This was fantastic and I say this as someone who saw Barbie twice in theaters. Thank you for reminding us all that women don't have to settle for mean girl misery because it's been normalized!

SAY THE CORSET THING FOR THOSE IN THE BACK

@songweretson1513

29 күн бұрын

Another person of culture, I see

@FaithOriginalisme

29 күн бұрын

@@songweretson1513 I try to be. Lol

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Song opened my eyes a long time ago 😄

@jodieg6318

8 күн бұрын

Here's a hot take from a historian: if Emma Watson didn't want to wear a set of stays as whatever kind of statement there was a historically accurate alternative. A bedgown or Manteau de Lit or short gown, was a garment that was less fitted than a jacket or bodice that was worn as functional work clothes with a petticoat and often without stays.

Thank you for vocalizing issues I had a hard time putting my finger on but bothered me. And off topic, I wish they'd remake 500 Days of Summer from Summer's POV but have no confidence they'll get the nuances right.

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

How would you make the story work from her POV? Genuinely curious :)

@mmem4264

28 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob It's tricky, like I would like it to be clear how insidious what JGL character did was but I'm not sure how to strike the right balance between intentions and actions. Not to mention what we've been ingrained to view as natural/acceptable vs whether that's actually the case or not. Like someone can do a bad thing without being a bad person. But mostly I'd like to focus on how Summer felt and thought about the experience. 🤔

Gotta notice and appreciate the Charmed reference you snuck in there. 😉🧙‍♀

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

I want that to become to my channel what Star Trek is to Jessie Earl's lol

@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose

29 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob Ha ha awesome. Trust me, I for one already consider you my "Charmed go-to" channel. And I'm glad to hear you're a fan of Jessie Earl's videos! 😊

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

@@DJtheBlack-RibbonedRose Oh she's great. I sometimes aren't able to watch every one because of the length but I have mad respect for her

Barbie (2023) did manage to make me tear up during the montage scenes of our title character experiencing human emotion, both in the park and with Ruth, as it made me nostalgic towards the pure joy of my being a 2000's Barbie lover growing up, and the fact that I can still have appreciation for my childhood loves as an adult. And I did like Little Women (2019), though admittedly, what I most remember from it nowadays is Florence Pugh's performance as Amy. Plus, I'd already watched the "female writer mc struggles to have her work respected and published by men" bit in Crimson Peak (2015), and personally, I think I liked it better in that film; probably because it doesn't quite so demand itself to be noticed by the audience (at least in my view), it was simply a part of the story. So, although I like these two films, they don't necessarily make me worship the ground that Greta Gerwig walks on, and it's nice to hear you rationally dissect your mixed feelings towards her work in a rational manner, unlike so many "FEMINISM IS BAD AND STUPID," de-criers who just want the attention. 😌👏

@erikbihari3625

27 күн бұрын

The reason people are going against Feminist ideals lately is because those championing it have forgotten the original goal, and become inverted now going for opressing Man! But if you actually paid attention to things back then, you noticed that girls have been doing nothing but fine dining for years, from shows that go for general appeal but still have good female characters like culture cornerstone last airbender and criminally underrated storm hawks, to explicitly female lead projects like oban star racers,w.i.t.c.h.,Winx club,sailor moon,jem and the holograms,powerpuff girls,my little pony,direct to video barbie movies,personally seen and enjoyed many of them. Powerpuff Girls in particular made an episode explicitly to warn us about this kind of radical and toxic feminism called"Equal Fights", but Man didn't head the warning, and woman took it diffrently, the episode's writer Lauren Faust, after her disillusionment with hasbro/m.l.p. and helping her husband with wander over yonder, turned to DC superhero girls, wich is Feminist crap where Jessica Cruz have two moms,male heroes like hal jordan is a macho meathead,aqualad is a little pipequeak,hawkman is a silent Batman knockoff,flash is a hyperactive ditz,the list goes on, diffrence is night and day! Not to mention female directors like Kathryn Biggolow! This isn't feminism it's being feminazis!

Until you explained why regina becoming Queen of the land at the end was off. I couldn't vocalise why that ending for her in OUAT didn't feel happily ever after for her.😮

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

All credit to Song for giving me that light bulb moment last year 😁

Another insightful video essay. Thanks Bob. Your perspective is informed as always. I enjoyed all of Gerwig’s movies but you make salient points.

