the brain dead followers. Without the brain dead the Dems would have no power. Not all of the brain dead are uneducated idiots. Look no further than our universities who are full of high IQ, educated nitwits. Think Comprof.
Agree. Although not evil on the same level of the ringmasters, those who do their bidding are complicit. How we have mocked the Germans who cried "ve did not know." We, of course you did Fritz, as do the woke followers today.
I wasn't expecting movie reviews (though I had suggested it before). And I would have been pleasantly surprised to see TFP dropped two, except this time your attempt dropped like a dud because I'm sorely, sorely disappointed to see you review two mainstream blockbusters while avoiding the elephant in the room, "Sound of Freedom". I havant't seen it yet (nor the other two either) and would've LOVE an unbiased take of a review, plus an investigation whether the allegation the high box office report is faked. I also would love a deep dive into the alienation of Hollywood against conservatives who make up half the country, i'm not even conservative myself but am getting less and less enthused about media entertainment and the arts now. It's like they actively don't want audience and patrons like me and I keep finding myself asking why do I even pay or show up? They hate me.
Go see Sound of Freedom. It’s a great movie, a great story. I saw it twice because I was visiting family out of state, and then my family at home wanted to see it too. I enjoyed it more the second time I saw it. I don’t know why this film is being labeled a ‘Christian thriller’ or is being made political. It’s about a world-wide, human issue. There are only two general references to God in the film. I would not consider this film to be a faith-based film. There is no gratuitous child SA, or even scenes of that either. Only enough to provide context and conceptual understanding.
I too am sorely disappointed to see you avoid the elephant in the room, Sound of Freedom. The mainstream media's response to the film (absurd QAnon accusations) is extremely telling , as is the silence of many famous people who normally speak out when there are movie reveals about social injustice.
IKR. I thought Sound of Freedom and the phenomenon of people bucking Hollywood would be exactly the kind of thing TFP would pick up. IDK what's going on.
100% We saw Sound of Freedom, last night, in a packed theater. Children being subjected to such depravity and the anguish heaved upon their families is heartbreaking. We must do more to protect our children from the real monsters that walk this earth. Hollywood is paving the way to their own demise and I'm not sad to see it go.
Mark Wahlberg moved to Utah and said he wants to try setting up an alternative Hollywood there. Not sure how far he'll pursue this but I hope he succeeds. Joe Rogan also opened up a new comedy club in Texas where comedians can finally do real comedy again without having to be terror from the Woke brown shirts.
Hollywood is dead. The strike will kill production for a long period of time and most audiences have already tuned out. I recommend seeing Sound of Freedom and paid it forward - the studio creatively allows people to buy tickets for strangers: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-watch-the-sound-of-freedom
Thanks for the reminder of the "pay it forward". I had forgotten about that, and now I suspect the liberal media's allegation that the box office reports are fake is actually a spin when in fact it is church organizations doing the pay it forward thing. Of course you just KNOW that if the liberal side does anything pay it forward, there'd be tons of fawning and self-congratulating of what "Good People"(TM) they are.
Thank you for that post. I saw the Sound of Freedom last night. It is a story of incredible bravery, compassion and sacrifice. But also of evil and depravity on a scale that is unimaginable. All I could think for the rest of the night was about the millions of children who are not rescued but live their lives in torture and degradation. And of the fiends who walk among us. America's shame is not the slavery that we ended a century and a half ago but the sex slavery we won't confront today.
Bruce, thanks for the review. Now I'm definitely going to go see it.
Also, another movie on the same topic that was very well done was The Whistleblower starring Rachel Weisz. It came out in 2010 and it (and the topic) doesn't get the attention it deserves because liberals have decided talking about child porn and sex trafficking is now a Q-anon conspiracy, and sex work must be normalized and legalized because "Sex Work Is Work". Here's the IMBD link and the movie is on Amazon Prime. It's harrowing. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896872/
Thanks Cat. While the Left tries its best to minimize this evil, the truth is that the United States remains the largest producer and consumer of child abuse content in the world. Data from Operation RoundUp — the only source of data known to the U.S. Department of Justice about the volume of child pornography traded over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks — indicates that there were 9.8 million unique IP addresses engaging in P2P file sharing of child pornography domestically, while there were 11.8 million unique IP addresses engaging in P2P file sharing of child pornography internationally. This means that the United States accounts for nearly 50% of all IP addresses engaging in P2P file sharing of child pornography images.
