MovieChat Forums > Barbie (2023) Discussion > Randall Park is right and wrong

Randall Park is right and wrong

posted a year ago by jk90us (8195)
9 replies | jump to latest

Actor Randall Park said studios got the wrong idea about the success of this film because now they’re green lighting more movies about toys.

Instead he says they should be focusing on movies about and by women.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/randall-park-uses-barbie-to-make-great-point-about-how-clueless-hollywood-can-be_n_64de715ce4b0ee8ece70a75c

He’s right about the first part but not the second.

The lesson here is to make entertaining films with a wide appeal. Period. Doesn’t matter what they’re about or who writes and directs them (as long as they’re qualified to do it).

Other films have hit and passed the billion dollar mark that aren’t female centric. They’re just entertaining with a mass appeal — for men and women.

Also, Park said, “Very few movies manage to cater to women without condescending to them.” Problem is, most mainstream films focused on female characters released the past few years have been condescending to men.

There’s no need to condescend to either. That drives people away rather than attracts a wide audience.

[–] liscarkat (19395) a year ago

They should be focusing on making movies about interesting people, written and directed by competent film makers. The sex of the characters and makers should remain irrelevant.

[–] jk90us (8195) a year ago

Exactly. But the mindset these days seems to be based on retaliation.

White men have been the focus of a majority of entertainment projects for several decades — onscreen and behind the scenes — so by god studios are now pushing it in the opposite direction.

But they’re finding that in most cases there isn’t a big enough audience to make it worthwhile.

And the quality is mostly subpar because the plots focus on retaliation against white men rather than an interesting story with compelling characters.

The only way writers know how to make female characters look smart is by making male characters look dumber.

[–] Towelie_Towel (1786) a year ago

Just go around, and see how many people say out of nowhere "ugh you're just a white heterossexual male so your time is up".

Just the other day a random screenwriter in his 40s was giving his opinion, suddenly a bunch of comments in his social media disregarding his opinion because he's an irrelevant old white dude and he's had his time so he should shut up.

It doesn't take a lot of braincells to understand that this is just wrong.

[–] jk90us (8195) a year ago

Yep. And in the end, the market (ie ticket sales) become the deciding factor.

[–] Strazdas (2472) 10 months ago

>White men have been the focus of a majority of entertainment projects for several decades

Thats not even true. Historically women have more leading roles than men if you include all genres instead of only snob ones (ie Sci-fi, Horror).

[–] CMX (266) a year ago

"Also, Park said, “Very few movies manage to cater to women without condescending to them.” Problem is, most mainstream films focused on female characters released the past few years have been condescending to men. "

The way movies are condescending to women is that theres female characters who can do nothing wrong and the writers are treating women like they're children. Movies arent condescending to men, the'yre just shitting on them.

Also, Randall is being very naive if he thinks that movies made by women for women is a key to making a blockbuster. Charlie's angels remake for instance was very much that and bombed. Barbie seems to be more a lightning in a bottle.

[–] jk90us (8195) a year ago

Exactly. Most films about women by women have little appeal to a mass audience and therefore fail.

The Charlie’s Angels remake bombed because Elizabeth Banks geared it toward women only. Yet the CA movies by McG in the early 2000s were hits because they were fun action movies everyone can enjoy.

[–] Burk48917 (11495) a year ago

I was going to say the same thing. This movie just hit the right spots with marketing and timing. It's absolutely lightning in a bottle. Nothing they make to follow will perform this well.

[–] Strazdas (2472) 10 months ago

But barbie wasnt about women. Barbie was about men and their place in modern society. Hence why the culmination of the movie is not barbies taking the constitution back, but Ken realizing he is Ken, not Barbie-adjacent.