This week I’m breaking down the "Barbie" movie (WITH SPOILERS!). Surprisingly, there’s much more to it than most of us expected. Barbie is about a children’s toy, but it’s not really a children’s movie. No wonder a lot of critics didn’t get it, or want it, and some couldn’t contain their burning hatred of it.

Patriarchy is no more the villain of Barbie than the ring is the villain of The Hobbit. So who's the real enemy?

Masculinity is one of the many taboo topics I’m eager to talk more about. It’s had something of a political moment lately, as Politico Magazine examined in a recent issue. Before we talk movies, this episode begins in conversation with that issue’s editor, looking at the politics of manhood today.

(Ed. Note: in the episode I accidentally said “Thomas Jefferson” when I meant Alexander Hamilton. I caught the error just as I was about to publish the show and noted it in the episode. Sorry about that.)

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