Why Did ‘Barbie’ Bomb in South Korea?
Why Did ‘Barbie’ Bomb in South Korea?
A lack of cultural nostalgia attached to the toy and wariness of the film's feminist messaging may have kept the Korean audience away from the Hollywood mega-hit: "There is no real fan base for 'Barbie' in Korea.”
A lack of cultural nostalgia attached to the toy and wariness of the film's feminist messaging may have kept the Korean audience away from the Hollywood mega-hit: "There is no real fan base for 'Barbie' in Korea.”
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The country’s gender debate is so stark that during the 2022 presidential election, Yoon Suk-yeol, of the conservative People Power party, ran a winning campaign while pledging to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, claiming that the ministry promotes reverse discrimination against men.
Crap like this is why the media has no reputation. The "Ministry of Gender Equality and Family" is 여성가족부 in Korean - which means Ministry of Women and Family. It is literally a pro-woman Ministry. This is fine and nobody I know voted for Yoon, but you have to understand it is literally a ministry dedicated for reverse discrimination. The fact the article wrote it this way is such a baffling lie to anyone who knows the subject.
Though there's no such thing as reverse discrimination. It's just good, old discrimination.
I’m not sure The Hollywood Reporter would be anyone’s first place to learn about the internal politics of South Korea.
I would agree, if they didn't literally have an article titled "Why Did 'Barbie' Bomb in South Korea?"
Just because a publication tries to tackle a topic doesn't mean they are qualified, or that we should use that as an example of why the entire industry of journalism should be written off.
To be fair I generally feel this way about topics I'm actually knowledgeable on. I know the media tries to get it right and in this case it doesn't seem intentional. But it happens far too often and why would I assume it only happens on subjects I'm familiar with?