This is one of the dumbest movie discussions ever

When grown men light up Barbie dolls and complain once again about a “woke” agenda or supposed feminist re-education measures, you know: a film has been released that inspires many people, although it was not (only) shot for men and jokes about even those who find themselves very masculine.

Barbie is about the doll of the same name and her eternal sidekick Ken, who after a trip to the real world brings the patriarchy to Barbielandto finally feel respected. Greta Gerwig’s incredibly successful comedy plays with gender stereotypes and social inequality. And yes: Under the surface there are clear references to toxic ideals of masculinity and the radicalization of men’s rights groups.

It’s totally okay not to like this movie. However, who believes that Barbie propagates hatred of men and a world ruled purely by women, is completely wrong. And that’s not a question of interpretation, it’s a fact. (Spoilers follow for Barbie.)

Making fun of men is not man-hating

Barbie is a comedy and wants to entertain. As a result, the blatant artificiality of the Barbie world has been ridiculed and the public’s perception of the iconic doll rightly not undisputed in its influence on beauty standards. But also about role models and gender relations in two fundamentally different worlds: Barbieland as a matriarchy where the barbies control everything and the Kens don’t even have an identity of their own. And the real world (in this case: the USA) as a society with equal rights, but which is still permeated by patriarchal structures.

When the Kens, led by Ryan Gosling’s Beach-Ken, take over Barbieland, instead of pink couches and pastel-colored toasters, there are greasy leather couches and loads of beer. Masculine cliché replaces feminine cliché. In order to prevent the Kens from gaining control of Barbieland forever by voting, the Barbies around Margot Robbie and their real-world “owners” hatch a plan: distract the “men” until the vote takes place without them has.

And what’s the best way to do that? You make them feel smart, important, and needed by playing bad guitars for hours or by having them explain The Godfather to you at length. Yes, there is laughter here at clichéd and exaggerated “male” behavior. But it has nothing to do with hatred of men. Also, because of course not everyone Mann behaves just like the Kens – except maybe for the people who are now so incredibly offended by the film.

Ryan Gosling’s Ken is not the villain but the tragi-comic heart of Barbie

The fact that Ken has no identity and can do absolutely nothing isn’t funny because filmmakers or fans think men are idiots. Instead, the humor works on several levels and oscillates between really funny and tragicomic. On the one hand, the film reveals in a very entertaining manner, how “useless” the doll Ken has always been. Barbie is the star, the identification figure for the core female target group, the doer. Her male equivalent is a pretty accessory, the trophy friend. But it doesn’t really matter. A depressing constellation that we know in the real world – if at all – rather in reverse gender distribution.

Second, in Greta Gerwig’s film, Ken isn’t just an uninspired toy that historically sat in the corner while little girls with well-coiffed (and, of course, highly unrealistic) ideal women in pink convertibles practiced world domination. Here we are watching a person playing a puppet that leads a hopelessly tragic life. He’s nothing without Barbie. He doesn’t even have his own place to live. That makes him a pitiful figurehead. I want him to be okay and find redemption in the end. Even if he sets up a completely goofy horse version of the patriarchy in Barbieland, where the female dolls are now powerless and aimless.

The plastic men in Barbieland aren’t villains whom audiences and film wish their demise. They are tragic figures who overreact out of impotence and create a world in which they have power but are ultimately not happy either.

Ryan Gosling was born to play Ken as this video shows:

Barbie is a Pro-Ken movie and the ending proves it

That’s why the original version of Barbieland with oppressed male dolls isn’t simply restored at the end of Barbie. Yes, there is a happy ending for Barbie, who “gets” to live as a real woman in the real world. (Well, congratulations!) However, the much bigger and nicer revolution is happening in plastic land: The Kens emancipate themselves from her role as the perennial sidekick.

For the first time, they are allowed to occupy positions that have an actual function and can thus actively help shape life in Barbieland. And actually even more important: They no longer make their self-esteem dependent on the other doll sex. They are valuable and lovable as individuals without constantly having to prove something to themselves and others. You are “kenough”.

So Barbie isn’t a man-hating movie, it’s a Pro-Ken movie, who is incredibly empathetic to the eternal sidekick and lets him go through a much more complex – and interesting – transformation than the actual main character, Barbie. That’s why neither patriarchy nor matriarchy wins in the end, there is a happy ending for everyone. And for Ryan Gosling’s unbelievably good performance as horse-mad Ken, hopefully all the awards in the world.

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