Moreover, although the exact number of children being trafficked is difficult to identify due to the illicit nature of this activity, it is estimated that there are 100,000 to 300,000 children at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States and one million children exploited by the global commercial sex trade each year.
The vile Democrats belittle the idea of child trafficking by saying anybody appalled by this disgusting, horrible practice is a QAnon nut and the Republicans ignore it. To me both actions are criminal. But then again congress is full of unindicted criminals.
Our corrupt congress needs to get off their miserable asses and pass brutal, harsh laws against human trafficking not just child trafficking. We need to fund an independent agency that vigorously pursues and arrests the vicious swine and gives minimum sentences of life in solitary confinement with no parole in a harsh supermax prison.
“When a human being is set upon by a robber, ravisher, murderer, or tyrant of any kind, it is the duty of the bystanders to go to his or her rescue, by force, if need be.
“In general, nothing will excuse men in the non-performance of this duty, except the pressure of higher duties, (if such there be,) inability to afford relief, or too great danger to themselves or others.
“This duty being naturally inherent in human relations and necessities, governments and laws are of no authority in opposition to it. If they interpose themselves, they must be trampled under foot without ceremony, as we would trample under foot laws that should forbid us to rescue men from wild beasts, or from burning buildings.
”On this principle, it is the duty of the non-slaveholders of this country, in their private capacity as individuals—without asking the permission, or waiting the movements, of the government—to go to the rescue of the Slaves from the hands of their oppressors.”
—Lysander Spooner, “A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery”, 1858
Thanks but no thanks Barbie. Conspicuous consumption repulses me. I see it all around me. Shop, shop, shop, buy, buy, buy, get it the same day on Amazon! It’s all so shallow, stuff doesn’t make you happy. I am old enough to remember that the “keeping up with the Jones” parents of the ‘50s gave us the hippies of the ‘60s who rejected their parent’s values and became a confused, lost generation.
They were and are pathetic. How many of that generation still swoon for "Woodstock?" A celebration of fornication and defecation in a drug addled sea of slime and mud. How "elevating" and worthy of "celebration."
Origins are everything: Barbie was originally the German Lilli doll, an adult toy for men, a joke about acquisitive beautiful women. She was "a gold digging sex symbol" for drunk men. And low and behold little girls liked her so much she became their favorite doll. So "Barbie" by definition is a symbol of the sexual relationship between men and women. If you leave men out of the Barbie story you deeply misunderstand and misrepresent the ambivalence women have about their power in relationship to male sexuality. Lilli was a savvy comic strip seductress and that is why German men found the doll funny. Yes, there really is no fool like an old fool, and men seem to start right out as old fools. Lilli knew that and the doll emphasized it. https://www.messynessychic.com/2016/01/29/meet-lilli-the-high-end-german-call-girl-who-became-americas-iconic-barbie-doll/
Entertaining review for Barbie. The Oppenheimer review started strong but strayed into territory that wasn't actually film criticism.
I just returned after seeing the movie and suggest not to waste time or money. Condescending grotesque without a single followed through idea, just a string of politically charged vignettes. The movie is not for mature audience, for sure
I exist in America and have not seen Barbie advertisements anywhere. Glad I don't live near Suzy.
I enjoyed both films. I see where the right is freaking out about barbie, but respectfully, I found it to be mostly satire. Just kind of seems like one of those autistic and “anything i disagree with is woke” arguments.
I had no interest in seeing the Barbie movie until I taught 12 teenage girls in a journalism summer camp. Just their excitement, not the actual marketing, turned me around. I don’t care if its woke or fascist or consumerist. It’s Barbie for goodness sakes. All I care about is that it’s funny. That it satires that pink car and dream house.
Or....the film that nobody wants to talk about but many are - The Sound of Freedom.
Saw it last night in a packed theater. This film needs to be seen, understood and be a call to action.