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Thank you :)

The 1994 Adaptation is more subtly feminist than the In-your-face Feminist messages of the 2019 Adaptation! At one point Meg says she enjoyed being admired. Marmee replies "Of course not, but if you find your value lies in being merely decorative, I fear that one, that's all you think you are." Louder for the Gretas in the back! Then Jo says "women should vote because they are citizens too!" Take that, Greta Gerwig!

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Most female focused media made during the 'Girl Power Era' of the 90s and 2000s was actually better at this sort of thing really. Like Legally Blonde, Bring It On and Miss Congeniality have a LOT going on if you read into them. Way more than Barbie really

@angeliprimlani9389

28 күн бұрын

And not because they are more moral than men or anything, but human beings. I really love the 1994 adaptation.

Thank you!!!! I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why Barbie had this "almost there" or rather a "not quite there" feel to it. You spelled it out PERFECTLY.

@BetterWithBob

19 күн бұрын

Thank you for watching :)

I had heard of Little Women growing up but had only listened to an abridged version once as a kid. So the 2019 version is the one I saw first. I do like that version but there are some things that are definitely off. For one thing Amy's film relationship with Lourie is reduced to her scolding him though most of the film. As you said her speech about womanhood isn't something she should need to explain because they both live in and understand that culture. She says it for the audience's benefit. Also Gerwig removes her one genuinely compassionate scene where she sympathizes and shows her care for Lourie by having her know about Jo's refusal of him at the beginning. I do like Ronan as Jo but after having seen the 1994 film I prefer Wynona Ryder. I do own both versions.

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Lol same. I have the 2019 one on DVD and the 1994 one bought on here

your channel is so refreshing and i hope it takes off because i’m tired of the loudest voices on this platform being garbage like the critical drinker

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

I've never personally watched but my old best friend used to quote him because he found the accent funny lol

Thank you for this video, I feel like you illustrated very well the issues that I had with the Barbie movie, and in particular that monologue. It definitely helps to see that this isn't a single instance of heavy-handed moral messaging, but rather a pattern (I haven't seen Little Women, save for some clips here and there - I enjoyed the version with Winona Ryder and didn't feel the need for another version). I think the thing that bothered me the most about the monologue is that, narratively speaking, it felt unearned. Yes, everything that was stated was valid in terms of describing women's experiences, but the character saying those things hadn't earned that moment, she didn't have an arc that showed her struggling with those pressures, and her audience of Barbies likewise didn't need that speech, as it was describing experiences none of them have had or understand. It just felt like the movie assumed the audience wouldn't be able to understand its message if it were delivered with subtlety.

@BetterWithBob

19 күн бұрын

Very well said!

Quite the poignant analysis and I mostly quite agree with you, except for some details, which might be small, but I like noticing small gems. 😊 I also love learning about film history and to see you debunk so many arguments that seem to be so prevalent in Online spaces. Especially when you spoke about mean girls being the ideal today. I could only happily agree. 🎉🎉 We might not be quite alike, as learned to dislike the clear-cut black-and-white morality in stories, which is why I HATE stories like ‘Morality Bites’ in Charmed, but I can’t deny that I also learned much from you…

I think Barbie doesn't lend itself well to being a movie due to the lack of a storyline for the toys themselves. If you take a property like Transformers for instance, that has the basic storyline of good robots vs bad robots, and while it's basic as I mentioned, it can still be used as a foundation for a film's story. With Barbie, the only way they could get it to feasibly work was by having her still be a toy in her movie and having her discover humanity and emotions and what not, which is a story we've seen time and again. It makes it a bit uninspired imo.

@BetterWithBob

10 күн бұрын

Very well said. And since the gimmick of Barbie was that she could be 'anything', the other films had to be fairy tale retellings

Narnia series was one of my favorite books growing up!

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

The Horse and His Boy is actually my favourite lol

@cerenaksu114

28 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob thank you for reminding me that this series exist! I just ordered to read them again ^^ this time in it's original language

3:29 there is also a Venezuelan Telenovela adaptation of Little Women set during the war for independence.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

Ooh really? How was it?

@clarapilier

28 күн бұрын

@BetterWithBob back then, I liked it a lot. But it had all the signifiers of a Telenovela made Latin America. Heightened drama.

