John Carpenter on ‘Barbie’, different generations, and gender progress in Hollywood
In recent years, one of the most reliable sources of newsworthy content in the world of movies has involved legendary directors of, shall we say, a certain age. Every time an iconic director in their 70s or 80s is interviewed, they’ll likely have to field this question: “Did you like [insert mega-budget blockbuster here]?” Their answers are always guaranteed to be hilarious and controversial, and everyone’s favourite grumpy horror master, John Carpenter, kept the tradition going when he was asked about a 2023 box office phenomenon.
In truth, the idea of asking these directors about the latest $200million Hollywood IP exercise is a little disingenuous, especially when most journalists know exactly what the answer will be. For example, did Martin Scorsese really need to answer questions about Marvel movies every time he sat down in front of a microphone to talk about The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon? He’d already made his position clear that he thinks those kinds of films are more akin to theme park rides than real cinema. Was it in any way likely that his position would change?
Over time, Scorsese’s Marvel woes led to the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Ridley Scott throwing in their two cents, with predictable results. Did we really think 86-year-old Coppola would be a big Ant-Man guy? Is there any world in which 87-year-old Scott waxed lyrical about the intricacies of the multiverse and its implications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Or was it all just a fiendish plot to extract “old man yells at cloud” clicks from angry superhero fans?
This is where I reveal myself as the ultimate hypocrite, though. Asking older directors about films that there is very little chance they will like seems vaguely pointless to me, unless that director is Carpenter. After all, his persona as a grouchy old veteran who would rather play video games and watch basketball than direct a film is reliably amusing, and his opinions on movies have always been scathing in an inimitable, matter-of-fact way.
So, when Carpenter was asked, “Did you like Barbie?” by journalist Larry Fitzmaurice in 2024, fans of the Halloween maestro awaited his response with bated breath. “Did I like it?” he dutifully deadpanned. “No comment.”
Brilliantly, Carpenter then revealed that he encouraged his son Cody, who has equal distaste for most modern movies, to watch Barbie. “I continue to suggest films that I know he’ll hate,” Carpenter chuckled mischievously. “He flies back and forth from Japan, so I said, ‘On the flight, be sure to watch Barbie!’ He made it 15 minutes in.”
To be fair to the 77-year-old Carpenter, it’s astonishing that he even watched Barbie in the first place and gave it due consideration. Ultimately, though, he recognised that he mightn’t have been the target audience for the movie, and acknowledged that this perhaps coloured his view. “I can’t believe I watched Barbie,” he laughed to the Los Angeles Times. “It’s just not my generation. I had nothing to do with Barbie dolls. I didn’t know who Allan was.”
The famed Escape From New York director, whose films always had social and political themes buried in their subtexts, acknowledged that he knew Barbie was making points about feminism and the patriarchy. However, he couldn’t quite get a handle on what they were, confessing, “I mean, there’s a patriarchy business in there, but I missed that whole thing. Right over my head.”
Still, Carpenter ended his verdict by complimenting the film’s star, Margot Robbie. “I think she’s fabulous,” he stated, before declaring the film, directed by Greta Gerwig, a substantial leap forward for female representation in directing. “Barbie is the biggest movie of the year,” he told AP News, “Made by a woman. That’s incredible. That’s progress. I can’t promise you that I understood the damn movie or cared about it that much…However, I appreciate what she did.”
