A woman has questioned whether it was “unreasonable” to cancel her date with her boyfriend to go see the Barbie movie because he refused to wear pink.
The woman posed the question to the Reddit subreddit AITA [Am I the a**hole], where she wrote in a post that has since been deleted: “The Barbie movie means a lot to me, I’ve been looking forward to this movie for so long. I’ve asked my boyfriend to go to the cinema with me, both dressed in pink. It would show that he supports me.”
However, according to the woman, her boyfriend agreed to attend the movie, just not in pink attire. “He agreed to watch the movie with me, but not in pink,” she said, according to The Mirror.
In the Reddit post, the woman said she’d then informed her partner that “wearing pink is minimum effort,” to which he’d allegedly said that “minimum effort is him coming along to the movie”.
“AITA for finding this unreasonable?” the woman asked, before noting that all of her friends’ partners had worn pink for the Greta Gerwig-directed film, and that “even [her] dad and brother would”.
“I wanted to make a whole event out of it, take pics at the booth etc,” she continued, referring to the human-size Barbie boxes that have been set up at movie theatres in celebration of the release of the film.
According to the unnamed woman, she and her partner ultimately decided to cancel their date to see the movie “since the mood is already ruined”.
“Not asking for a lot here, just a pink shirt or something. If my boyfriend would ask me to wear those hats worn in Oppenheimer to the cinema, I would do it in a heartbeat,” she added.
The post, which was upvoted more than 5,000 times, sparked a debate in the comments, with some siding with the woman, while others suggested that she was being “immature” in her reaction.
“This is a post that could only be written by someone under 25. I would really encourage you to ask yourself why the demonstration of his love and care for you is wearing the colour pink to a movie he’s already going to solely for you,” one person commented. “Does he not show you he cares in any other way so you’re grasping at straws to prove his love in some way?
“Are you being unnecessarily dramatic and immature and attaching some meaning to this action that there doesn’t need to be?”
Another suggested that the date only meant a lot to the woman because of appearances, and because she’d wanted to take photos of the outing to post on social media. “‘The Barbie movie means a lot to me’ my first thought is why? Because she wants to make an event and take pictures? Means a lot for [Instagram]? Because all her friends and their boyfriends are doing it? This is ridiculous lol,” they wrote.
Someone else said: “The movie actually does hit a lot of good things for people and I can see it becoming a classic for good reasons. It could mean a lot for some people. But requiring others to wear something specific to fit in is like the OPPOSITE of what the movie is about.”
“He’s not Ken. He’s not your accessory and he doesn’t have to match you. Some people just aren’t into dressing up. It’s a bummer but ultimately YTA [you’re the a**hole],” another person wrote.
However, others defended the Reddit user on the basis that her request of her partner wasn’t a “huge ask”.
“I’m going against the grain here. Wearing a pink shirt isn’t going to kill him,” one person wrote. “And people acting like it is weird. It’s not a huge ask. NTA.”
Another said: “I played with Barbies so much as a kid. I watched 42 Barbie movies in three days to prepare for the movie. I wore pink and my boyfriend wore pink since he knew how excited I was. It’s really a small, simple act.”
Someone else argued that those who think the woman is the wrong one in the situation are “ignoring the undertones”. “It’s not about the pink, it’s about the gesture,” they wrote.
“Of course it’s dumb to force your partner to wear pink. But this post isn’t about that. It’s about the frustration of having a partner who resists even the smallest bit of interest in the things you find interesting,” another person wrote. “Of course he shouldn’t HAVE to wear pink.
“But he should get some form of enjoyment from watching his partner enjoy things. He should want to participate in that. Not do just the ‘bare minimum.’”
The Reddit user was not the only Barbie fan interested in dressing up in pink for the movie based on the popular Mattel doll, as thousands of moviegoers, including George R R Martin, have worn the colour to screenings of the film.
Other women have also revealed that they are using the film as a “relationship test,” with TikTok users explaining how their boyfriends’ reactions have served as a good indicator of whether their relationship will last.
“I genuinely think taking your boyfriend to Barbie should be your relationship test to decide if he’s good [as] a potential long-term partner. How does he react when you tell him you want to go with him?” TikTok user @swagaliciousvr0 wrote, before noting how men could respond to pivotal scenes and characters in the film.
