Watched Spirited Away for the first time last night. What an amazing movie. It was also interesting timing, juxtaposed with Barbie.

As the new father of a baby girl, I can’t wait to watch Spirited Away with her when she’s older. The protagonist was awesome, and the message to a little girl was “you can do anything” (along with “it’s good to be kind and loyal and not good to be greedy”).

Which was an interesting contrast to my thoughts while watching Barbie, which were “I hope my daughter doesn’t see this until she’s an adult.” Barbie was a lot of fun, but the message to a little girl felt like “you probably can’t go too far because you live in a patriarchy, and that won’t change unless we women can wrest power from men.” There’s an element of truth there, along with a big dose of satire and hyperbole, and that’s fine for adults, but it doesn’t seem right for kids, and it’s definitely not a worldview I’d want impressed upon my young daughter.

I had this thought walking out of Barbie and wondered if I was being a bit over the top, but seeing Spirited Away—a beautiful movie for little kids—really emphasized the point.