Big data Barbie

Barbie discourse on Facebook and Instagram

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4367182
AutoresJason B Phillips (0000-0002-2984-4472, University of Waikato, autor correspondente), Damian Scarf (0000-0002-9486-8059, University of Otago)
Ano2024
Volume25
Fascículo4
Páginas626-634
Data de publicação2024-12-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoFeminist Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1464-7001 • E-ISSN: 1741-2773
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/14647001241291456
OpenAlexW4404548533
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas10

How was Barbie discussed on social media after the film's release in July 2023? While a great deal of media and academic commentary offers presumptive answers, to our knowledge no study has sought to address such a question empirically. We examine all posts on Meta's Facebook and Instagram platforms that mentioned Barbie during the month of the movie's premiere. Using soft clustering of large language model embeddings, we offer an informed answer to that question. Barbie was discussed in an impressively wide variety of contexts: from co-opting Barbie as a means of boosting sales or one's online following; to celebratory expressions of gratitude and excitement; gendered frames of the movie as feminine success; thoughtful discussions of gender, motherhood and broader questions about who has 'Kenergy' and what constitutes being 'Kenough'. Importantly, these discourses cast doubt on the assumption that criticisms of the movie commanded the public's primary attention online

Aesthetics · Art · Gratitude · Media studies · Social media · Sociology · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Psychology · Social Psychology