BREAKING BARRIERS: SOCIETY'S INTERPRETATION OF THE CONCEPT OF EMPOWERED WOMEN IN THE BARBIE MOVIE

Abstract

This study aims to explore the meaning of the concept of empowered women in the Barbie movie through audience reception analysis using Ien Ang's theory. The Barbie movie was chosen as the research object because it represents the evolution of the feminist movement and features strong and independent female characters. The method used is audience reception analysis, where participants watch the film and are interviewed to explore how they understand and interpret the scenes and characters in the movie. The results show that the empowered women depicted in the Barbie movie are defined as women who are resilient and have a deep understanding of their own potential, women who are equal to men, women who operate within group strength, and women who are overly dominant. This was derived from the in-depth interpretations of each informant, which were then categorized into good and bad criteria according to Ien Ang's analysis. Audiences who identified similarities between the film's story and their personal experiences tended to feel more connected and validated in their understanding, which falls into the good criteria according to Ien Ang. Conversely, audiences who experienced significant differences between their reality and the film's story tended to feel less satisfied or even reject the conveyed message, placing them in the bad criteria.

Keywords: Empowered Women, Barbie Movie, Feminism, Audience Reception, Active Audience