@metamaus5701

27 күн бұрын

Yes! I was obsessed with it as a kid, which in turn made me become obsessed with the novel, even though between the revolutionary plot(s), the Jo and Laurie characters getting together and Beth having sex in a convent with a Wickham-like character invented for the adaptation they couldn't be more different. I often wonder if the telenovela holds up any. 😂

I was going into a very rambling thought reply but as I thought of it, Gerwig and more widely pop feminism seems to be an evolved version of Not Like Other Girls, in that our 'strong female character' is different from other women (and therefore better than them) according to whatever is labeled as 'feminist', weather its Galadriel being turned into a cynical warrior because donning armor and kicking ass shows how she is strong, determined, and capable (even though she was already all those things in the book), or Jo March not accepting anything but glowing praise for her writing because she's a girl boss who knows her worth. I have something that I call The Eowyn Problem: When I was 14, Eowyn was my favorite character in LOTR because 14 year old me loved the idea of the woman warrior with all her strength and determination. 14 year old me could also hated how her story ended with her being married and settling into a peaceful life rather than being the kick-ass lady warrior she was so clearly meant to be. Than 35 year old me read LOTR again and actually saw Eowyn as a fully developed character with reasons and motivation for her act of heroism: she wasn't there to show the boys how it was done or to prove her mettle, she ended up on Pelanor Field because she had no hope for the war being won and she went to die in way she found honorable rather than at the hands of an invaliding army and all the horror that implies. 14 year old me only wanted to see a symbol, mature me see's the character and the modern trend of 'strong women' only sees symbols.

@BetterWithBob

7 күн бұрын

Excellently put :)

Got my popcorn at the ready 😊

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Awww 😊

I miss read the title as "cinematic crushes"😅

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

Fair 😂😂

Hi Bob! Disclaimer I haven't seen this movie and agree with your takes about Laurie and Amy being unhealthy. Is it possible that the film that the writers were going for what tv tropes called Belligerent sexual Tension ? I really dislike this trope for many reasons. I will always prefer friends to lovers over enemies to lovers.

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Possibly they were. It's not really exclusive to Greta Gerwig and just happens in a lot of today's films it seems

@jeanfalconer6377

29 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob Thank you😊

I'd like to defend the 2019 Little Women movie just a bit. I get the criticism that the movie doesn't develop Prof. Bhaer and makes his attraction for Jo seem to just be that he's hot. But to be fair, the movie has a lot of characters to develop and only two hours and a bit to develop them all. Considering that, I think it's awesome how complete most of their arcs feel, especially compared to most adaptations which only develop Jo, Laurie, Beth and the professor. Jo does suffer a little bit for her temper tantrum in response to Prof. Bhaer's feedback. When her mother advises her to go back to New York, she says glumly that she ruined her friendship with him. (Or was that just in the script and got cut from the final movie?) I agree though that it would have made for a better character arc to have her apologize to him. A big part of the reason so many readers have preferred the idea of a Jo-Laurie romance or even the Jo-Bhaer romance to the Amy-Laurie romance is because of the lack of conflict in the last one, so I can't blame the movie for wanting to add more drama to it. (It is rather eyebrow raising though one of the reasons given for why Jo and Laurie wouldn't work as a couple is that they fight too much when Amy and Laurie seem just as combative.) Also, the book Little Women is full of speechifying and moralizing albeit less about feminism per se and more about morality in general, so I feel like that's what people expect, even want from an adaptation. I do agree though that the movie really oversimplifies the story behind the book's creation and publication, mainly the part about Louisa May Alcott not wanting to write it, for the sake of social commentary and the ending, while it seems clever at first, is ultimately frustrating. And, yeah, more historically accurate costumes and hairdos would have been welcome.

I’M READYYYY

@BetterWithBob

Ай бұрын

Ma boooooyyyyy

I've not actually seen any of these movies, partly becuase they aren't my type and partly because I'm not a fan of modern Feminist stories for exactly the reasons you've laid out here! As someone fundementaly uninterested in romance, I still loved that Charmed showed how a woman wasn't less because she wanted it! Women used to make mistakes and learn! Now they are always right or else. My bullies in school were always girls. To see those same personalities lauded as Strong Women now pisses me off to no end! So thank you for calling that out!

Wait is fake charmed the reason we didn’t get an appearance from Audrey in Descendants 2 lol

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

If that gives me more reason to bash it out of sheer immature pettiness then yes

Thank you for this. You pretty much nailed everything I dislike about modern, pop feminism.

