I feel like I could write a whole essay right now on the Barbie movie and the fact that the original star was going to be Any Schumer but she quit because it wasn’t “feminist enough”, and how the internet reacted to this information. There’s just a lot of missing the point going on in that story. First of all, Amy quit because she couldn’t envision a way for feminism to include stereotypical feminine interests like pink and shopping and bikinis basically.
From what she’s said about it, she felt it would be more progressive to make Barbie an inventor or a scientist. The thing about (at least modern) feminism though is that its goal isn’t to make every woman a scientist or a doctor, its goal is for everyone to be treated equally regardless of their gender identity or their interests. Liking girly shit is just as valid as challenging stereotypes as a woman.
Anyway the feminist reclamation of overly feminine interests and aesthetic choices is the whole reason a Barbie movie for adults was a viable project. Making Barbie an inventor for *the* Barbie Movie would send the wrong message, because the message NEEDED to be that it’s okay to like Barbies and pink and whatever you want and still be liberated. We already know women can be scientists.
And the last thing I have to say is that I can’t point to anything specific that I read, but I got a very icky feeling from the online reactions to the news about Schumer. I’m sure nobody would admit this but I suspect the reason so many people were saying the movie dodged a bullet when she quit has something to do with her appearance and not just the fact that she isn’t exceptionally funny.