Kenergy
Barbie has just become the first billion dollar film directed by a solo woman. Wow.
I saw it with my wife and girls last weekend. It’s a lot of fun. Even as an ally though, you feel it’s straining to get a little too much in at the expense of pace and story - but it just made a billion dollars in about five minutes, so what the hell do I know?
If you have been living under a rock - or just don’t have two young daughters and a ‘young at heart’ wife like me - the film is a fantasy story of the eponymous doll in all her many forms living in Barbieland. All the Barbies that were ever made live in perfect harmony alongside all the Kens that were ever made. The Kens exist solely to gain the attention and approval of the Barbies. That’s it. They have no other purpose. They are ornaments, decorations and sometimes distractions from the pressures of living the perfect Barbie life.
One night though, Margie Robbie's "stereotypical Barbie" starts to have some dark thoughts. She contemplates the yawning abyss of death at the climax of another perfect Barbie girls night. Not the done thing in Barbieland.
To remedy these dark thoughts she travels to the real world where she spends a lot of time getting arrested and generally getting dashed on the rocks of modern life. Ken comes too and discovers the patriarchy. He’s instantly a fan. He goes back to Barbieland and establishes incel heaven. The other Barbies have no natural defence against this, having evolved in a sexism-free environment. They become what the Barbie dectractors always claimed they were - compliant bimbos propping up the patriarchy.
The movie’s ability to savagely roast not only men but Barbie culture itself is certainly notable. Also notable has been the visceral reaction from the usual suspects to the blatant and unapologetic feminist agenda of the film.
Incel foghorn Ben Shapiro filmed himself ranting for 47 minutes… four seven minutes… about the wokeness of it all. He even burnt a few Barbie dolls. How sane. I could only take about three minutes.
TV stormer-offer and cricketing tantrumiser Piers Morgan also labelled the film ‘an assault on all men’ in his own rant that had him impersonating a beetroot for a similar length of time.
Jeez Louise boys, if this movie skewers you, you have much larger problems. Yes, male characters are lampooned, denigrated and skewered, but that's not the point.
Coupla things to note. The writer is a dude, dude. A guy wrote this. I’m sure he had lots of help from the women that surrounded him during this film’s development, but the hand that wrote those jokes was hairy.
Also, most of the humour was the simple reversal of roles. Kind of like when a little kid puts on mum or dad’s glasses and pretends to be a grown up, a lot of the jokes and comic setups were just privileged and unaware women behaving exactly like privileged and unaware men have behave towards EVERYONE ELSE for centuries. That’s it. Yes, the powerful and favoured Barbies are dismissive and blaise towards issues of the powerless Kens but, stick them in trousers and beards and they are just doing what men do in the real world.
Another notable thing, Ryan Gosling as the main Ken is an understated genius. He had me comparing his portrayal of the famously one dimensional Ken character to that of german actor Bruno Ganz’s portrayal of Hilter in the Downfall. He was able to humanise some pretty dark and dangerous stuff in a pretty screwed up figure, but never apologises for any of it. Gosling probably goes one step further in that he covers it all in a layer of goofy humour. His song is still stuck in my head.
"I'm just Ken
Anywhere else I'd be a ten!"
And the happy ending… there kinda isn’t one. After the Barbies get back control of Barbieland (you knew it was gonna happen) there’s a bit of a reproach and some accommodation but there is the clear sense that this world isn’t fixed yet and there is miles to go - especially for the Kens. They need to actually find something to do with themselves other than sit around waiting for Barbie’s gaze. Sound familiar? Maybe the next film is Ken becoming their Germain Greer.
In fact, when the Kens reach their first inkling of self-actualisation and ask for a seat on the Barbieland supreme court, they get offered a much lower seat on some district court. They celebrate this like they have won the world cup. That’s parody, guys. It’s exactly what the establishment has done for generations to women and minorities - just reversed.
“A seat at the big table, you say? Yeah… nah. What about this little one over here where you get to wear all the robes n’ stuff but don’t get to bother us?
“You’re welcome!”
You may have caught yourself lampooning tokenism and diversity hires and all that over the years. It was the establishment making those appointments, mate, and they were token for a reason. You don’t want them having any actual power, right?
Barbie finally decides she needs to go to the real world and become a real woman. Her first main item to tick off? Get an awesome job? Meet the man of her dreams? Gaze wistfully at a beautiful sunset while finally feeling her own self-worth? Nope. A visit to the gynaecologist. Precisely 50% of the cinema laughed.
I actually wasn’t super entertained by the film in the cinema - it was fun and enjoyable, but wasn’t a great movie. (Gosling in Blade Runner 2049, amirite?)
But… I’m still talking about it days later, still noticing clever jokes and parodies and still thinking about it all - and fellas - I think that's the point.
