In a Reddit thread that went viral, one viewer detailed how the movie led him to break up with his girlfriend, after he realized he needed to be less dependent on his girlfriend for validation, just like Ken. “Believe it or not, this realization shook me,” he wrote.
Why are girls breaking up with their boyfriend after seeing Barbie?
One story that caught attention was from u/notalaskakidd, who disclosed breaking up with her boyfriend due to his dismissal of the feminist themes in the film. The movie was the tipping point for her decision. Interestingly, 'Barbie' has also provided support to those who had already gone through breakups.
She joins forces with other Barbies and a mother-daughter duo to overthrow the oppressive control of the Ken dolls. 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.
The most perfect plastic pair had been together for 43 years when the surprising split was announced. Mattel said that it was just time for the two dolls to spend some time apart, with some hints pointing to Ken's avoidance of the marriage subject.
“I felt that the movie was a journey to self-discovery,” she explains. “Every character was along that journey in finding out who they really are and discovering that, at the end of the day, anyone can be anything and there's no one to stop you.”
“Barbie” portrays mother-daughter relationships as something beautiful and valuable, even in the messiness. Hollywood's representation of motherhood is often rocky, and Shaw highlighted several Hollywood tropes she views with caution.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 and Barbie met in 1961 while filming their first commercial together, according to Mattel. It was love at first sight and the two, who both hail from the (fictional) town of Willows, Wisconsin, started going steady. But, in the 2000s, things got a little more complicated for the couple.
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.
That's right, a fun film about a doll is causing people to break up. So how did this happen? Well, according to an onslaught of TikTok videos, the answer lies in the lack of men willing to 'get' the film. After watching it, they don't understand the movie's plot.
Who did Barbie have a relationship with after breaking up with Ken in 2004?
“Phew, we were worried,” The Washington Post's Anne Schroeder wrote about the breakup. “For the record, Cali Girl is already taken by a new plastic hunk, Blaine the Australian boogie boarder.” Next thing you know, Barbie and Blaine are an item and Ken is on Facebook and Twitter trying to win Barbie back.
Barbie, then, couldn't love Gosling's Ken back because he wasn't the Ken designed for her, but at the same time, Barbieland might not have had a Beach Barbie he could fall in love with (the closest to it being Dua Lipa's Mermaid Barbie, who had John Cena's Kenmaid).
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.
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.)
Sugar Daddy Ken was created in 2009 for Barbie's 50th anniversary as part of the adult doll collection line for Mattel. Despite the suggestive name — Sugar Daddy refers to an older man who pays a younger woman for companionship — Sugar supposedly refers to this Ken doll's dog, a white West Highland terrier.
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.
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.
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.
Mattel released the "Happy Family" set in 2002, featuring a pregnant Midge with infant accessories and a "3-in-1 crib, table, and cradle," according to the box.
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.
