We all know the main character in Barbie is the Mattel Inc. doll herself. Ever since the news broke that Greta Gerwig’s movie had found its Ken in the form of Ryan Gosling, a Barbie-oriented “Kenaissance” was formed. Sure, it was also easy for fans online to make their own jabbing remarks about Ken’s looks and serving as the film's eye candy. Now, however, Barbie’s female lead Margot Robbie took it upon herself to defend the importance of Ken with an A+ pun of her own that’ll should get you on the Ken bandwagon. (If you weren't already.)
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling sat with our very own Hannah Saulic at the Barbie press junket in L.A. to talk about the wild effect the character of Ken has had on fans. While Gosling's Ken abs were pretty impressive to look at when they were first revealed online, fans were quick to critique the Canadian actor’s platinum blonde hair from the movie as well as coming down on his age as Ken.
As Saulic mentioned to the film’s two leads, Ken left her own father in tears after he saw the movie and it made her wonder if we were all wrong about knocking on Ken as a character. The Australian actress opened up about why Ken is so important for the upcoming film’s story and she pulled out the Ken puns in the process.
You want a Ken in your life. If you’re not a Ken, you want a Ken around, because they’re the greatest. They support you. Ken really evolves in this movie past the place of just being a wonderful accessory to Barbie, which to be fair, he was kind of invented to be something that was included in Barbie’s life the way her material items were. And he evolves, and I think if you want to get deep in a Barbie movie – like your dad clearly was open to that – it’s about evolving as yourself and knowing that you are Ken-nough.
That pun is not "Ken-nough." This isn't in fact the first time a Ken pun has been made in relation to this movie, either. There's the aforementioned "Ken-ergy" and fellow Ken actor Simu Liu has called the flick "Le-Ken-dary." I mean, you're welcome.
Regardless, it's very interesting the turn of events of seeing the male lead trying to prove himself to be more than just a love interest or an object. As Greta Gerwig is transforming into the next generation of Sofia Coppola-like directors in trying to capture the female gaze, the gender roles are in reverse of Ken wanting to be more than a material object in Barbie’s life and having as much significance as her. It appears that Gosling got plenty of encouragement from his female co-star when she sent him beach-related gifts to keep up his Ken-ergy like Puka shells or a sign that says “Pray for surf.” Anything to help Gosling feel like the part and understand Ken’s persona. Now that's a supportive co-star to have on your side.
Leave it to director Greta Gerwig to make audiences realize there’s more to these dolls than what meets the eye. Ryan Gosling also told CinemaBlend he was surprised reading the script and being introduced to the other dimensions of these characters.
I mean, there’s so many things like that, I think, in the film. I think after I first read it, I was like… It’s like when you buy a Ford Focus, and all you see is Ford Focuses on the road.
In the movie, Ken wants to be established as “Just Ken” compared to always being seen as “Barbie & Ken.” As the film’s trailers have shown Ken fighting for Barbie against the other Kens, and tagging along on the journey, it appears the new movie will show us there’s so much more Ken is able to offer than just being an accessory. He's on a journey too, and a valid one, as Robbie told us:
It is a valid point, because I think as much as this is like – there’s moments where you get a great monologue where it’s like ‘what it’s like to be a woman today’ and ‘what it’s like to be a mom’ and all that kind of stuff. I don’t know, I think we are in this time, where guys are like, ‘OK, what’s my place right now?’ ‘I’m a dude, and I’m trying to be an ally. But I’m trying to allow space, and I’m trying to listen but I’m also trying to be there. I think Ken’s journey is kind of informative.
If you want to absorb some of this same Ken-ergy, you can watch the highly anticipated Barbie when it hits the 2023 movie schedule on July 21st.
