Well, for Ken, anyway.
This post contains spoilers forBarbie
The Dream (House) is dead.
You dont have to say dojo and house, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) responds.
And casa, continues Gloria (America Ferrera).
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But Ken (Ryan Gosling) isnt having it.
But you do, because it feels good, he insists.
Its not just excessive terminology that makes Ken think that he feels good.
After all these are symbols for patriarchy, which isnt exactly what Ken wants.
They even play Matchbox 20 songs about spousal abuse on their guitars.
And yet, audiences can tell that Ken doth protest too much.
When Sasha and Gloria challenge his wording, a look of fear and desperation seeps into his eyes.
Goslings body language makes clear what his words cannot admit.
It doesnt feel good to say Mojo Dojo Casa House.
It feels even worse to live in it.
Out there I was somebody, he enthuses.
When I walked down the street, people respected me just for who I am.
In a reverse shot, Robbie lets the realization gradually take hold of Barbie.
Kens air-headed bluster may be ridiculous, but the movie acknowledges the validity of his need.
That acknowledgment makes the joke at the end of the speech all the more powerful.
One lady… she even asked me for the time, Ken says.
He likes having information and helping people.
That gives him a sense of identity.
Rather, the point of the joke triggers when Ken shows off his plan for getting that feeling again.
Ken strikes a triumphant pose, pumping two fists in the air and flexing his muscles.
Then, we can laugh.
That would be a strange joke in any movie about a product and funded by a toy company.
But even more so than, say,Battleshipor theTransformersfilms,Barbieis about the relationship between shopping and identity.
For Barbies, stuff equals identity.
The Ken-controlled vision of Barbie Land gets a lot of laughs out of cluttering the space with excessive stuff.
Two guys play a foosball table on the lawn.
Stetsons line the walls.
Along with Goslings comedic bluster, the landscape of useless stuff underscores the emptiness in Kens performance of masculinity.
He and the other Kens want that feeling of validation he got in the real world.
And, of course, it makes a mess.
Ill Deconstruct Semiotic Chains on the Malibu Beach!
Stuff might be the most prominent signifier of masculinity in Barbie, but Gerwig draws attention to others.
Over the sound of squealing guitar riffs and thundering drums, the Kens collide on the Malibu Beach.
And while we rightly laugh at his next line Am I not hot when Im in my feelings?
it reminds us that he simply wants love and respect.
They walk in nondescript outfits across a landscape with colors and nothing else.
The contentment they display shows the audience something that the Kens themselves dont even realize yet.
They dont need any of the signifiers of masculinity to be happy.
They can just be Ken.
To be honest, when I found out the patriarchy wasnt about horses I lost interest, he confesses.
That realization leads to the most radical part of theBarbiescript.
And, as youd expect, Ken leans in for a consolatory kiss.
But thats not the way this story ends.
Youre not your girlfriend.
Youre not your house.
Youre not your mink, she tells him.
asks Ken, ready to let go of the one last signifier he has left.
Barbie answers, Nope.
Youre not even beach.
Maybe all the things you thought made you, you, arent really…you.
Maybe its Barbie….and…its Ken.
Barbiedoesnt have time to show us what just Ken looks like.
Ken is a man simply because he identifies as a man.
Hes a man because he says hes a man.
Hes just Ken, and thats enough.
Barbieis available to stream on Max.
