In a film about feminism and overall female empowerment, such as “Barbie,” it can’t feel good to have one joke aimed directly at you, seemingly used to sum up the current male-driven toxic fandom in film. Alas, that’s exactly what happened to Zack Snyder, who is mentioned in “Barbie” as a joke about Writer Barbie waking up from her misogynistic state. (“It’s like I’ve been in a dream where I was really invested in the Zack Snyder Cut of ‘Justice League,’” she says in the film.) Though that sort of jab might upset a person, Snyder has seemingly taking it in stride and embraced his moment in the biggest film of the year.
Speaking to Men’s Health, Zack Snyder was asked about the inclusion of a joke about “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” aka “the Snyder Cut.” Apparently, Warner Bros. (the studio behind “Barbie” and Snyder’s aforementioned superhero film) talked to the filmmaker before it came out to warn him about the joke.
“They gave us a heads-up,” Snyder said. “And [WB filmboss Mike De Luca] said, ‘Hey, there’s a reference to ‘Justice League’ in the movie. It’s cool and whatever, I hope you guys understand, we think it’s awesome.’”
He added, “I thought [‘Barbie’] was great. And I think the joke is pretty good.”
Snyder goes on to say that he understands that the joke was about the extreme fandom surrounding his cut of “Justice League” and not so much about him as a person. Even still, just to be associated with something so culturally impactful that it lands in “Barbie” is worth celebrating for Snyder.
“The thing that I said to Debbie is—the thing that you need to take a second and think about is that your name is so seamlessly sewed together with a pop-culture phenomenon so big it can exist as a joke in a movie about Barbie,” Snyder said. “That’s pretty insane. You just need to step back for a second and go like, ‘Whoa, what did we do? What happened? How is that a thing?’”
It’s interesting to see Snyder react to the joke in this way. The joke directly takes aim at his rabid fanbase, a group of people that the filmmaker himself stoked and kept passionate about his superhero film. But it’s also great to know that Snyder has a bit of a sense of humor about himself and the fans he has accumulated over the years. All said, it feels a bit like Snyder is able to have his cake and eat it too. He can command a fanbase that will literally harass multiple studio executives until they give in, but he also can hold his hands up and say that he’s not actually responsible for the toxic culture that is mocked in “Barbie.”
Regardless, at least he’s not getting upset over it and trying to further mobilize his Snyder strike force. Now all we have to worry about is the release of “Rebel Moon” later this month.