Barbie has officially taken over the world with a whopping $337 million worldwide opening weekend. In doing so, the Greta Gerwig directed film became the highest grossing opening for a female director in history. Not only because it was a fun colorful satire, but because it was a great film with a powerful coming-of-age message at its core. At the center of that was Ryan Gosling’s confused Ken who spent most of the film trying to win over the heart of Margot Robbie’s Barbie. However, what this hopeless romantic learned is that he’s “Kenough”, and now fans can be too as you can now buy Gosling’s tie-dye sweatshirt that Ken wears at the end of the Barbie.
“I Am Kenough”
Mattel, Barbie’s parent company featured heavily in the film, is now selling “I am Kenough” tie-dye sweatshirts on their website for $60. It’s significant for being the final Ken wardrobe change of the film and marked the emotional completion to the character’s journey. However, if a sweatshirt is not enough to contain your rabid “Kenergy”, the toy company is also selling “I am Kenough” coffee mugs, t-shirts, and baseball hats.
Ken’s Beautiful Journey
There are so many reasons why Barbie is regarded as one of the best films of the year, but one of the surprising points came from Ken’s tragic path in the film. Ken starts out as this confused guy just trying to get the girl of his dreams because that’s what he was “made” for. Throughout that gives the film a lot of hilarious comedic moments, but once Barbie and Ken go to the real world you quickly realize what the character of Ken represents in this satire of Barbie’s world. He’s a stand in for toxic masculinity and the pressure society puts on young men to be a certain kind of way. This isn’t a men-hating film like some uninformed people would lead you to believe, this is a brilliant exploration of men not being allowed to express their feelings and forever holding in their emotions until it’s too late. At the same time, the film smartly doesn’t turn Ken into a straight-up villain. By the end of this heightened adventure in Barbieland, Ken’s just a relatable and emotionally frustrated individual just like the rest of us. Ken’s breaking point was in his amazingly fun ballad “I’m Just Ken” and, although it’s not as literal as Barbie’s ending, he’s a flawed human being who’s more than Kenough. That was a beautiful message to close the film on. This is even before you talk about Gosling’s performance who, like Robbie, deserves an Oscar for his work. The La La Land star brought so much meaningful nuance, musical talent, and his underrated comedic edge to this plastic-filled role, he humorously changed the pop culture world forever.
How Much Can Barbie Make at the Box Office?
The sky is the limit for how much Barbie can make in its entire theatrical run. Given that the film now holds the best opening weekend of 2023, surpassing Super Mario Bros., this film has a real shot to cross the coveted billion dollar mark. While we wait and see, you can pre-order all the “Kenough” products your heart desires on Mattel’s website. This Kentastic merch will be released this September just in time for sweater season. Barbie is in theaters now.
Check out the "I am Kenough" collection alongside the Barbie trailer below:
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