You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to comment ⁠here⁠. I will also periodically update my thoughts on this episode's content at that same link.

Key points of this "speaking":

• I saw "Barbie" and was disappointed. I’m a feminist who did not disagree with any part of its message, and yet I felt it was a wasted opportunity.

• Is this film doing more harm than good for this conversation?

• The best way to approach this question, I think, is to analyze some early forms of virtual reality. One of the first forms of virtual reality is the story (stories, with their beginnings and endings, cannot be found in the empirical world). Ideologies are second-order virtual realities that swallows stories whole (including the story of the self).

• A "message film" is a necessarily dominating aesthetic structure, just like patriarchy is inherently dominating. By being close to a message film, Barbie participates in the same patriarchal logic that it is trying to critique.

• The goal of the artist is to bring us into direct contact with reality, as free as possible from ideology. When we are in direct contact with reality, we realize that reality can be otherwise.

• Unfreedom is feeling there are only the most obvious set of options: a feeling of inevitability creeps into our lives. This happens due to a scarcity of good stories. The path of freedom is nuance.

• If you are brave enough to tell a good story or to live a good story, you will carve new paths of possibility for future generations.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at sondra@sondrawriter.com. You can also check out my website at ⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠my memoir⁠.

Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.