The astounding rise in child pornography. America's consumption of it. The fact that so many are held in cruel bondage today yet we screech and obsess about the slavery that America ended almost 160 years ago. The fact that it took five years for this film to be released. And that there is a movement afoot to normalize pedophilia and soften the image of the fiends who engage in it. Why is this film derided by the Left? Why did Rolling Stone insanely screech that it was a superhero film for conservative men with brain worms? What was it about this story of incredible courage and compassion in the face of an unbearable depravity that garnered the sneering condemnation of the Left? Why do we put up with an Administration of freaks that has criminally opened our borders to a tidal wave of drugs and human trafficking? Let's start demanding answers.
Bloomberg's main critique was written by a person who is a staunch defender MAPs. As in Minor Attracted Person. Thank you Andy Ngo for his always amazing investigative reporting. https://twitter.com/KrakenQrewZUM/status/1681489934333485061?s=20
So Bloomberg hires scum bags. Hmmm?
I swear if I ever hear someone use that term, I am going to get physical........
You have describe the left perfectly. As I have said, Democrats are evil.
We have to be careful with that broad brush. Certainly, the leaders are. But many of the followers are just deluded into buying their lies.
I am talking about the left's movers and shakers, the woke tyrants not the lemming like followers. Although you can't just absolve the brain dead followers. Without the brain dead the Dems would have no power. Not all of the brain dead are uneducated idiots. Look no further than our universities who are full of high IQ, educated nitwits. Think Comprof.
Agree. Although not evil on the same level of the ringmasters, those who do their bidding are complicit. How we have mocked the Germans who cried "ve did not know." We, of course you did Fritz, as do the woke followers today.
I wasn't expecting movie reviews (though I had suggested it before). And I would have been pleasantly surprised to see TFP dropped two, except this time your attempt dropped like a dud because I'm sorely, sorely disappointed to see you review two mainstream blockbusters while avoiding the elephant in the room, "Sound of Freedom". I havant't seen it yet (nor the other two either) and would've LOVE an unbiased take of a review, plus an investigation whether the allegation the high box office report is faked. I also would love a deep dive into the alienation of Hollywood against conservatives who make up half the country, i'm not even conservative myself but am getting less and less enthused about media entertainment and the arts now. It's like they actively don't want audience and patrons like me and I keep finding myself asking why do I even pay or show up? They hate me.
So @Bari, what gives?
Go see Sound of Freedom. It’s a great movie, a great story. I saw it twice because I was visiting family out of state, and then my family at home wanted to see it too. I enjoyed it more the second time I saw it. I don’t know why this film is being labeled a ‘Christian thriller’ or is being made political. It’s about a world-wide, human issue. There are only two general references to God in the film. I would not consider this film to be a faith-based film. There is no gratuitous child SA, or even scenes of that either. Only enough to provide context and conceptual understanding.
I too am sorely disappointed to see you avoid the elephant in the room, Sound of Freedom. The mainstream media's response to the film (absurd QAnon accusations) is extremely telling , as is the silence of many famous people who normally speak out when there are movie reveals about social injustice.
IKR. I thought Sound of Freedom and the phenomenon of people bucking Hollywood would be exactly the kind of thing TFP would pick up. IDK what's going on.
Yes, agreed! And there has been plenty of time now since the movie was first released for TFP to report on this story.
100% We saw Sound of Freedom, last night, in a packed theater. Children being subjected to such depravity and the anguish heaved upon their families is heartbreaking. We must do more to protect our children from the real monsters that walk this earth. Hollywood is paving the way to their own demise and I'm not sad to see it go.
Mark Wahlberg moved to Utah and said he wants to try setting up an alternative Hollywood there. Not sure how far he'll pursue this but I hope he succeeds. Joe Rogan also opened up a new comedy club in Texas where comedians can finally do real comedy again without having to be terror from the Woke brown shirts.
OX, And The Daily Wire setting up a movie studio in Nashville. Bring it!!
Hollywood is dead. The strike will kill production for a long period of time and most audiences have already tuned out. I recommend seeing Sound of Freedom and paid it forward - the studio creatively allows people to buy tickets for strangers: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-watch-the-sound-of-freedom
Thanks for the reminder of the "pay it forward". I had forgotten about that, and now I suspect the liberal media's allegation that the box office reports are fake is actually a spin when in fact it is church organizations doing the pay it forward thing. Of course you just KNOW that if the liberal side does anything pay it forward, there'd be tons of fawning and self-congratulating of what "Good People"(TM) they are.
