The Barbie movie’s theatrical release is fast approaching and with the film being on edge ahead of its release, you might be wondering, who’s the real villain in Barbie?
Any movie would be lost without a villain or an antagonistic character working on the side, so in Barbie, who could this villain be, and are they the ones who kicked Barbie out of Barbie World in the first place?
The animated ‘Barbie-verse’ has had many villain stories in the past, but how could this live-action one starring Margot Robbie as the titular iconic doll alongside co-star Ryan Gosling as one of the ‘just Kens’, be any different?
WARNING: This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the Barbie Movie, so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
Does the Barbie Movie Have A Villain?
Movies normally depict a villainous or antagonistic character as a part of the ruse in developing good storytelling. This includes the Barbie movie, of course.
In the previous animated Barbie films, each one has had their own villains to remember the movie by, because it is what drives Barbie and her friends to solve the story and conflict.
Now, in Greta Gerwig’s 2023 Barbie movie, according to the trailer, it would seem that the Mattel company is going to be on the run after witnessing Barbie and Ken escape to the real world.
Before I elaborate, it is worth mentioning that in the duration of filming and producing the Barbie movie, Time magazine reported that Mattel president and COO Richard Dickson flew to the set personally at one point to confront Gerwig and Robbie in the ‘off-brand’ depiction of their company dolls.
While the aforementioned scene remained undisclosed, Gerwig and Robbie had managed to keep the scene in after the Mattel president witnessed the scene move forward in his own eyes, on the actual set.
Oddly familiar to how the Mattel company tried to keep Barbie away from the real world in the movie.
ALSO READ: Is the Barbie Movie LGBT+ Themed?
Is The Mattel Company Real? The Company Behind Barbie Explained
If you noticed in the Barbie movie trailer, Mattel is some sort of corporate company with Will Ferrell acting as the big boss behind it all.
In most scenes, Ferrel and other Mattel workers are seen in black suits and the black van always seemingly trying to take Barbie away from the real world.
In fact, some of their lines even depict their villainous attempts: “If this got out, this could mean extremely weird things for our world. This would be catastrophic!”
In another clip, the Mattel company boss even ordered: “No one rests until this doll is back in a box.”
The Mattel Company is the real American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company behind the iconic Barbie and Ken dolls.
Established in Los Angeles back in 1948, Mattel began their brilliant work in revolutionizing how toys are marketed way before Barbie was even born.
Now, it’s hard to say why the Mattel company is completely against Barbie and Ken (but mostly Barbie) ‘escaping’ to the real world, but we could speculate some theories.
Consider the Toy Story 3 franchise perspective where the toys have one purpose to serve and that is the children or adults who purchase them.
There’s a chance the Barbie movie is similar, except that the company could be hindering Barbie in further exposing herself to the real world and learning all about life beyond Barbie World.
Well, here's the thing: the Mattel company did try to lock 'stereotypical' Barbie (Margot Robbie) back into her promotional box when she was trying to seek for help at how misogynistic the real world had become in spite of the doll franchise's existence.
The Mattel company also tried to prevent any humans from coming into Barbie Land, considering it would be 'catastrophic' for the company and the influence of humans on their doll products.
Not to mention, the satirical movie is promoting that Barbie is a feminist figure but was mislead with misrepresentation in the real world, so in a sense, the Mattel company meeting room being filled with merely men, instead of the 'two other women' who used to run as CEOs in the past, it's implied they're one of the villains.
Fans Speculated Ken Might Be The ‘Real’ Villain
Ahead of the Barbie movie’s theatrical release, a new clip for the movie has been released, leading plenty of fans to speculate Ryan Gosling’s Ken might ‘lowkey’ be the villain in the film.
In the short clip, Gosling’s Ken talks about how he’s always number two as he tails behind Barbie. He had also emphasized how the ads are always depicting them as an inseparable tandem, ‘Barbie and Ken.’
Ken was looking quite triggered whenever he found Barbie in her spotlight again.
This could be loosely related to how Barbie was speculated to be a lesbian and was possibly going to end up with someone from the real world rather than Ken, which could obviously mean kaput for Ken’s career in Barbie’s life.
You can check out Gosling’s Ken performing his own musical for the Barbie movie below:
So, Who is the Real Villain in the Barbie Movie?
The 'real villain' in the Barbie movie was Ryan Gosling's Ken, but not in the way that you think.
See, after years and years of pining after Margot Robbie's Barbie at trying to get her attention, he never did succeed in being the 'only' Ken that Barbie would look at.
He had always seen himself as a sort of accessory to the main attraction to the doll franchise.
Once he stepped into the real world, though, he discovered he, as a male figure, had much more power beyond than what he had thought.
The men 'respected' him and was even jumping for joy when a woman had asked him what time it was when Barbie was trying to look for a solution behind her sudden losing powers in Barbie Land.
Ken learned more about 'misogyny' and 'patriarchy' and decided to reel in his other Ken dolls into the new plan: take over Barbie Land to turn into his 'Kendom' (Ken kingdom) and turn Barbie's dreamhouse into 'Ken's Mojo Jojo Casa House.'
What Barbie thought would be an absolute solution to Barbie Land (bringing Gloria into her world so she could turn back into being 'stereotypical' Barbie again) instead brought her worst nightmare of the Kens treating the Barbies as properties and mindless maids and servants.
The Barbies were brainwashed into thinking they no longer have to make their own decisions and always let men handle them and make them think they are superior to the female race.
As you can tell, the Barbies end up gaining their power back in leading Barbie Land by having the Kens fight over against each other, causing war between Kens amongst Kens over some petty reason, which led the Barbies to undo the new constitution of letting the Kens rule Barbie world.
By the end of the Barbie movie, Ken admitted that all he wanted was to spend more time with Barbie and not feel like an afterthought.
He wanted to serve his purpose of being with Barbie, of having sleepovers with her.
Besides, all in all, it was the horses that brought him to lead patriarchy into Barbie Land. So all was good. All turned out good in the end when Barbie Land was restored to its original purpose.
The official synopsis for the Barbie movie reads:
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.
READ MORE: Are Barbie and Ken Together? Relationship Status Explained
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