2023-08-25 12:30:00
EDITORIAL – I’m not talking about the cave of the Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, this American animated television series of the 70s-80s, but from the Platonic cave. And I do evoke the doll Barbiedesigned and produced by the company Mattelwho recently produced a self-titled film.
Released in French theaters since July 19 and still at the top of the box office, the latter was directed by the American Greta Gerwig, once a follower of the film movement mumblecore. It is the first production inreal shotsfrom the world of dolls, after severalfeature films, series and cartoons. However, it is far from addressing only children. Beyond the “doll’s tale”, it addresses certain timeless philosophical themes.
Barbie and… Plato
What did not escape content creator Amélie Zimmerman (see her Youtube channel ), who asked the question for the media Konbini : “Barbie: wouldn’t that be a bit like Plato’s cave?” This audacious comparison of course evokes the allegory of the Cave (1).
A distant memory for many, in the form of a vague “cream pie” quote used in the baccalaureate, its careful rereading obviously offers much deeper lessons, inherited from the words of Socrates.
I retain on my side this Barbie who “opens her eyes” without blinding herself, once introduced into “the real world”. And other ideas present in the scenario which also seem to have been borrowed from the The Republic of Plato, such as that of a strict equality between men and women.
Thus, once out of her “ideal world”, the doll discovers “the reality” ignored by her fellow creatures “locked in the box” and cradled in smooth and stereotyped images. Having become human, she understands that she has been “under the influence” and subjected to various manipulation strategies (which I mentioned to you in a previous editorial). Ken is no slouch either. He discovers a world in which exists… the patriarchy, which does not confine him to a supporting role, and takes the lead!
The Spectator in the Cave
The doll-woman realizes, with her puppet-companion Ken, that they are only voluntary servants in the service of masters of a world whose purpose they do not know. This keeps them in a form of consented submission within a psychological straitjacket: they are unaware that another existence is possible and are very satisfied with it.
A bit like the exclusive viewer of TF1 and BFMTV. Another news item, this time with information at the service of his intelligence, would he blind him? Maybe. There are like facts and truths that he doesn’t seem to be ready to hear. Let us recall the words of Céline Pigalle, former journalist at BFMTV, appointed since February at the head of the local public radio stations of France Bleu: “We mustn’t go against the official word too much, since that would weaken a social consensus!”
This is how Barbie and Ken might have found it unbearable trying to survive in that other world, outside the cave. They might have considered themselves unworthy of being able to enjoy the benefits of reality, a real life with emotions and autonomous purpose, a reality reserved for the knowledgeable, for certain elites – in the film, for the owners of Mattel.
Without telling you the whole story, Barbie makes the choice of reality for good and Ken understands that being with his girlfriend without rolling mechanicals is not so bad.
Crossover
But let’s try a perilous crossover.Let’s ask Gérard Larcher to explain and sum it all up. I paraphrase one of his quotes: Barbie “needs to regain her self-confidence. She must come to terms with her past to build her future.”
Mr. Larcher – whom I will not offend to say that he has a little air of Captain Cavern – is well versed in happy ending. Especially for him. President of the Senate from 2008 to 2011, then from 2014 to the present day, the man likes breakfasts that do not fear inflation – at the expense of the taxpayer, of course.
Good breakfast ! ???? pic.twitter.com/6aemKlZCXa
— Didikong (@medii_dii) May 19, 2022
In April 2023, the latter declared that he “we have to find closeness with the French” . This is no doubt why the majority of the Senate (on the same side as Mr. Larcher) voted last July, via the addition of two articles to the law for full employment, the creation of a “employment contract”.
Reserved for RSA beneficiaries, the contract automatically registers them on the list of job seekers and defines “a reasonable job offer” that each of them is required to accept.
Always further… without solving the problems
And why not make RSA recipients, whose precariousness is obvious, work a few hours a week? It is planned, with a proposal to this effect from the rapporteur Pascale Gruny (LR). An initiative hailed by the Minister of Labour, Olivier Dussopt, who confirmed that “the government’s objective is that a maximum of recipients can benefit from 15 to 20 hours of activity per week”.
It is therefore a question of working for free, within the framework of works of general interest which will be assigned to them in this capacity, if they want to be able to continue to “benefit”, to use another word, from the RSA, i.e. 607.75 euros per month.
A charming decision decided by an Assembly which costs the taxpayer each year around 330 million euros, with elected officials who emerge at 5652.57 euros per month. Let’s skip over the many advantages from which they “benefit” (note, it’s always the same word), from which one wonders how they serve the interest of their fellow citizens.
Oh yes! We understand better why all those who benefit from it end each of the public speeches they hold with “Long live the Republic !”One wonders if they shouldn’t rather exclaim “Vive la caverne!”
Note :
(1) The “myth” of the cave, and not The “moth” in the caveof an astonishing political analyst, which is rampant on YouTube with some success.
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