Greta Gerwig is about to make a huge comeback on the big screens with the Barbie movie this coming July 21st. Starring Margot Robbie as the titular iconic doll alongside co-star Ryan Gosling as her opposite playing Ken, the upcoming satirical Barbie movie has faced a couple of controversies along the way.
One of the things you might be wondering about is how old are Barbie and Ken in the movie really? Well, we can assure you you’ll find out here soon enough!
Do Barbie and Ken Canonically Age?
Gerwig’s Barbie movie is heavily based on the iconic Barbie plastic doll created by Mattel. As you may have seen in the original animated Barbie movies, the Barbies never truly age in any alternate dimensions and stories she covers.
Barbie has been a fairy, a mermaid, a highschooler, a princess, and many more, and yet she never seems to age. Now, obviously, this is due to the iterations that Barbie should be everything she can be, as advertised. Not to mention, being a plastic doll doesn’t help her case in wanting to age for the audiences.
This explains the immortality behind her image and the ever-growing franchise of her animated films and series.
However, canonically, since the Barbie doll was released on March 9, 1959, this basically makes Barbie 64 years old.
The first Barbie doll was released at the American International Toy Fair in New York City, in which the Barbie creator Ruth Handler took inspiration from her own daughter after playing with paper dolls while assigning them to adult jobs.
This is when Barbie comes in as the ‘adult’ toy dolls, which eventually grew popular among kids. Essentially, Barbie was marketed as being 19 years old, originally coming from Willows, Wisconsin.
Although, considering her other personas in the previous films is highly doubtful to accomplish consistently at the same age, let’s just say this would be the standard age Barbie is quite commonly known for. Imagine taking over 200 jobs and still remaining 19 years old.
In the first episode of Life in the Dreamhouse, Barbie’s age was laughed off as a joke of being ‘over 43 years old’, perhaps tipping the hat off to how long Barbie dolls have existed.
As for Ken, he was released on March 11, 1961 as Barbie’s boyfriend or partner for kids to play with. Considering that Barbie is technically the center-stage for her franchise, Ken doesn’t have an official age. He’s a doll, after all.
ALSO READ: What Car Does Barbie Drive in the Movie?
So, How Old Are Barbie and Ken in the 2023 Movie?
No fans of the Barbie movie complained when Margot Robbie was chosen to become the iconic doll’s face in Gerwig’s satire movie, however, they beg to disagree once Ryan Gosling came into the picture for the role of Ken.
Many fans believed that Ryan Gosling is ‘too old’ to play the part. But what many seem to miss is the fact that he is most popularly known for playing The Notebook’s heartthrob, Noah, and that he was chosen for the role for a reason.
Once fans couldn’t still get over that he was going to play Ken’s role in the Barbie movie, Gosling told GQ the perfect response behind facing backlash for portraying the live-action Ken:
“I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with. It is funny, this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this? And everyone was fine with that, for him to have a job that is nothing. But suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No you didn’t. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never fucked with Ken. That's the point. If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed. This is why his story must be told.”
Barbie and Ken’s ages in Gerwig’s movie have not yet been revealed, but Margot Robbie is 32 years old and Ryan Gosling is 42 years old.
Since Gerwig has a knack in storytelling, much like with how she did Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019), the Barbie movie is downright a ‘satirical’ film, as Will Ferrell once told in an interview. This means the Barbie movie is beyond the ages you think the actor playing the part should be.
After all, the official Barbie movie synopsis even says:
After being expelled from the utopian Barbie Land for being a less-than-perfect doll, Barbie and Ken go on a journey of self-discovery to the real world.
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