I would say it is the movie of all time
Saying it is the greatest implies that there are other movies which can be compared to it
Which I doubt
Barbie Movie (2023)
- Thread starter all fictions
- Start date
- Movies
-
- Tags
- adaptation barbie movie
I would say it is the movie of all time
Saying it is the greatest implies that there are other movies which can be compared to it
Which I doubt
- Location
- The Hague
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Now that I am done with the existential dread double feature power hour, I can say that seeing Barbie and Oppenheimer back to back was a great experience: just two incredibly well made films with fantastic performances. With respect to Barbie specifically, Gerwig really knocked it out of the park with this. So much of it just works, from the production design to the script. Legitimately one of the funniest films I've ever watched, it is wall to wall with gags and I laughed at pretty much all of them. Other highlights include the tea drinking and the blink and you miss it gunshot wound.
Both Robbie and Gosling were flawless. These are such unique roles and they just nailed them. If there's any justice they'll pick up a globe this year.
Both Robbie and Gosling were flawless. These are such unique roles and they just nailed them. If there's any justice they'll pick up a globe this year.
- Location
- USA
Box Office: ‘Barbie’ Dances to $775M Globally, Days Away from Joining Billion-Dollar Club
Barbenheimer is real as 'Oppenheimer' hits its own milestone in crossing $400 million worldwide.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
NonSequtur
a body
Well, just got back from the double feature. Speaking only for myself, watching Barbie second was definitely the right choice, done for completely the wrong reason. I went into this film expecting style, and Kenergy, and clever jokes and some genuine heart.
I came out of the movie and didn't speak for five minutes. Had this been the first film I wouldn't be in a state to watch the second.
The first three-quarters-ish of the film are mostly what marketing would lead you to expect, though there's scenes and moments sprinkled about that point towards deeper waters. It's the last quarter of the film that slams the subtler, more thoughtful stuff that the gloss and very overt (yet tongue-in-cheek enough to still feel clever) messaging of the rest of the film might have distracted you from right through your chest.
You might be ready for Ryan Gosling's Ken. You probably aren't, but you might be. You are not ready for Margot Robbie's Barbie.
9.something/10. Not perfect, but it left my brain in no condition to think about what the flaws were.
I came out of the movie and didn't speak for five minutes. Had this been the first film I wouldn't be in a state to watch the second.
The first three-quarters-ish of the film are mostly what marketing would lead you to expect, though there's scenes and moments sprinkled about that point towards deeper waters. It's the last quarter of the film that slams the subtler, more thoughtful stuff that the gloss and very overt (yet tongue-in-cheek enough to still feel clever) messaging of the rest of the film might have distracted you from right through your chest.
You might be ready for Ryan Gosling's Ken. You probably aren't, but you might be. You are not ready for Margot Robbie's Barbie.
9.something/10. Not perfect, but it left my brain in no condition to think about what the flaws were.
Last edited:
Vyslanté
The self is a prison
- Location
- European Union
My reaction coming out of the theater was "how the hell did they get Mattel to sign on this?". My fiancée's reaction was more along the lines of "ouch, hits too close to home" about the later parts.
It's one of the funniest movies we've seen this year, and yet managed to be more profound than a glorified commercial had any right to be.
It's one of the funniest movies we've seen this year, and yet managed to be more profound than a glorified commercial had any right to be.
hellgodsrus
Actual Real Game Dev!
- Location
- Behind You
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Apparently according to Gerwig, Mattel didn't really sign it, and they hated it.
Zap Rowsdower
Ex-cultist vagrant
- Location
- Bright lights, big city
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well, I'm sure they'll deny that vociferously now that its made all the money
hellgodsrus
Actual Real Game Dev!
- Location
- Behind You
- Pronouns
- She/Her
They've already said they want a 'Mattel Cinematic Universe', which is missing the point so hard it's achieving manned spaceflight to other solar systems.
Arthur Frayn
Fake God by Occupation, Magician by Inclination
- Location
- Land of Do As You Please
- Pronouns
- They/Him
I saw they announced a Polly Pocket movie directed by Lena Dunham and that feels like the perfect distillation of exec brain rot.
- Location
- USA
I've been waiting 20 years and counting for a live-action Hot Wheels film, though.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Watched it with my partner, it was a great time.
I also love how conservatives were pushing this 'broke for woke' line that so-called 'woke' movies are destined to fail at the box office, meanwhile Barbie is well on its way to making a billion dollars.
