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.
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.
The breakup was announced at the International Toy Fair and Barbie's publicist stated that they would remain friends and that Barbie was going to spend some time with “close family and friends” at her Malibu beach house.
Meet Blaine, the Aussie boogie boarder Barbie dumped Ken for back in 2004. “BARBIE DUMPS KEN FOR AN AUSSIE,” shouts a 2004 headline from The Sydney Morning Herald.
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.
Mattel describes Barbie as strong, confident and always willing to help her siblings. 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 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.
He doesn't have a real job or home or purpose outside of Barbie. Then Ken leaves Barbieland, a feminist utopia, and enters the real world, where men run, well, everything. In short, Ken discovers the patriarchy and decides to bring it back to Barbieland, establishing his own “Kendom.”
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.
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.)
Kenneth Sean "Ken" Carson Jr. is a fashion doll introduced by American toy company Mattel in 1961 as the counterpart of Barbie, who had been introduced two years earlier.
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.
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?
Ultimately, Barbie chooses to become human and embrace her own body, but the ending hints at the possibility of future limitations imposed by the Mattel corporation.
In the final shot of the film, Margot Robbie's Barbie declares, "I'm here to see my gynecologist." The silly line manages to poke fun at the reality of womanhood, without dismissing or minimizing it.
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.
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.
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.
Barbie and Ken are one of pop culture's most famous couples. But the plastic dolls were named after real people, and they weren't a couple – they were siblings. Ruth Handler's children resented the dolls named after them and didn't buy any for their own children.
While some on social are wondering how Barbie snagged a girlfriend before them, or when exactly she came out, Aimee Song weighed in to make the relationship Twitter-official. “I am the girlfriend,” Aimee tweeted, alongside a photo of herself and her Barbie likeness wearing her “Love Wins” t-shirts.
Ken Carson is a character who was introduced in 1961 as Barbie's boyfriend. He was created by Ruth Handler, and she probably named Ken after her son Kenneth Handler.
Based on their commentary, Gerwig seemingly cut the scene due to the logistics of how a Barbie and a Ken would even kiss. The pair kissing simply doesn't make sense in a toy world where physical intimacy doesn't exist – a fact that's clear when Stereotypical Ken says he doesn't know why he'd stay overnight.
And while the two are boyfriend and girlfriend in the movie, Barbie doesn't seem to feel the same way for Ken as he does for her. Warner Bros. This could be explained by the fact that Barbie and Ken are dolls, and they don't really have a "sexual" attraction to each other.
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.