Around the 34 minute mark you're talking about "high spots" Whenever this type of thing comes up, I think of Super Bunny Hop's video about the importance of Quiet Time: he talks about how contrast helps keep a story interesting and engaging, that you can't have the entire story be action or tension, that the quiet moments contrast with the louder or busier (or whatever) moments and that contrast is what keeps it engaging and memorable. It's okay to show and show and show and then to take a moment to tell... but if your movie (or tv show, or book, or whatever) is just many small moments of telling, then one big monologue, it'll almost certainly fall flat. (There are, of course, exceptions, as in all art. "Crank" is obviously an attempt to make a movie that's ALL climax. But something like that is gimmicky; it can be fun to try, to break from convention, but it shouldn't be the only tool you have in your toolbag.)

@BetterWithBob

27 күн бұрын

Oh yes absolutely. Excellent analysis :)

I loved the 2019 little women movie!!! But honestly, that was the only great herring movie I loved, and even I acknowledge it has its problems… I genuinely couldn’t finish Barbie I got such terrible secondhand embarrassment, and ladybird was also terribly cringy to me at the time watching it. I was the same age as the main characters in ladybird and I felt like it was so condescending and trying to hard to be “artsy”. I’ve never understood the great herring hype as a director tbh, sorry not sorry 🤷‍♀️

The thing with the editor and his daughters in the 2019 Little Women is sort of based on history but sensationalized for dramatic effect. Thomas Niles, Louisa May Alcott's editor, wasn't impressed with the first ten chapters or so of Little Women. But he didn't just dismiss the idea of the book. (As this video mentions, he was the one who requested Alcott to write it.) Instead, he showed the chapters to young girls who were the target audience and they loved it. FWIW, I think what the film does makes for better drama, but I understand the video essay's point that the movie was taking all the nuance out of history for the sake of the Message.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

Yes it's an unfortunate fallacy in modern pop feminism that you can challenge a misogynist or chauvinist into being more progressive when in all likelihood someone who isn't already progressive minded is unlikely to change their views very suddenly because someone commands them to

@theadaptationstationmaster

28 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob I'm not really sure how that applies to the scene in question since I thought the movie's implication was that the editor just decided to publish Jo's book since his daughters proved there was a market for it. I wouldn't call that changing his entire worldview or anything.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

It feels a bit much to me because a straw misogynist would probably dismiss his three daughters and be like "what do they know?" and that guy is just presented as so straw misogynist, like not even caring about his wife or her mother

@theadaptationstationmaster

28 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob OK, fair enough. I guess I interpreted the argument with his wife as being humorous filler. You see I read the script online first which describes the wife as trying to start an argument, making her seem bad too. FWIW, I actually find the 1994 Little Women more tiresomely preachy when it comes to sexism, racism, etc. I mean, in one scene we cut from Marmee talking about how bad corsets are to Jo complaining about her skirts. That pretty much killed subtlety. Also, it bugs me that they shoehorned a line in about how Amy's teacher thinks it's as useful to educate a woman as a cat. If that's his opinion, why is he running a school specifically for girls?! Instead of making me hate him, that line actually kind of made me feel sorry for the guy since he apparently believes he's wasting his life.

@theadaptationstationmaster

28 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob I hasten to add after my last comment that I really do enjoy the 1994 movie. I think it's casting, music and art direction are all much better than those of the 2019 one. I just think the 2019's script is much better. I know that's very different from your take but what can I say?

“It’s a well-written Instagram post.” Dude. Yes. Nailed it. I loved the humor of the movie, but otherwise, didn’t enjoy it primarily for the heavy-handedness, the narration and exposition. I’m glad I saw it, but I wouldn’t watch it again.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

Same lol. Once was enough for me

I think my problem is that she rips compassion out of her females. The Charmed women transformed their world by compassion. So women can be just as self centered as the males Gerwig hates and speaks against.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

Excellently put 👏👏👏

@pamelatarajcak5634

28 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob which makes me scared of how terrible her Chronicles of Narnia will be. All of the radical Christian compassion Lewis infused will be obliterated. Queen Susan will no longer be "The Gentle." Aravis will rage at the unfairness of Aslan giving her stripe for stripe that her maid received due to Aravis running away. Ugh.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

@@pamelatarajcak5634 the optimist in me thinks that maybe she will be delicate with it, since she did have a Catholic upbringing herself, and hopefully his estate will be a steadying hand keeping things true to the books

10:58 i wish youd make an entire video on this topic. Everytime this issue is spotlighted the response especially from Women is usually cruel/one sided/and just reeks of the feeling of "who cares what matters to men?"