I also love how conservatives were pushing this 'broke for woke' line that so-called 'woke' movies are destined to fail at the box office, meanwhile Barbie is well on its way to making a billion dollars.
Triggerhappy
Stick with Trigger and You'll Make it Through
- Location
- SoCal
If it's successfull, then it isn't woke.
I mean seriously though, the Federalist is pretty much going through that transition* as we speak.
*As I type this, I realized this choice of words is especiallyg good because, of course, their main argument is that the film is secretly anti-trans.
hellgodsrus
Actual Real Game Dev!
- Location
- Behind You
- Pronouns
- She/Her
How stupid. This is just a shower thought I had after watching it, but Barbie's main arc can clearly be viewed as a trans femme narrative.
- Location
- Canada
Watched it yesterday and enjoyed it quite a bit but felt it was a bit confused or strange in parts. Visually its pretty stunning with its own aesthetic and style and lots of attention to detail.
I especially loved the earnestness of it when it came to things like its musical numbers and dance routines, its totally unashamed to just have fun and put on a glitzy spectacle.
Margot Robbies performance is really really good, there are so many obvious in your face jokes that its easy to not notice the more subtle facial performance stuff she's going for which is a shame.
Ryan Gosling is fine, he's funny but the joke sorta wears out a bit by the end if I am being honest.
The movie has a lot of heart, the scene at the beginning where Barbie just observes peoples lives in the park and talks to an old woman on the bench beside her is really touching (The movie is surprisingly mature and nuanced about topics like death and age), as is the ending with Ruth.
The plot with the mom and daughter is fine, America Ferrera is always great I remember watching her in Ugly Betty years ago and the daughter character is serviceable but the sub plot is not super deep. I admit I might be a bit biased against this section because it was done so much better so recently in EEAAO.
The corporate stuff was fine, Will Ferrell plays Will Ferrell character number 32, hes fine but not super note worthy. I will say one of the most disapointing moments in the film comes after Gloria and the daughter save Barbie since what was before that a weird fun sorta Terry Gilliam esq chase scene in a dream scape corporate labyrinth devolves into a standard car chase down the LA freeway.
The whole Ken patriarchy stuff is... fine. Like its funny and is a positive message but I will say tonally its kinda strange to lump in stuff like "the men taking over and rewriting the constitution for absolute power" with strong allusions to stuff like the American supreme court and body autonomy together with stuff like "men mansplaining how to use photoshop filters" and "men looking at women's bodies while serenading them with an acoustic guitar". Like I get that this up to this point family friendly light hearted comedy isn't going to pivot into being the Handmaids tale three quarters in but it just felt a bit confused.
I will say though I laughed very hard at the whole "Men showing their girlfriends The Godfather or other important dude movies and talking over the whole thing" since I am for better or worse very much that guy at times. I did it literally less than a week ago to my girlfriend with pulp fiction, I try not to be patronizing I just like sharing trivia. Still I felt very called out.
As I said before I liked the ending, that kind of Pinochio esq "I choose to be mortal and live in the real world" ending has been done many times before but it was done well and as I said Margot's performance is really really good in this movie so that carries it.
Overall I liked it quite a bit but it had some moments or issues that didn't quite click with me. 7/10
I especially loved the earnestness of it when it came to things like its musical numbers and dance routines, its totally unashamed to just have fun and put on a glitzy spectacle.
Margot Robbies performance is really really good, there are so many obvious in your face jokes that its easy to not notice the more subtle facial performance stuff she's going for which is a shame.
Ryan Gosling is fine, he's funny but the joke sorta wears out a bit by the end if I am being honest.
The movie has a lot of heart, the scene at the beginning where Barbie just observes peoples lives in the park and talks to an old woman on the bench beside her is really touching (The movie is surprisingly mature and nuanced about topics like death and age), as is the ending with Ruth.
The plot with the mom and daughter is fine, America Ferrera is always great I remember watching her in Ugly Betty years ago and the daughter character is serviceable but the sub plot is not super deep. I admit I might be a bit biased against this section because it was done so much better so recently in EEAAO.
The corporate stuff was fine, Will Ferrell plays Will Ferrell character number 32, hes fine but not super note worthy. I will say one of the most disapointing moments in the film comes after Gloria and the daughter save Barbie since what was before that a weird fun sorta Terry Gilliam esq chase scene in a dream scape corporate labyrinth devolves into a standard car chase down the LA freeway.
