“It was so funny trying to figure out what their idea of kissing might be,” Gosling told People during the joint interview with Robbie earlier this month. “I'm so glad all of that got cut out.”
By the time you finish Barbie, you'll feel a surge of feminist empowerment and won't get enough of using Ken-ergy as an adjective. But Barbie and Ken are not your typical couple, in that they don't kiss in the movie. A funny TikTok admitting the actors were happy the scene was cut is now making the rounds.
While the film does not dive into trans identity, Barbie still manages to touch upon LGBTQ+ issues without naming them as such. In fact, the film features several openly LGBTQ+ actors, like Hari Nef, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, and Scott Evans.
Barbie Became a Vampire Bride for Ken! 👰🏻♀️ *UNBELIEVABLE ENDING* La La Life
Is Barbie in love with Ken?
Barbie makes it clear she's not interested in Ken romantically and urges him to find his own personal passions. The finale not only flips the normal script on female-centric films—in which a woman discovers she doesn't need a man to find her inner power (Legally Blonde, Eat Pray Love, etc.)
By the late 1980s, Midge was back on shelves as part of the California Dream Barbie set. Then, she was re-released in the 1990s wearing a wedding dress, and again in 2002 with a detachable magnetic pregnant stomach, which allowed her to “deliver” a small plastic baby curled up inside, per CBS News.
Ken (short for Kenneth Carson) hit the toy aisle as Barbie's buyable boyfriend two years after her 1959 debut. He was available in two styles — blond or brunette hair, made of hard plastic — and came dressed in very short red swim trunks. He cost $3.50 and shared a name with the son of Barbie's creator, Ruth Handler.
Before Barbie came out, Robbie explained to Vogue that she played Barbie as if she didn't feel sexual desire, which also may have contributed to her lack of feelings for Ken. “I'm like, Okay, she's a doll. She's a plastic doll. She doesn't have organs.
Technically, Ken has no official age (he is a doll, after all) although he was first introduced as Barbie's boyfriend on March 11, 1961, which means he has been around for 62 years. (Barbie was created in 1959, which would make her 64.)
"your Ken can kiss my Barbie" is a witty play on words: Ken=knowledge but it is also Barbie's boyfriend: Ken. Penny is basically telling Sheldon to bring it, that she's not afraid of him.
Male dolls had traditionally been losers in the marketplace. But consumers so pushed for a boyfriend doll that Mattel finally released it in 1961. The reason for their demand was obvious: Barbie taught girls what was expected of women and a woman in the fifties would have been a failure without a male consort.”
Today, the doll itself is 64 years old; in 2023, Barbie would technically be 83 years old if she aged. However, toy company Mattel has said that she's perpetually frozen in time at the age of 19. Despite her ageless appearance, Barbie holds a wide array of adult careers.
The pair play Barbie and Ken in Greta Gerwig's comedy smash, which in its first weekend has broken the domestic box office record for a female director. While the two dolls are boyfriend and girlfriend in the film, they never kiss, due to the innocent nature of their relationship.
Apparently, Barbie will never get married. According to the wishes of Barbie creator Ruth Handler, part of Barbie's appeal to young children was that she defied patriarchal norms, and would never walk down the aisle toward Ken or have children.
Sugar Daddy Ken is a satirical knock-off doll that made a hilarious cameo appearance in the movie Barbie, poking fun at the legacy of the iconic doll. Released in 2009 as a special edition for adult collectors, Sugar Daddy Ken was quickly discontinued due to controversy surrounding its suggestive name and appearance.
Ken was first introduced back in 1961, two years after Barbie hit store shelves. But he hasn't had nearly the same impact on the Barbieverse since. “Barbie's world is about Barbie.
Ken has no official age and is supposed to be ageless in the Barbie movie, similar to Barbie herself. The Ken doll was launched just two years after Barbie on March 11, 1961. It has been around for 62 years compared to Barbie's 64.
Kenneth Sean "Ken" Carson (1961–1967, 1969–present): Barbie's male counterpart and former boyfriend as well as the second character added to the line. Mattel announced a split between him and Barbie in 2004 and a reunion on Valentine's Day in 2011.
Although the doll was part of a 'Happy Family' line of dolls, there was backlash at the time for endorsing 'teenage pregnancy', so the road towards endorsing a liberating world through Barbie dolls has admittedly not always been smooth. Regardless, for Ruth the idea was to keep Barbie single and child free.
1961: First introduced at the American International Toy Fair as Barbie doll's boyfriend on March 11, 1961 Ken doll was 12 inches tall, had “molded” plastic hair (blond and brunette) and came dressed in red bathing suit trunks with a yellow towel and sandals.
Their newest doll is a Barbie with Down Syndrome, designed with guidance from the National Down Syndrome Society. It's great that Mattel has broadened its representation of people with disabilities; more children will be able to play with toys that look like them.
Midge's run as the youthful, freckled sidekick has been sporadic and at times turbulent, with only a handful of releases in the '60s, before she resurfaced in the '80s and '90s. Then, a pregnant version of the doll was unceremoniously pulled from store shelves in 2002 amid fears she was promoting teen motherhood.
Indeed, as creator Ruth Handler argued, the beauty of Barbie was that she could be “anything she wanted to be.” Interestingly, that has never extended to motherhood. She has been an astronaut and a judge, but the character has never been marketed or sold as a mother.
