Barbie director Greta Gerwig did not expect the right-wing backlash surrounding her blockbuster movie, she told The New York Times in an interview Tuesday. The Barbie movie has been accused of being “woke” and “anti-man” by the likes of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who also claimed the movie was somehow promoting Chinese propaganda. Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro was also unimpressed, lighting both a Barbie and Ken doll on fire in a 45-minute YouTube review. “Certainly, there’s a lot of passion,” Gerwig told the Times. “My hope for the movie is that it’s an invitation for everybody to be part of the party and let go of the things that aren’t necessarily serving us as either women or men. I hope that in all of that passion, if they see it or engage with it, it can give them some of the relief that it gave other people.”