The whole Ken patriarchy stuff is... fine. Like its funny and is a positive message but I will say tonally its kinda strange to lump in stuff like "the men taking over and rewriting the constitution for absolute power" with strong allusions to stuff like the American supreme court and body autonomy together with stuff like "men mansplaining how to use photoshop filters" and "men looking at women's bodies while serenading them with an acoustic guitar". Like I get that this up to this point family friendly light hearted comedy isn't going to pivot into being the Handmaids tale three quarters in but it just felt a bit confused.
I will say though I laughed very hard at the whole "Men showing their girlfriends The Godfather or other important dude movies and talking over the whole thing" since I am for better or worse very much that guy at times. I did it literally less than a week ago to my girlfriend with pulp fiction, I try not to be patronizing I just like sharing trivia. Still I felt very called out.
As I said before I liked the ending, that kind of Pinochio esq "I choose to be mortal and live in the real world" ending has been done many times before but it was done well and as I said Margot's performance is really really good in this movie so that carries it.
Overall I liked it quite a bit but it had some moments or issues that didn't quite click with me. 7/10
Last edited:
Flectarn
Uphold Kali Akuno Thought
- Location
- Queen City of the Ohio
I mean, it's important the remember that patriarchy consists of dominations both big and small.
no.
Pink Flamingo Cabal Grand Vizier
- Location
- Pennsylvania
I think Alex's point is that it's tonally weird. The movie can't seem to decide how serious the conflict of its third act is, leading to these things being sort of thrown together. Sometimes the Ken patriarchy is framed as a serious problem destroying the Barbies' agency, and sometimes it's a joke about really benign form of sexism, like a guy who talks about The Godfather too much to a girl.
- Location
- Canada
I mean I get that and I agree but it still makes the movie sorta tonally weird for me at points? I think part of it is because the movie deliberately runs on a kind of fantasy dream logic so it can be hard to tell how literal I should take certain scenes or actions. Like the Ken take over is clearly coded as a mysoginist heteronormative patriarchal thing its supposed to be kinda creepy. But then Ken does come off as rather sympathetic with his own song about wanting to be his own person and in the end the Kens end up getting concessions from the Barbie's and a joke about how they will get a similar amount of power that women do in our world... so the Kens are simultaneously oppressors and a under represented minority? It seems to vary based on what the joke is at any give time and that feels weird and kinda awkward in a way the rest of the movie isn't. The message is positive the metaphor is kinda confused.
Flectarn
Uphold Kali Akuno Thought
- Location
- Queen City of the Ohio
The whole thing is that the Kens were kind of marginalized, Ken discovers patriarchy in the real world and brings back the knowledge, which he's able to use to install the Kens as a dominant class using some kind of cognitohazard. The resolution is that the Barbies end up back in charge, but they recognize the ways their society was harming the Kens and somewhat address those issues.
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
Just saw Barbie. As a movie it was good. Ryan Gosling was acting his heart out. Lots of good humour bits. Set design and outfits were very well done.
Its politics are iffy. I'm not saying it was 'woke' propaganda as idiot right-wingers are, who are purely reacting against surface-level characteristics of the movie. It just doesn't seem very well thought out or is really uneven and weird.
Yes, I'm talking about the Kens. A lot of people have outlined that the triumph of the movie is a reactionary counter-coup that puts the repressed underclass back in its place, with at best minor symbolic concessions.
The message about Ken is that despite legitimate grievances about society as a whole, actually, the problem is with him and he needs to mentally self-reflect and accept his place. Which is actually a very conservative mentality, Jordan Peterson literally has a talking point that you can't complain about issues with broad society, if your own life isn't fixed.
Yeah, it is mixed with a message about being 'entitled' to a woman, which makes it messy.
Other things I noticed was that while there was a very noticeable plus-sized Barbie and a wheelchair Barbie, that all the Ken's are either muscular or skinny. They all are under a 'Barbie Gaze' which goes completely unremarked on. And an audience gaze, since I could hear some women in the audience when Ryan Gosling was on screen.
The message about feminism is also really messy and limited. I saw someone call it upper middle-class feminism. If you listen to America Ferrera's rants to the Barbie's it's just about social expectations. Which is something that everybody deals with, male or female. I as a man have to deal with trying to manage to try not to scare people or talk over them, or be creepy. It's a very self-centred view to pretend that only the social expectations that impact you are bad and ignore that everybody else has them. The movie makes a point about body positivity by including plus-sized Barbie and Wheelchair Barbie and centring them in scenes. It just seems like the charge often lobbied at the body positivity movement that it's only for women, and not for men the way it's presented.
