Barbie's Ryan Gosling Compared Ken To The Men On The Bachelorette
It's not a stretch to say that, in a way, the "Barbie" movie has some similarities to glossy reality dating shows like "The Bachelorette." Everything is orchestrated and pre-planned, a woman is given full agency while men simply stand around and adore her, and there's an overwhelming sense of artificiality. Apparently, while filming "Barbie," star Ryan Gosling — who plays the main Ken in Greta Gerwig's film — made that connection on his own.
Speaking to hosts Sean Hayes, Jason Bateman, and Will Arnett on their "SmartLess" podcast, Gerwig said her star pointed out the similarities between "Barbie" and "The Bachelorette" while the two were working on the film. "When we started talking about Ken, [Gosling] was like 'Oh, Ken reminds me of the men on The Bachelorette when the woman isn't around, they don't know what to do with themselves, and they get stressed out, and they're doing pushups,'" Gerwig said.
Thinking about it, Gerwig realized he was right: "They kind of are competitive with each other. And it's like, if one guy wears glasses and then another guy wears glasses, he's like 'No you took my thing! I'm the guy with glasses!'" The Kens are extremely competitive with one another, and there's a definite rivalry at first between Gosling's Ken and Simu Liu's Ken... and when the Barbies figure out they can pit the Kens against each other to reclaim Barbie Land and undo its new patriarchal structure, they take full advantage of the competitive machismo.
Ken ends up experiencing a surprisingly emotional arc in Barbie
Barbie's journey throughout "Barbie" is, perhaps predictably, pretty emotional; after realizing the real world low-to-high key sucks for women, she manages to restore Barbie Land to its former glory, but something is still missing. Ultimately, thanks to the seemingly all-powerful ghost of her creator Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman), she becomes a real person — which is how we get to that slam-dunk of a final line where Barbie, now Barbara Handler, proudly tells a receptionist she's there to see her gynecologist.
Ken really goes through it too, though, and in many ways, his journey is just as enormous and as touching as Barbie's. Ken's got Kenergy for days, but what he doesn't have is Barbie's love — and he doesn't really have an ounce of power, either. Once he realizes that, in the real world, men and perhaps also horses run everything, he brings those ideals back to Barbie Land, creating a somewhat dystopian vision of patriarchy he dubs "Kendom" that honestly just involves a lot of Matchbox 20 and Kens explaining movies to their Barbies. When it all falls down, Ken locks himself in his Mojo Dojo Casa House and sobs, telling Barbie he'll never be enough... at which point she gently tells him he needs to figure out who he is outside of her. Ken brings patriarchy to a new land, performs a full dream ballet, and nails a Rob Thomas impression, but what matters is that at the end, he's finally "kenough."
Ryan Gosling's press tour for Barbie was the stuff of legend
One week before "Barbie" officially hit theaters, SAG-AFTRA joined their writer colleagues in the WGA and went on strike, demanding much more from studios — and as a result, the "Barbie" press tour stopped in its tracks. It's important to acknowledge, though, that Gosling didn't just do an incredible job playing Ken in the movie (although he certainly did). He's been performing as Ken for the entire lead-up to "Barbie."
Whether he's explaining that nobody used Barbie's slide because everybody was respectful of Barbie's stuff or doing a video for GQ about things Ken can't live without — headbands, book, and a cool chain necklace are all part of the package — Gosling over-commits to the bit, but not in a weird way, like when Austin Butler wouldn't stop talking like Elvis for months. Gosling clearly just... had a whole lot of fun playing Ken, and he brought that Kenergy to the press tour with him too. This is a man who really loves to commit to a bit, so it's not surprising that, when trying to figure out Ken's inner monologue, a "Bachelorette" contestant who does push-ups when he's at a loss was the comparison he uncovered.
"Barbie" is in theaters now.