Breathe
By Frida Mendoza
A couple of months ago, after dinner for the birthday of one of my dearest friends, we passed by the forum where the band The Mars Volta had performed, and we found many people around us with their black t-shirts or band t-shirts and very similar clothing. I remember that even among my friends and I talked about how strange it was to see "from the outside" something like that, because usually being in the vicinity of a concert is because you attend it and dress similarly.
After this great weekend in which Barbie was released (I really liked the movie), there are quite a few reviews -in this and other spaces- and they will continue to emerge... my interest in going back to the memory that I started with is because I want to write in defense of pink and enjoyment.
I consider -I am not a marketing expert- that Barbie has had one of the most successful campaigns because we all talk about the movie and not only that, there was a preparation when dressing, who to go with, having the tickets ready and sharing it in networks and the difference with many other successful movies and franchises is that this phenomenon usually happens only in the premiere functions and not during a whole weekend as we saw.
As with everything, there is always a photographic record of the event, and with it came the criticism and mockery of those who happily went to see the movie. Entering any social network implied seeing some content like this, and on Twitter -it has long been proven that it is a place where polarizing content is amplified and the algorithm shows us publications about something we like from an opposite view- it was natural to find tweets that ridicule the enjoyment. Because that's what it was all about, the enjoyment of a movie, the nostalgia of many people and having a good time.
Thus we come to the case of Ernesto. His story went viral on Thursday, the day of the movie's premiere, when he was photographed in one of the lines of a movie theater in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The photo was part of one of the galleries that a local digital media published in its social networks and went viral. According to his Tiktok account, the mockery of his image, the fatphobia and the memes about him were so fast, that the young man did not even finish watching the movie when he was already anguished seeing how he was the object of ridicule on the Internet.
And here, in addition to speaking in defense of pink, I want to pause to once again express my annoyance, as a journalist and as an audience, towards the role of the media: Is it time to rethink this type of coverage? Why don't we stop to consider the harassment that the people whose image we are replicating in our media may receive? Just because a reporter, community manager or editor finds someone's clothing curious, do we have the right to upload it? Why not make a more humanized coverage, with the consent of the people who are being photographed?
Now, as a society, why should there be a mockery towards a group of people who decided to wear a certain color to attend a movie? Why, unlike other premieres where many people go to a premiere wearing the costume of their favorite superhero or those who go to a stadium with the jersey of their football/basketball/american/baseball team, in this case there was more disrespect?
And don't get me wrong, I have also been uncomfortable with those who make fun of those who go with a full Spiderman costume or that a person who likes some sport is denigrated, but if we talk sensibly, on this occasion the criticism of all the people who wore pink to see Barbie was from a place that makes those who have a taste for something "feminized", for pink, a color that represents weakness, for a group of, mainly, women and people with dissident identities and preferences, as well as non-hegemonic bodies. What a fragility.
Each and every person who enjoys a movie, a musical band or a sport deserves the same respect and if we do not share that particular taste there is no reason to feel superior, much less encourage ridicule towards their person.
Because just as it happened with my friends when we saw The Mars Volta fans, we commented among ourselves and passed by, sometimes I have found myself in the other position: I've worn the Cruz Azul t-shirt to accompany my boyfriend to the stadium, I've worn dozens of black t-shirts with the band's logo at rock concerts I've attended, as a teenager I dressed up as a witch for Harry Potter events (although now I no longer match the writer), this weekend I wore pink to watch, laugh and cry with Barbie and I'm excited planning what I'll wear to Taylor Swift's concert in August.
We have enough with the daily difficulties, with the labor, economic and violent context that we live in Mexico that we still have to limit ourselves in personal tastes that do not seek to attack anyone.
It is time to think that what happens on the internet is real, and that no one is forced to watch a movie or participate in any fandom (and that no fan should take their tastes to toxic levels where they attack). And just as the interactions on the internet are real, the feelings from harassment and mockery on social networks (and even worse if it is from digital media) are also real.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of Opinion 51.
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