But nothing about you know material issues, like pay gaps, reproductive and other women health issues, poverty of elderly women, violence, etc. Women can't control their reproductive health in half the country Barbie is set in, and it isn't remarked on.
And at the end of the day, Ken is going back to sleeping on the beach, for all the self-actualisation that he has done.
I mean her ranting about real-life issues should also go over their heads. They have no real frame of reference for it.
Also, the movie devotes much screen time to lampooning toxic masculinity. Like Ken's earnestly trying to explain things to Barbie who asked them. But the movie starts with Barbies playing with Ken's feelings and not caring about them as anything but accessories. And then solves the Ken problem by ... playing with Ken's feelings and putting them back as accessories with a minor concession. Toxic feminity which also goes unremarked on.
A feminism that is purely about lifting social expectations on women, while reinforcing social expectations on men is going to be alienating. Both to women who do have real material concerns in their life enforced on them by wider society. And to men who feel trapped and confused by contradictory social expectations and general social atomisation.
Maybe I'm just overthinking this. But I saw so much praise for this as a deep movie with an important message, and it just felt shallow.
Its politics are iffy. I'm not saying it was 'woke' propaganda as idiot right-wingers are, who are purely reacting against surface-level characteristics of the movie. It just doesn't seem very well thought out or is really uneven and weird.
Yes, I'm talking about the Kens. A lot of people have outlined that the triumph of the movie is a reactionary counter-coup that puts the repressed underclass back in its place, with at best minor symbolic concessions.
The message about Ken is that despite legitimate grievances about society as a whole, actually, the problem is with him and he needs to mentally self-reflect and accept his place. Which is actually a very conservative mentality, Jordan Peterson literally has a talking point that you can't complain about issues with broad society, if your own life isn't fixed.
Yeah, it is mixed with a message about being 'entitled' to a woman, which makes it messy.
Other things I noticed was that while there was a very noticeable plus-sized Barbie and a wheelchair Barbie, that all the Ken's are either muscular or skinny. They all are under a 'Barbie Gaze' which goes completely unremarked on. And an audience gaze, since I could hear some women in the audience when Ryan Gosling was on screen.
The message about feminism is also really messy and limited. I saw someone call it upper middle-class feminism. If you listen to America Ferrera's rants to the Barbie's it's just about social expectations. Which is something that everybody deals with, male or female. I as a man have to deal with trying to manage to try not to scare people or talk over them, or be creepy. It's a very self-centred view to pretend that only the social expectations that impact you are bad and ignore that everybody else has them. The movie makes a point about body positivity by including plus-sized Barbie and Wheelchair Barbie and centring them in scenes. It just seems like the charge often lobbied at the body positivity movement that it's only for women, and not for men the way it's presented.
But nothing about you know material issues, like pay gaps, reproductive and other women health issues, poverty of elderly women, violence, etc. Women can't control their reproductive health in half the country Barbie is set in, and it isn't remarked on.
And at the end of the day, Ken is going back to sleeping on the beach, for all the self-actualisation that he has done.
I mean her ranting about real-life issues should also go over their heads. They have no real frame of reference for it.
Also, the movie devotes much screen time to lampooning toxic masculinity. Like Ken's earnestly trying to explain things to Barbie who asked them. But the movie starts with Barbies playing with Ken's feelings and not caring about them as anything but accessories. And then solves the Ken problem by ... playing with Ken's feelings and putting them back as accessories with a minor concession. Toxic feminity which also goes unremarked on.
A feminism that is purely about lifting social expectations on women, while reinforcing social expectations on men is going to be alienating. Both to women who do have real material concerns in their life enforced on them by wider society. And to men who feel trapped and confused by contradictory social expectations and general social atomisation.
Maybe I'm just overthinking this. But I saw so much praise for this as a deep movie with an important message, and it just felt shallow.
