I'm so glad that Ian Leslie made part of this Substack post open! I've read so many posts which wrestle with WHAT DOES IT MEAN…? It means we can laugh at ourselves and the way we see the world. We can PLAY.

The Ruffian: Barbearheimer [excerpt], 2023-Aug-26 by Ian Leslie

… Barbie is best enjoyed with your left brain switched off. People are making a category error when they try to establish whether it has a feminist message or not. Barbie doesn’t make a coherent argument about feminism or capitalism and it’s not trying to. It’s aiming to feel modern, fresh, and above all, funny. Rather than advancing intellectual ideas, it uses intellectual-sounding talk as a colour in its tonal palette, a striking and funny contrast to the vacuity of its characters. Barbie tickles the frontal cortex, site of Deep Thoughts, but its purpose is to raid the hypothalamus, source of endorphins…