I'm Just Ken
Joshua Caldwell
“Ken is the REAL Villain of Barbie”
“Mattel’s CEO was villainized and people now LOVE Mattel”
I’ve been toiling with what I wanted to write about this movie, that hasn’t already been said, and I’ve read a few reviews that oscillate between the above two concepts. Within the prototypical story structure we have hero and villain.
Especially for the Western Audience.
What Gerwin and Baumbach do so deftly here is steer both characters in and out of that role, because Gosling’s Ken and Ferrel’s CEO are not the villains.
Patriarchy is.
How the CEO and Ken present are amalgams; ciphers for the ways that a codified oppressive system, in this case patriarchy, affect an individual and how that individual may react.
These characters then exhibit the various ways we can codify oppression overtly and covertly. An apt way to look at the dispersion of oppression, and how it manifests. An oppressive chaos theory.
Honestly, I thought Farrell’s portrayal of the Corporate Ally was spot on. They {Farrell} often come off cartoonish, but if the billionaires of the world have shown anything, it’s that cartoonish may be too kind.
Everyone touched by Patriarchy, whether in reality or Ken-dome eventually suffers. Everyone can oscillate in and out of being a villain in a system that codifies oppression.
From all accounts, and to my own selfish chagrin, it seems Ryan Gosling is every bit the stand up person.
Through that earnestness; Ken ends up being the perfect cipher for how Patriarchy creates villains.
Seeping quickly into the void; chiseled by their insecurities and lack of self. Ken returns with a new sense of identity, enshrined in horses Patriarchy.
Horses are a well ridden analogy for maleness, and the Western White Saviorism littered in cinema and history, used very cleverly here to provide comic relief and allow for the audience to accept Barbies choice to forgive Ken.
Warner Bros former top grossing film; Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, has a truly unforgettable line:
"You Either Die A Hero, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain"
This is an apt encapsulation of what Barbie so masterfully does, and why Batman is always in sequels putting the same criminals back in jail.
Barbie is about the system: Not the person. It shows us how those in the system can be corrupted by it, enforce it, and fight against it.
I'm Just Ken
I'm merely a man.
This was something I used to say back in a former relationship. I was still drinking copiously as I thought it was the only thing that I was good at, and my partner and I were always arguing.
Inevitably I would shout this, and one time she finally lost it.
"I HATE when you say that! As if that sentence absolves you from anything."
She was right.
In my beer soaked brain; It was a plea, a white flag, an apology.
I make mistakes, isn't that what you want to hear?
For a child whom had grown up in a home where that admission of wrong doing was unheard of.
A Mother that refuses to apologize for attacking a pregnant woman; well into their fifties.
A Father that refuses to apologize for wishing they had hit me more growing up.
Things like apologies and empathy and conversations simply did not exist in our households, and I have to imagine I am not the outlier here.
The opening verse to the Banger that is I'm Just Ken:
Doesn't seem to matter what I do
I'm always number two
No one knows how hard I tried, oh-oh, I
I have feelings that I can't explain
Drivin' me insane
All my life, been so polite
But I'll sleep alone tonight
The final two lines stood out to me; because for a long time I couldn't understand why my relationships were ending so poorly.
Every guy thinks they are the nice guy that is misunderstood.
They are just merely
ken men.