- Location
- USA
‘Barbie’ Surpasses $1 Billion Globally After 17 Days of Release
“Barbie” is saying “hiya” to the billion-dollar club. Greta Gerwig’s pink-coated fantasy comedy has surpassed $1 billion at the global box office, including $459 milli…
variety.com
NonSequtur
a body
I feel like Barbie is a very vibes-based movie, broadly carried by the ability of its stars - in particular Margot Robbie - to demand empathy. If the vibes hit you, you'll stumble out of the theatre. If they don't, it's not going to write an essay that'll stand up to serious nitpicking or uh, analyzing Barbieland like it's an actual state with internal politics going on.
Barbie goes from a naive security in her own existence and womanhood, with a notable blindspot regarding Ken, has the security in all three shattered, first with her grappling with mortality and fallibility, then experiencing the latent threat of the real world, and finally with the imposition of the Kentriarchy in Barbieland. The Kentriarchy is ultimately overthrown, but the movie won't pretend to have an answer for what the perfect society would look like, which is why the final joke is 'well the Kens get some stuff in rough proportion to women in real life' - but if you're not pulled into the particular sort of fear that the Kentriarchy hits some people with, of the most stereotypical in feminine spaces being subordinated to men, it's going to feel off.
Regardless, even after Barbie experiences all of that, she still decides to become a real human (with mortality, fallibility etc.) and woman (under patriarchy, as things stand). This choice is fundamentally unjustified and unjustifiable: the movie doesn't articulate why Barbie wants that, because no exterior authority can do that. Nothing can tell you why life is worth living, and nothing can justify why life as a woman is worth choosing. To find meaning in existence is miraculous, but it's not given by grace. You have to make do for yourself. Barbie does. (This is where, I think, the 'trans narrative' argument comes in.) (Also how many cis women would be thrilled about their first gyno appointment?)
Meanwhile, Ken never grapples with mortality or humanity in that way: he stays in Barbieland, he never makes the leap Barbie does. But he still has to grapple with the gendered notions of what makes his existence have value, first with the relatively harmless need to be around and esteemed by Barbie, which of course is fertile ground for the toxicity he brings back in funhouse form to Barbieland: the centring of his self-conception on being a man, having the girl, material possessions et cetera. The failure of this solution, implemented as the Kentriarchy, is total, and ultimately Ken comes to - at best - a half-solution, moving away from the dependency that drove him into the Kentriarchy, but still not really finding, and certainly not offering a solution beyond that, for the same reasons Barbie didn't.
The movie can't, because nothing can.
Barbie goes from a naive security in her own existence and womanhood, with a notable blindspot regarding Ken, has the security in all three shattered, first with her grappling with mortality and fallibility, then experiencing the latent threat of the real world, and finally with the imposition of the Kentriarchy in Barbieland. The Kentriarchy is ultimately overthrown, but the movie won't pretend to have an answer for what the perfect society would look like, which is why the final joke is 'well the Kens get some stuff in rough proportion to women in real life' - but if you're not pulled into the particular sort of fear that the Kentriarchy hits some people with, of the most stereotypical in feminine spaces being subordinated to men, it's going to feel off.
Regardless, even after Barbie experiences all of that, she still decides to become a real human (with mortality, fallibility etc.) and woman (under patriarchy, as things stand). This choice is fundamentally unjustified and unjustifiable: the movie doesn't articulate why Barbie wants that, because no exterior authority can do that. Nothing can tell you why life is worth living, and nothing can justify why life as a woman is worth choosing. To find meaning in existence is miraculous, but it's not given by grace. You have to make do for yourself. Barbie does. (This is where, I think, the 'trans narrative' argument comes in.) (Also how many cis women would be thrilled about their first gyno appointment?)
Meanwhile, Ken never grapples with mortality or humanity in that way: he stays in Barbieland, he never makes the leap Barbie does. But he still has to grapple with the gendered notions of what makes his existence have value, first with the relatively harmless need to be around and esteemed by Barbie, which of course is fertile ground for the toxicity he brings back in funhouse form to Barbieland: the centring of his self-conception on being a man, having the girl, material possessions et cetera. The failure of this solution, implemented as the Kentriarchy, is total, and ultimately Ken comes to - at best - a half-solution, moving away from the dependency that drove him into the Kentriarchy, but still not really finding, and certainly not offering a solution beyond that, for the same reasons Barbie didn't.
The movie can't, because nothing can.
Last edited:
- Location
- Sydney, Australia
I did have empathy for the stars. Ryan Gosling's storyline. This is why it rubbed me the wrong way, that it ends with a non-ending that makes a joke out of them.