Thank you for that post. I saw the Sound of Freedom last night. It is a story of incredible bravery, compassion and sacrifice. But also of evil and depravity on a scale that is unimaginable. All I could think for the rest of the night was about the millions of children who are not rescued but live their lives in torture and degradation. And of the fiends who walk among us. America's shame is not the slavery that we ended a century and a half ago but the sex slavery we won't confront today.
Bruce, thanks for the review. Now I'm definitely going to go see it.
Also, another movie on the same topic that was very well done was The Whistleblower starring Rachel Weisz. It came out in 2010 and it (and the topic) doesn't get the attention it deserves because liberals have decided talking about child porn and sex trafficking is now a Q-anon conspiracy, and sex work must be normalized and legalized because "Sex Work Is Work". Here's the IMBD link and the movie is on Amazon Prime. It's harrowing. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0896872/
Thanks for that recommendation.
Great post!
Thanks Cat. While the Left tries its best to minimize this evil, the truth is that the United States remains the largest producer and consumer of child abuse content in the world. Data from Operation RoundUp — the only source of data known to the U.S. Department of Justice about the volume of child pornography traded over peer-to-peer (P2P) networks — indicates that there were 9.8 million unique IP addresses engaging in P2P file sharing of child pornography domestically, while there were 11.8 million unique IP addresses engaging in P2P file sharing of child pornography internationally. This means that the United States accounts for nearly 50% of all IP addresses engaging in P2P file sharing of child pornography images.
Moreover, although the exact number of children being trafficked is difficult to identify due to the illicit nature of this activity, it is estimated that there are 100,000 to 300,000 children at risk of commercial sexual exploitation in the United States and one million children exploited by the global commercial sex trade each year.
The vile Democrats belittle the idea of child trafficking by saying anybody appalled by this disgusting, horrible practice is a QAnon nut and the Republicans ignore it. To me both actions are criminal. But then again congress is full of unindicted criminals.
Our corrupt congress needs to get off their miserable asses and pass brutal, harsh laws against human trafficking not just child trafficking. We need to fund an independent agency that vigorously pursues and arrests the vicious swine and gives minimum sentences of life in solitary confinement with no parole in a harsh supermax prison.
Why wait for Congress?
“When a human being is set upon by a robber, ravisher, murderer, or tyrant of any kind, it is the duty of the bystanders to go to his or her rescue, by force, if need be.
“In general, nothing will excuse men in the non-performance of this duty, except the pressure of higher duties, (if such there be,) inability to afford relief, or too great danger to themselves or others.
“This duty being naturally inherent in human relations and necessities, governments and laws are of no authority in opposition to it. If they interpose themselves, they must be trampled under foot without ceremony, as we would trample under foot laws that should forbid us to rescue men from wild beasts, or from burning buildings.
”On this principle, it is the duty of the non-slaveholders of this country, in their private capacity as individuals—without asking the permission, or waiting the movements, of the government—to go to the rescue of the Slaves from the hands of their oppressors.”
—Lysander Spooner, “A Plan for the Abolition of Slavery”, 1858
Oh, does it show, I'm fired up about this?
Justifiably so.
Nellie Fails Again
Lighten up!
Nellie didn't write either of these articles.
No interest in watching movies with overt woke messaging
Thanks but no thanks Barbie. Conspicuous consumption repulses me. I see it all around me. Shop, shop, shop, buy, buy, buy, get it the same day on Amazon! It’s all so shallow, stuff doesn’t make you happy. I am old enough to remember that the “keeping up with the Jones” parents of the ‘50s gave us the hippies of the ‘60s who rejected their parent’s values and became a confused, lost generation.
I also reject consumption. To me, less is more. The hippies rejected their parents and embraced drugs. I rejected them then and ever since.
They were and are pathetic. How many of that generation still swoon for "Woodstock?" A celebration of fornication and defecation in a drug addled sea of slime and mud. How "elevating" and worthy of "celebration."
LOL. I take it you did not attend. rock concerts were the staples of my college years. so much fun
Take again. I saw more of the early 60s groups concerts, Beatles, Beach Boys etc. The later ones - more of the true "hippie vibe" groups - no thanks.