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Is Ryan Gosling Playing This Gay Icon Ken Doll in New Barbie Movie?
The first image is out and we have questions.
The first look at heartthrob Ryan Gosling in the upcoming Barbie live-action film was released this week, and to those familiar with some of doll-maker Mattel’s history, he looked a little…familiar.
Back in the early 1990s, girls apparently wanted Barbie’s beau to look cooler, and the result was something called Earring Magic Ken. Considering how important earrings were to queer culture in that era, you can probably guess where this is going.
This updated “cool” Ken looked so blatantly gay that internet folklore surrounding it suggests that designers went to raves populated by queer men to figure out what, exactly, was a cool look at the time. People also claimed his necklace was straight up a cockring.
\u201ci can\u2019t believe greta gerwig made 1993 earring magic ken real\u201d— spider-man: turn off the dark advocate \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@spider-man: turn off the dark advocate \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08) 1655337722
Whatever the true story about the design may be, gay men bought enough Ken dolls that it became the best-selling Ken in Barbie history, despite being taken off the shelves within weeks because Mattel was allegedly worried about it hurting their image.
\u201chappy pride to earring magic ken and earring magic ken only\u201d— \ud83c\udf80\ud83c\udfae (@\ud83c\udf80\ud83c\udfae) 1655189821
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is reportedly featuring multiple versions of both Barbie and Ken, so the idea that Earring Magic Ken would explicitly be among them isn’t far-fetched. And the idea of bringing back this short-lived but fairly iconic iteration of the doll already has people ready to see where things are going — as does this general chiseled bleach blonde denim look Gosling has going on.
\u201c@wbpictures Yes hello, One front row ticket for the new Barbie movie please.\u201d— Warner Bros. Pictures (@Warner Bros. Pictures) 1655308820
\u201c@JackDMurphy @wbpictures I hope it happens just so I can see the conservative outrage over Ken being gay.\u201d— Warner Bros. Pictures (@Warner Bros. Pictures) 1655308820
\u201cThis man used to dance at G-A-Y in 2008, spill his \u2018voddy cran\u2019 on me, then look me up and down and say \u2018not interested sweetheart!\u2019\u201d— Sacha Coward (@Sacha Coward) 1655359322
\u201c@wbpictures does he comes with his own poppers\u201d— Warner Bros. Pictures (@Warner Bros. Pictures) 1655308820
\u201cwhen barbie struggles with everyone so \u201cperfect\u201d around her (straight people) because she\u2019s stuck in a loveless lavender marriage with ken (gay) and that\u2019s what\u2019s preventing her from being the all american girl she was produced to be\u201d— Not diane selwyn (@Not diane selwyn) 1655310525
\u201cIt\u2019s giving drag king with a fresh Amazon chest plates\u201d— Tenderoni (@Tenderoni) 1655320749
\u201cListen up lazy Halloween gays, it\u2019s your time to SHINE\u201d— Katy Perry\u2019s Pizza (@Katy Perry\u2019s Pizza) 1655319027
Unfortunately, we’re going to have to wait a while longer to see where this world of pink plastic and perfect abs is headed — Barbie is currently scheduled for release in July 2023.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