I can count on one hand the number of compliments I've received in the last decade that are about me, and not about my work. I can remember each one in great detail, and I can feel each other weight upon my thoughts. Even though they were just minor things said off-handily. The complete starvation of validation, and then receiving one and having it warp your thoughts like Ryan Gosling's Ken being asked the time. How he tells all the other Kens who are wowed by it and then is wearing three watches. That spoke to me emotionally.
The feeling of working so hard, and getting zero attention or connection. Just striving fruitlessly. I went on a date recently, with a girl that was pushy to see what I was seeing on Tinder when scrolling. And flicked over to my matches to see that I had one match, her. And then she showed me hers, and she had over a thousand matches. When not even trying with either her profile or pictures. I feel like Ken competing with all the other Kens. How am I supposed to connect with anybody, when they have a thousand other guys in their pocket they can mentally compare me against?
I tried to follow the path laid out, go to university, get a job, grooming, wear nice clothes, exercise, express interest in her and what she says, etc. And I get passed over over and over. I haven't ever had the feeling of anybody being openly attracted to me. And everything I did, I had to do under my own mental power. The only people who want to help when I struggled were a few close male friends of my own age. No one else visibly seems to care. The only guys who actually cared about Ken, were other Kens even though they fought.
And I can't break into socialisation elsewhere. I try but it's incredibly daunting and the weight of social expectations and pressures fucks with my head. Or I'm held at permanent arm's length.
I've been asked about my interests, and then when I do start to excitedly explain them, I realise mid-way through that they don't actually care. And just asked out of ulterior motives or want the conversation to turn back to being about them. Literally, every time it happens it crushes me emotionally, and the Barbies winning move is doing that, just reminded me of all the times that has happened to me.
I've had women on dates bring up their mental health issues unprompted. And I listen and respond to what they are saying. But even bringing up a little bit that I have my own is the best way to ensure that I won't get a next date. Going to therapy is hashtag empowering for women, but it's loser shit for a guy. Just like body positivity is for women and not for men. I don't feel liberated, I feel more constrained. In practice, I feel held to all the standards of patriarchy that are useful to other people, while bound by social constraints and fears that I'm a danger.
Ken's interests weren't toxic or mean, just his domination of the Barbies as a turnaround for how he was treated. But they still had to be made fun of and ripped out and rejected by Barbie society.
Humans are social creatures. I have a burning desire to be around people. I don't feel entitled to a specific person or a perfect Barbie. But the message I get is that it's bad I want that connection and that if it doesn't happen naturally I just need to accept my place. That just expressing that desire, shows I'm actually an evil incel who wants to dominate women.
No man is an island. I know both intellectually and emotionally how debilitating isolation is. It's torture to put people into solitary. And yet we are walking straight into a social crisis where people are atomised. And the solution for men is either to suck it up or here are some bootstraps. Which is an incredibly conservative attitude that we don't have on other issues. When someone complains about poverty, we don't go 'well here is an example of someone grinding themselves out of poverty, why don't you just do that? Or accept you will be poor'.
So yeah I was touched emotionally. And yet Ken ends the movie in a sweater as the butt of a joke. I'm not even saying he has to end up with Barbie. He showed he was a natural leader, he could have been the first Ken in a political office. They could have let him rebuild his Mojo Dojo and show Barbies sincerely enjoying Ken's interests. Instead its nothing. The movie had plenty of fat like the Mattel CEOs that could have been trimmed to actually fix the Ken arc.
Last edited:
NonSequtur
a body
I think there's a fundamental limit to how much a film called Barbie can center the issues of men, and that giving Ken(s) a happy ending based around achieving things or having women around taking an interest in them/what they're doing is, if anything, counter to the thesis the film does have regarding living as a human or as a man, specifically. Because those things don't actually fix the issue of who Ken is anymore than the Mojo Dojo Casa House did. What he does achieve, in freeing himself from the dependency on Barbie (and the temporary toxic high of Kentriarchy) as the measure of his existence, is important, and vital, but it's only the first step on a journey the film won't/can't show.
People joke about men downloading Ryan Gosling films for their personality, and I almost think Ken is deliberately antithetical to that. What he is, underneath that lovely sweater, is not a personality to download. He's someone facing the challenge of making one of his own.
People joke about men downloading Ryan Gosling films for their personality, and I almost think Ken is deliberately antithetical to that. What he is, underneath that lovely sweater, is not a personality to download. He's someone facing the challenge of making one of his own.
Last edited: