A night of celebration turned sour after Jo Koy’s “humour” landed flat on its face in front of an audience of A-list celebs, proving right America Ferrera’s quote “It is literally impossible to be a woman”.
Jo Koy hosted The Golden Globe Awards 2024, weaving presenting with comedy to create … well, a disaster. In a speech that failed to impress, he claimed that the “key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breasts, cellulite, and flat feet" - he is humouring imperfection, which is exactly what the film challenges. Barbie is a film created and directed by women that explains feminism accessibly and illustrates the impossibility of being a woman. The film shows how women can be anything and that they don't have to conform to one model of femininity. To stand on stage and laugh at a woman without “perfect beauty” (whatever that even is) is degrading and misogynistic. The female body is constantly judged, sexualised, and criticised, and Koy has encapsulated this exact oppression of women in his speech.
you're supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much
In the film, America Ferrera’s incredibly powerful monologue on the impossibility of being a woman epitomises the issue of Jo Koy’s comments: “you’re supposed to stay pretty for men, but not so pretty that you tempt them too much”. If our bodies aren’t ‘pretty’ enough then they are criticised, but if they are ‘pretty’ enough then they are sexualised. In literally any shape, form, size, or colour, women’s bodies are a site for the male gaze to be projected onto. If even a doll representing a woman faces these struggles, then women have no hope.
The film, however, is not only about the appearance of women’s bodies, but also about the trivialities of existing in a patriarchal world. America Ferrera says that women “never be rude, never show off, never be selfish, never fall down, never fail”. Barbie exposes the double standards that women face in a patriarchal society, being expected to fulfil a myriad of stereotypes and roles at once. Gaining significant traction across social media, thousands of women have responded with tears and gratitude – finally a film that represents the impossibility of being a woman. But no, Jo Koy thinks “Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies” and nothing more.
The subversive film dismantles the patriarchy, yet this speech builds it right back up
Now I’m not hating on Jo Koy … to be honest I had never heard of him until he hosted these awards. He has recently defended himself saying that he didn’t prepare the whole speech. But whoever wrote it, it shouldn’t have been said. This exemplifies how deeply misogyny is embedded in society. Barbie depicts a world where women can be anything – doctors, lawyers, presidents – no matter what men think. The subversive film dismantles the patriarchy, yet this speech builds it right back up.
An anti-patriarchy narrative has been taken down by the patriarchy itself. Ironic.
