Barbie dolls, the “Star Wars” movies and toys have entertained generations of American children — in many cases, well into adulthood. But the influence of these brands extends beyond a love of bright pink and lightsaber combat.
In particular, both “Barbie” movie, to be released in July 2023, and “Star Wars” TV series called “Andor” Provides important lessons about revolution.
Hollywood has long been obsessed with revolution. Uprising has also been featured in other popular film franchises, such as The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, and Avatar.
In each fictional universe, an oppressed group launches a revolution for political and economic freedom.
as an expert Violence and democratizationWe have write to How pop culture can help people better understand real-life political movements and crises.
We also use movies and shows in the classroom to help students understand why revolutions happened.
Whether it’s “Barbie” or “Andorra” Very useful for those who want to understand why revolutions occur and what conditions are required for revolutions to occur.
Their basic point is that before any revolution can begin, the oppressed must First recognize their oppression.
Repression leads to radicalization
Barbie begins in the fictional, pink, perfect Barbieland of California. Almost everyone is a version of a Barbie or Ken doll. These women—all named Barbie—are in charge of Barbie Land. However, these people—collectively known as Ken—were blissfully unaware that they were experiencing political, economic, and social oppression.
These people are not part of the Barbie Land government. They don’t work. Main character Ken, played by actor Ryan Gosling, describes his job as “beachy.” It’s unclear where Ken’s family lives, as only the women live in the plastic, immaculate home.
It’s not until the protagonist Ken leaves the Barbie Land universe and unexpectedly enters the real world that he realizes that men are oppressed in their hometown.
Ken believes that men have power in corporate offices and elsewhere in the real world. He returns to Barbiland with a desire to improve the lives of other Kens. The Kens then took all of Barbie’s houses as their own and took away all the important jobs in Barbie Land. They then tried to change the constitution – but Barbie ultimately stopped them.
Meanwhile, Cassian Andor, the protagonist in the Star Wars universe, had a similar experience. Andor lives under the tyrannical Galactic Empire. Unlike the Ken family, Andor is somewhat aware of the oppressive nature of the Empire. As a young man, Andor witnessed Imperial troops killing his friends. When he resisted, he was sent to a “youth center,” Similar to juvenile prisonfor three years.
But instead of becoming a rebel as he grew older, Andor quietly exploited the system and stole money from the Empire. It wasn’t until he experienced severe repression in prison that he attempted to truly overthrow the Empire.
The bottom-up revolution is full of challenges
These fictional universes also illustrate how difficult it is for revolutionary leaders to recruit and organize others to help fight for their cause. sometimes, The cost of fighting may be too high, because the ruling government can imprison or execute anyone who tries to change the system. This hindered participation in the revolution. If costs were lower, it might be easier to recruit revolutionaries.
In “Barbie,” when the Kens try to change the constitution to give men all power, Barbie doesn’t fight back with violence. Instead, they deceived the Ken family and made them jealous of each other, causing them to be divided and unable to work together to change the constitution. Barbie’s lack of violent reactions reduces the potential risk of revolution in the Ken family. This makes it easier for the master ken to recruit other kens to change the system.
This is not the case in Andorra. The price for seeking change was death, and few joined the revolution.
It was not until Ando was imprisoned that he decided that the cost of inaction was higher than the cost of joining the revolution. When he was imprisoned, he realized that no matter what he did, the Empire would torture him to death. He then decided to join the other prisoners in an uprising.
In real life, recruiting others to join the revolution becomes easier over time if More and more people are participating. The larger the population, the harder it is for the government to punish everyone who rebels. In turn, this makes it safer to join the cause, which means more people are likely to join.
The prison uprising in Andor illustrates this point.
Ando convinces the other prisoners to rebel by telling them truthfully that 5,000 more people will fight with them. He explained that the number of prisoners will far outnumber the number of prison guards. Then all the other prisoners decide to fight back and escape because their chances of successfully escaping are higher and their chances of being punished are lower.
Maintain peace in real life
Both “Barbie” and “Ando” teach us how to maintain peace after a revolution: integrating the opposition into the government is crucial.
After Ken’s rebellion, the Barbie family incorporated more of the Ken family into the government of the Barbie kingdom. The narrator suggests that the Ken family will eventually gain as much power and influence as “women in the real world have.”
After the rebellion in Andor, a government called the New Republic was formed after the uprising and realized that in order to maintain peace, it had to give political amnesty To a former member of the failed Galactic Empire.
Most civil wars end in One side wins, but few negotiate a peace agreement.
However, even if one side wins the war, research shows The winning side still needs to include losing side to prevent further violence.
After a revolution or civil war, government policy seeks to create equality and fairness, Share power with marginalized groups and give Amnesty for opponents can go a long way toward preventing future violence.
However, maintaining peace after a revolution remains challenging.civil uprising in Afghanistan From 1992 to 1996, central african republic from 2012 to present, and Syria Everything from 2011 to the present shows that maintaining peace after a civil war is difficult. All three places have seen violent uprisings challenging government control. All three countries are internally divided and controlled by different governments and militia groups, and violence and political instability are common.
One of the best predictors of civil war is whether a country has experienced one civil war within the past five years. Over time, the further a country moves away from its last internal conflict, the less likely it is that a civil war will break out.
In “Barbieland,” once Barbie is back in power, the Kens need to feel like they have a voice and some control over their lives, or they might see another Ken rebellion. That’s concerning because the president has rejected the Ken family’s request for a Supreme Court seat, instead suggesting he might serve as a lower court judge. Does this indicate more trouble ahead for Barbieland?
The revolution is not resolved in Andor either, we have to wait until Jedi Counterattack to resolve the rebellion. However, the eventual New Republic was unable to avoid conflict, and in the seventh Star Wars movie, the First Order rose up and destroyed the New Republic Senate.
Revolution is difficult, but governing the country is even more difficult.
Michael A. Allen is a professor of political science, boise state university and Julie vandusky allen is an assistant professor of political science, boise state university.
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