Ken Isnt The Barbie Movies Villain — The Patriarchy Is
As the Barbie film press tour progressed, more and more people fell in love with Kane. It sure helps that Ryan Gosling plays Kane, but with the trailers and previews playing into Kane's "himbo" mentality, it's clear that we as a collective have made the Barbie character a "girl."
For those of you who aren't online all the time, I mean every month the internet collectively decides to demonize famous white men to pathological levels. From The Last of Us actor Pedro Pascal to The Heirs actor Kendall Roy, marketing for a new film or drama doesn't stop until the Twitter hotbed decides to put the male lead in very high esteem.
If you need more proof of why we're White People of the Month, a quick scroll through social media tells you everything you need to know. Dozens of tweets and TikToks extolling her admiration for Barbie, the dead stare, and the golden retriever's energy have gone viral, and it's clear that Barbie's movie marketing strategy has won out. Why else would "Kenergy" be part of the everyday vocabulary of Barbie actors? But before we met Ken and fell in love, the Barbie movies taught us a very important lesson. (Warning: minor spoilers ahead.)
It would be too easy to call Kane the movie's villain, but his stellar role in the Barbie movie definitely taught us a lesson or two about the "good guy." How many times have women, in particular, been fooled by a man's seemingly innocent promises, only to dig a little under the surface and discover that those promises are actually love bombs? Or is it a man who feels entitled to be in a relationship with you because you like him?
As we learn more about "good people" in real life, we may find that what we think are green flags are actually red flags. And like Kane, we recognize that even the most physically perfect man on paper isn't immune to the damage of the fragile male ego.
The dichotomy between why we were told and why we ended up is what I think Barbie's true message is: we are all victims of patriarchy.
When Kane enters the "real world", the patriarchal views of the de facto patriarchy reflect his already fragile masculinity, and we see this ideology slowly corrupting him, the other Kanes, and Barbieland in general.
Barbie finally "programmed" this ideal. However, it turns out that the only antidote is to actively educate them about the dangers of this mindset: exposing this patriarchal attitude and explaining the dangers. Only then will Barbie see her worth.
Same for Keynes – once they freed themselves from the constraints of toxic masculinity and patriarchal thinking, they were happier. They feel more able to express their feelings, be more vulnerable, and create their identity outside of the discriminatory relationships bestowed upon them by Mattel's rulers.
Overthrowing the patriarchy in the "real world" may be more difficult than Barbie's dream house, but the point is clear. Everyone's life in Barbieland, boy or girl, is better off if it's free from patriarchal mentality.
And if you need more proof that the same holds true in the "real world," check out the rave reviews the Barbie movie has received. If he's already waving a cell of weak men screaming "harassment," "wake up," and "villain," then he's clearly doing something wrong.
If you want to know what we think of Barbie's casting first, check out our Barbie review. Then read our guides to Barbie Endings Explained, Barbie Soundtracks, Barbie Endings, and How to Watch Barbie.
Finally, if you want to understand Barbie's world a little better, here's our guide to questions like: Who is Ruth, Why is she a villain, Why does the narrator hate Kane, Are Barbie movies musicals, and How old are Barbie movies?
