Britons define ourselves by our work, maybe we should ‘just beach’ like Ken

Josh Williams

IWENT to the cinema this week to watch the struggle of a man who finds himself wielding unbearable power. I also saw an actor give the standout performance of his career. But I am not talking about Cillian Murphy’s turn as Robert Oppenheimer. Instead, this tragic hero was Ryan Gosling’s Ken.

While Barbie might have the titular role, Ken is the star. He is not only given most of the laugh lines. He also has the more engaging character arc. Ken’s intellectual and emotional journey is so good it is Hegelian.

First, we have his Thesis – his starting position. Ken enters the story as a nonentity. He exists only and entirely for Barbie’s gaze. In Barbieland, every position in society is held by a woman, from President to construction worker. Ken, and every other man (called, almost exclusively, “Ken”), do nothing. Or, to be more precise, they do nothing but “beach” – which is to say, they stand on the beach with their washboard abs out. “Beach” also happens to be the most inspired new verb of 2023. From here, we move to the Antithesis – the direct opposite of the starting position. Having travelled from Barbieland to the real world to fix a tear in the space-time continuum (Christopher Nolan, eat your heart out), Ken encounters the patriarchy: a place where men (mostly) do all the important jobs and (mostly) rule. First, Ken tries to find employment within the real world. Unfortunately, his skills –limited entirely to “beach” – aren’t enough to find him work, even within the patriarchy. However, inspired by mankind’s example, he deserts Barbie and returns to Barbieland, staging a takeover. In his new creation, Kendom, he and the other Kens rule supreme. This is no Hollywood ending and so, needless to say, it does not last. In the final act, Barbie returns and unseats Ken, restoring Barbieland. Here, we reach the most important stage of

Ken’s arc. Thesis and Antithesis have met and, as Hegelians say they must, they combine to create a new and bet-

Who ter proposition: Synthesis.

First, Ken learned that he could live entirely in Barbie’s shadow. His attempt to find work within the realworld exposed his inadequacies (lifeguards, it transpires, do more than “beach”). Like Oppenheimer, he could not easily bear the awesome power that he had assumed. The final chapter of Ken’s story – his Synthesis – is to accept himself for who he is. Ken discovers that being himself is “kenough”. He does not have to exist in Barbie’s shadow. Nor does he have to find a job that defines him.

I have heard complaints at how Ken’s story ends. An esteemed fellow