Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie surprises fans with a villain twist and a plot change-up, leading to unexpected messages and a touching ending. Ken's unexpected villain turn stems from his feelings of inferiority and invisibility to Barbie, leading him to embrace the patriarchy.
All of Ken's villainous deeds are strictly either out of his idiocy or out of his insecurity, feeling that he didn't have a proper role in Barbieland. He even openly admits at the end of the movie that he didn't like ruling a patriarchy at all, and felt that he could never express his true feelings to anyone.
Ken brought everything that he offered to her feet. Mattel created Ken with one sole purpose—to be obsessed with Barbie and stand there as her arm candy. This portrays the reality of how men view their partners, it can also signify what females want in a partner.
But after the Barbies reveal their victory and Ken goes off crying, it's Barbie who apologizes to Ken, not the other way around. Some viewers have wondered: why does Barbie apologize to Ken when he's the one who brainwashed all her friends and took over Barbie Land?
In short, Ken discovers the patriarchy and decides to bring it back to Barbieland, establishing his own “Kendom.” In a clever bit of screenwriting, Ken cares more about the sartorial manifestations of the patriarchy than the patriarchy itself. He is, after all, a fashion doll.
The fact is that Ken is, ultimately, not simply the villain of the film. He's also the damsel in distress. Look at his miserable life in Barbieland when we meet him: he has no Dream House to call his own – where the Kens live is unclear – and seems to spend all his time on tenterhooks waiting for Barbie to notice him.
Barbie and Ken felt it was “time to spend some quality time apart” with Arons hinting that Ken's reluctance to put a ring on it may have played a part in their breakup. Still, the two swore the breakup was amicable and they would remain friends.
Back in 2004, just days before Valentine's Day, Mattel shared the sad news that iconic couple Barbie and Ken had broken up. The most perfect plastic pair had been together for 43 years when the surprising split was announced.
In the Barbie mythos, Ken met Barbie on the set of a TV commercial and is her boyfriend, per promotional box inscriptions from his debut until 2018. As of September 2022, he is perceived as one of Barbie's main friends.
Created by Barbie's inventor Ruth Handler, Ken was a boyfriend designed by women for girls. Just as Barbie was named after Handler's daughter, so Ken was named after her son. And so the safe, boyfriend-friend dynamic of Barbie and Ken's relationship was established.
There are also two discontinued Kens that take part in the scene with all the forgotten dolls. The first is Sugar Daddy Ken, a modern doll portrayed by British actor Rob Brydon. Sugar Daddy Ken was created in 2009 for Barbie's 50th anniversary as part of the adult doll collection line for Mattel.
Director Greta Gerwig, who has built a devoted following for such female-forward movies as Lady Bird and Little Women, has labeled Barbie "most certainly a feminist film." Mattel executives, on the other hand, have said the opposite.
Women do hold positions of power in our real world, and women are often treated with dignity. Barbie Land is an idea of a matriarchal society made to directly counterbalance an idea of a patriarchal society.
He works as a lifeguard along with his friends at Oceans Extreme. He likes surfing and has taught Skipper how to surf. He had a crush on Harriet and wanted to ask her out for school dance, but was too afraid to ask. He has a crush on Barbie but doesn't have the nerves to tell her.
Ken's vengefulness, which masks his rage, shame, and insecurities, is largely a byproduct of Barbie's lack of sexual-romantic interest in him. Ken is the prototypical patriarchal man, who is raised to believe his identity and worth are explicitly tied to his sexuality and ability to sexually dominate women.
This stems from a deep-rooted envy of Barbie's relationship with Ken, whom Raquelle has feelings for. When Raquelle isn't plotting against Barbie, she's trying her hardest to outshine her with her luxurious lifestyle. Raquelle also has a twin brother named Ryan who is just as vain and shallow as she is.
Ken has been dating Barbie for 43 years total now. Ken has been shown to be frenemies with Ryan, the twin brother of Raquelle. Raquelle has a crush on him, but Ken obviously doesn't reciprocate these feelings, since he is in love with Barbie. He fights with Ryan over Barbie's affections.
Summary. Margot Robbie's friends were surprised that she and Ryan Gosling's Ken don't kiss in the Barbie film, questioning her role as a producer. Barbie and Ken have a close bond but do not share a romantic relationship in the movie, with Barbie explicitly stating that she isn't interested in Ken that way.
Mattel released a statement in 2004 that Barbie and Ken had broken up, but they were reunited in 2011. Barbie and Ken aren't officially engaged or married, though wedding clothing and gift boxes have been released so that children could play that they were marrying.
Barbie wasn't honest with Ken about not being attracted to him and Ken was obsessed with making her like him, becoming dependent and later manipulative. While all this was key to their personal journeys, being paired with the wrong Barbie and Ken was very unhealthy for both.
Barbie's boyfriend is Ken Carson. Ken (Kenneth Carson) is a Mattel toy doll introduced by Mattel in 1961 as the fictional boyfriend of toy doll Barbie, introduced in 1959.
Hmm. 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.
Barbie was childfree. She was invented to be that way. Her creator, Ruth Handler, way back in 1959, was disheartened to find that the only dolls her own daughter could play with were baby dolls.
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.)
