Barbie

The opening of Bradley Cooper's film, Maestro, is a title card with a quote from Leonard Bernstein:  

“A work of art does not answer questions, it provokes them; and its essential meaning is in the tension between the contradictory answers.”

Let me describe for you my favorite scene in Barbie:  Ken, a man who has been repressed his entire life as a second-class citizen in the world of Barbie, finds himself walking alone through an office park in Century City, where he starts to notice that things are different here in the real world...  Men get to drive the cars, there's a poster of Stallone from Rocky III hanging in the gym, a man tells his female assistant to "wait a minute" while he finishes his conversation with two male colleagues, all the Presidents on the money are men, and then, without explanation the screen is filled with a montage of random men, some swimming, some wearing cowboy hats and smiling, and then the screen splits into three columns, each with a different image of Stallone.  This entire scene is set to an upbeat rendition of the opening theme from 2001 Space Odyssey by Richard Strauss.  I was laughing for the entire scene; the combination of the over-the-top visuals, and Ken's reactions made me feel a genuine happiness for someone getting to finally break free from his chains for the first time.  I realize that this film has been characterized as woke propaganda, but if that's the case, why did Gerwig make Ken the most sympathetic, and most entertaining character?  Barbie on the other hand is a woman who cares only for herself.  She has no empathy towards Ken, but treats him like an accessory that can be tossed aside on a whim, like yesterday's bangle bracelet.  All the women in Barbie's world are just as bad as she is; everyone is so shallow, defined by their occupations, not by the content of their character.  From a man's perspective, I think that Gerwig is turning the tables on gender roles to make me recognize how annoying it must be to women that men take so many things for granted, like of course the next President is going to be a man!  What I don't get is why Barbie is just as mean to Ken at the end of the movie, while Ken has actually grown, and is respectful of Barbie as an individual.  If Gerwig's intent was to comment on society, and advocate for a world in which we all respect each other regardless of gender, then she would have made a unifying ending.  Instead, it seems as though the ultimate message is that Barbie doesn't need Ken, and would be better off without Ken.  The concept that a complementary relationship cannot exist without subjugation, and that empowerment requires emancipation, is extremely sad.  Overall I found Barbie to be much funnier than I expected, and even though I found the message to be disheartening, at least Gerwig stayed true to her vision.  It's great that Ryan Gosling is nominated for Best Supporting Actor, because he was absolutely perfect in the role of being a supporting actor.  Women everywhere should be offended that America Ferrera is nominated for Best Supporting Actress, since the only thing notable in her performance was a monologue delivered towards the end of the movie, which sounded like something middle schooler would write about how unfair life is.  Is Barbie a 'work of art' by Bernstein's definition?  Guys, I've been writing film criticism about Ken and Barbie for the last 45 minutes, of course it was a work of art!