How Barbie's Boyiend Ken Beme an Accintal Gay In | HowStuffWorks

Contents:

• TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED
• NOLTE: WOKE LEFTISTS CELEBRATE HOW ‘GLORLY GAY’ THE ‘BARBIE’ MOVIE IS
• THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN
• HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN

TURNS OUT, BARBIELAND ISN'T AS GAY AS S QUEER FANS HAD HOPED

He’s Barbie’s gay bt iend.Dpe Mattel’s sistence that Barbie and Ken are a happy romantic relatnship, there’s plenty of speculatn about Ken’s sexualy.

The film won’t say , but a post-creds punchle about Ken’s handwrg, plete wh hearts and stars surroundg his name, tells what we need to know.The heavily implied nature of Ken’s gayns Toy Story 3 harkens back to Hollywood’s tradnal gay bt iend-type characters. In the Hays Co era, explic referenc to homosexualy weren’t allowed, so characters like Van Buren (Frankl Pangborn) 1937’s Easy Livg, Kip (David Wayne) 1949’s Adam’s Rib, or Addison (Gee Sanrs) 1950’s All About Eve stead were imbued wh effemate characteristics, offerg a glimpse outsi of heteronormativy whout explicly beg queer.None of the characters were the same—some were tty, others sweet. But each of the gay bt iends was trsilly fed by their relatnships wh their straight iends.

NOLTE: WOKE LEFTISTS CELEBRATE HOW ‘GLORLY GAY’ THE ‘BARBIE’ MOVIE IS

Des later, 2010, the gay bt iend was all the rage; Teen Vogue even went so far as to proclaim the GBF as the summer’s mt-have accsory. But unlike the first half of the 20th century, today’s cema, the GBF is allowed to be openly gay.

In movi like Mean Girls (2004), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Easy A (2010), No Strgs Attached (2011), and Isn’t It Romantic (2019), gay iends exist entirely the orb of their female iends. “No one!” But Barbie do, and for Ken, that’s life-changg.There are plenty of reasons why the film wouldn’t outrightly state that Ken is homosexual. This versn of the doll had bleached blon hair, a purple leather vt (!), a pk-purple mh top (!!), and of urse, and earrg the “gay ear”.

But that’s not all: Around Ken’s neck was somethg that any active participant of the queer scene the ’90s regnized stantly—a ck rg (!!!).The Earrg Magic Ken turned Barbie’s boyiend to an out-and-proud homosexual raver. Mattel, of urse, vehemently nied any claims that Ken was gay, let alone that he had somethg as prepostero as a ck rg around his neck. As a rult, gay men bought the doll drov, and spe Mattel ultimately rellg the doll and wipg away any trace of Earrg Magic Ken, was near-impossible to see Ken as anythg but the glor homosexual he was born to be om then on.

THE FUTURE OF GAY BARBIE DOLLS AND THE HISTORY OF EARRG MAGIC KEN

Though Mattel don’t seem to be willg to say Ken is actually gay, the Ken dolls of recent years seem to really lean to Ken’s queerns. While there is no way to “drs gay,” there are several dolls that seem to suggt otherwise, such as:Fashnista Ken #193, who looks very exced to tell you about his new obssn, Troye Sivan;Travel Ken Doll, who has a satchel perfect for bathho and a purple overnight bag that lerally proclaims he’s “extra;”Ken Looks Doll, servg “I’m gonna give you a makeover”-type realns while sportg black pleather pants;This Ken, who wears the least heterosexual double nim imagable.While I have a feelg the new Barbie movie will put the work to nvce that Ken is a hetero du who lov nothg life more than Barbie herself, the wrg’s already on the wall: Ken is, and always will be, Barbie’s gay bt iend.Keep obssg! “First of all, I’m gay, ” he said, “and this movie is gog to be gay non.

"Alex AvilaAnd Gay Tim, a Brish LGBTQ news se, celebrated Friday, the day of the film’s official release, as “Barbie day“ and lled the world-renowned doll a “queer cultural phenomenon. PicturIn an terview wh Fandango, actor Kate McKnon, who is openly gay and plays “Weird Barbie” the film, said Barbie is about “imagatn. Many also flagged the teased scene which Barbie, now the real world, exchang a longg look wh Ameri Ferrera’s Gloria character; though, the relatnship between the two turns out to be a tribute to motherhood and the tradnal, nuclear before the film’s release, Robbie all but squashed the mors that some or any of the Barbi and Kens would be gay, tellg the Brish LGBTQ magaze Attu: The dolls don’t “actually have sexual orientatns.

HOW BARBIE'S BOYIEND KEN BEME AN ACCINTAL GAY IN

There are brief appearanc by Earrg Magic Ken and Palm Beach Sugar Daddy Ken, both of which Mattel has always nied were tentnally gay-d. ”As far as the queer-d trailers and promotnal clips for the new “Barbie” film, Rand poted to a phenomenon known as “gay wdow advertisg, ” or the practice of advertisers gturg to queer dienc a way that will go over the heads of those who would disapprove.