@BetterWithBob

18 күн бұрын

That would be interesting 🤔 but my mentor whose comment is pinned to the top does a lot of videos on topics like that if you'd like to check them out 🙂

THANK YOU FOR THE SASHA CALLOUT. I HATED that the movie just let her get away with being so vicious to a clearly clueless stranger without ever being called on it or humbled. The movie just let it slide like she was in the right or some kind of righteous young"truth-teller", when really she was just using pseudo-social justice buzzwords as a cover to bully someone who is NOT the source of the problem, to try and look cool in front of her friends. It actually feeds into some of the worst stereotypes about teenagers and about people who legitimately try to call out societal problems in a constructive way. It struck me as a boomer's idea of what a "woke" young person is like. I really hated it.

@BetterWithBob

23 күн бұрын

Greta was born in 1983 so that'd make her Gen X rather than a Boomer but I see your point.

I have seen non of these movies but it sounds like Greta Gerwig is the female version of Joss Whedon and these films suffer from what as a video game would be called ludo-narrative-dissonance but I have no idea what the right term for a film is.

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Oh my 😂😂

I thought Greta Gerwig was that little activist girl I saw all over Facebook lol

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

little harsh lol

💥💥💥

43:01 - 43:21 . This sentiment is lost in entertainment right now, most notably with musicians. The fan bases of two female singers in particular come to mind.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

Who's the second? I assume the first is Ms Swift

@Randomnamerandomnumber

28 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob you assume correctly. The other is Beyonce. You either like her country album or you're *insert accusation here*.

@BetterWithBob

27 күн бұрын

Ah I don't have much context for that because I'm used to seeing people decrying her for apparently running sweat shops for her merch or not writing her own stuff, so I was more surprised when I discovered how praised she is. I'm fairly neutral on her - since the last Beyoncé song I remember is Single Ladies

@Randomnamerandomnumber

27 күн бұрын

​@@BetterWithBob I don't particularly enjoy Beyonce's music. I am a fan of Taylor Swift, but I can't say I've enjoyed everything she has put out. To that point, I think her latest album would have been better served as a graphic poetry novel coupled with performance poetry audio. In place of music videos, I imagine performance poetry set to the backdrop of short stories that could stand alone but still come together (like Black Mirror). Sort of like a jazz poetry/opera/music video hybrid.

small remark: yes, since ages there have been movies and media for women, but what those female characters in them were like is a big question to me. among all the disney princesses that a girl in the early 00s could pick from there was barely a story that was not only about a happy ending with a guy. Mulan was there, yes, but that is it. You would need to wait for at least 10 years to get a deeper story, like Princess and a Frog. Same with books:) harry potter? lord of the rings? percy jackson? of course, they had female characters but it isn't Hermione Granger and the Philosopher's Stone, right? This would have been a completely different story with a different focus. I am not claiming that they are bad for not having a female lead! No! Just pointing out that yes, media made for women existed but the portrayal of the female character was very limited

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

I mean I wouldn't call Princess and the Frog deep since I consider Tiana the weakest princess from a writing POV, but I see your point

@Randomnamerandomnumber

28 күн бұрын

@Yourfairyfish What about Pocahontas? That was my favorite movie as a child, and it wasn't because of the love story. To me, it always felt like the love between Pocahontas and John was there to represent the message and move the deeper themes of the plot along, rather than to take center stage. I'd go as far as to say it's her relationship with the willow tree that left a stronger impression on my young mind. I haven't watched it again as an adult, but if I remember correctly, she also chooses her love and loyalty toward her tribe over John. But something to consider (whether it adds a new perspective, or reaffirms the one you've got): the 00s had movies like UpTown Girls, Legally Blonde, Thirteen, Aquamarine, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, and The Devil Wears Prada, to name just a few. These focused primarily on friendships, personal growth, and self-love, understanding, and acceptance. Though not without their faults, I'd still say they redefined what a female character could look like. Or at least they started too. With it being all white, stereotypically beautiful women in the lead roles, there were still many young girls who probably felt isolated and unrepresented. But it was definitely a step in the right direction.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

Pocahontas is one of my favourites. Criminally underrated I was going to include a section on those 90s and 2000s female characters in things like Legally Blonde for comparison but that would probably be enough material for a video on its own lol

@AC-dk4fp

23 күн бұрын

With books that's a massive supply issue on your part. Those three series were all written with a male audience one just happened to have had a female author. Harry Potter's direct contemporary rival on the British children's fiction charts was the works of Philip Pullman (male author with mostly female protagonists) and his direct predessor is The Worst Witch (magic school, female protagonist). There are loads of female protagonist children's books predating the 2000s and you've listed Lord of the Rings so just had bad luck to have not been exposed to Tamora Pierce or other High Fantasy with female characters. Wizard of Oz has mostly female protagonists as does Alice in Wonderland its not like girls have been side characters for the majority of the history of children's fiction. Sounds like you only had access to a tiny narrow band of succesful books which sucks but lack of opportunity to find what was there is very different from what existed.

@metal-lace

3 күн бұрын

Tamora Pierce has at least 20 books with a female main character. More than one of them don't end up married. And that was before 2010. Her first book came out in the 80's. Diane Duane also has multiple books written with a female protagonist. Again, limitted romance. I agree with Disney Princessess, but that's one corporation. Goosebumps was massivly inclusive for it's time. I'd actually argue Harry Potter was horrible to its female characters. Media for girls and women has frequently been looked down on, but it's there. It always has been.

So excited! I’m READY for the Barbie analysis. Could we use a word besides “crutch” to be more welcoming to those with disabilities? 💗

@BetterWithBob

Ай бұрын

Suggestions? I was going off how in writing we're warned about 'crutch words'?

@trishxc7197

29 күн бұрын

As a yogi I was also taught not to rely on the “crutch” of water, so I get it. What about her cinematic security blanket, comfort zone, go-to, safety net, or cop-out? They may not be as snappy but are each more welcoming

@samtbenjamin

29 күн бұрын

How about the cinematic comfort zone of Greta Gerwig?

Just basing it on how the film looks like in this video, but Gerwig's Little Women film looks so plastic. That look might have fit with Barbie - but not with Little Women. I really, really dislike the so called pop feminism that's so popular today. I hate characters that are written without flaws. Or more like, they have obvious flaws, but they never seem to learn better. Just leaves me with an awful taste in my mouth. That's what I dislike the most about today's movies. Not all movies and all that, but so many series and films have the same problem - flat characters. Characters who seem to consist more of an idea instead of being a full character. I remember films from yesteryear, where female characters were allowed to make mistakes and have flaws, but also allowed to learn from them. Today it seems like too many female characters are written to be more or less perfect, or at least not with anything that can make her seem or feel less in any way. Makes for very, if not extremely, boring characters. I wish female characters were allowed to be more human, period.

@BetterWithBob

28 күн бұрын

We really did peak during the Girl Power Era

It’s funny you finish with open-mindedness about criticism. Taylor Swift, the biggest artist in the world, just released an album and her reaction to the divisive reviews is to pointedly spotlight the unabashedly positive few. I think to be a creative and antagonistic to criticism is detrimental to honest discourse on how we consume art.

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

lol Song literally just released a video about that album and the response to it

@songweretson1513

29 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob Yes, I did!

@deezxc

29 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob who’s Song? Btw are you fond of reading? I’m a writer. I find the character analyses in your vids transferrable to prose medium as well.

@songweretson1513

28 күн бұрын

@@deezxc *raises hand* I'm Song. I made the comments about bonnets and corsets in this video.

@deezxc

26 күн бұрын

@@songweretson1513 oh hey, great contribution:)

Come on dude, don’t tease your videos like this. I fucking hate when my feed gets clogged up with videos I can’t even watch.

@BetterWithBob

Ай бұрын

eh I just happened to finish yesterday and Sunday is the worst day to upload so

@MrHenrytheoctopus

29 күн бұрын

@@BetterWithBob I noticed that a bunch of people dropped videos today. Good job getting a Gerwig video out so quickly, I know it’s hard when your channel is small.

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Eh just a couple of days staying up editing until midnight lol

@MrHenrytheoctopus

27 күн бұрын

⁠@@BetterWithBobI hope you got a good sleep after you uploaded. Great video by the way. Some constructive criticism: Talk more about men. You’re a masc sounding person with a firm grasp on feminism, I wanted to hear you talk more about Kenergy.

It concerns me that grown men went out of there way to watch Barbie lmao

I loved Little Women and Barbie, but I was always bothered by the ending for Barbie and I think this really nailed the beats that felt off to me. It’s good to have flawed and unreliable female protagonists, and I think that’s part of what makes her Gerwig’s work great, but there’s something in the message of both films that feels a little off when paired with characters like that.

@BetterWithBob

29 күн бұрын

Especially with Marion in Lady Bird too, as she's redeemed when Lady Bird finds letters she'd written articulating her feelings but hadn't sent...even though Marion still chose not to send them, and it's the teenager who's the only one trying to work at this relationship