‘Barbie’: Ken Has Never Been Barbie’s Boyiend. He’s Her Gay BFF.

Contents:

• 10 SENTIAL MOVI ABOUT GAY RIGHTS
• BARBIE SAID “GAY RIGHTS!” LONG BEFORE MARGOT ROBBIE OR GRETA GERWIG SHOWED UP
• KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND
• THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
• 5 FILMS YOU CAN STREAM NOW TO LEARN ABOUT THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• 19 MOVI ABOUT THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT YOU CAN STREAM RIGHT NOW

10 SENTIAL MOVI ABOUT GAY RIGHTS

Set post World-War II Germany, this Atrian drama follows Hans Hoffmann (Franz Rogowski) who's imprisoned several tim for beg gay and durg his time prison shar an timate relatnship wh his cellmate, Hans Hoffmann (Franz Rogowski), who is servg a life sentence for murr. Wolfe (Ma Raey's Black Bottom), wrten by Dt Lance Black, and produced by Barack and Michelle Obama's productn pany Higher Ground, this film is a mt-watch this year, pecially wh Coleman Domgo as civil and gay rights in Bayard Rt.

Go back even further time than the homoerotic unrton of The Diamond Castle or the “queer Marxist” readgs of other animated Barbie movi and one will see plenty of ways that the ncept of Barbie dolls has been tertwed wh the LGBTQIA+ muny.

BARBIE SAID “GAY RIGHTS!” LONG BEFORE MARGOT ROBBIE OR GRETA GERWIG SHOWED UP

) And Kate McKnon, playg a so-lled Weird Barbie who experienced an extreme haircut and makeover at the hands of an experimental child, never actually answers the qutn anybody would have upon seeg her gay-ass haircut and knowg the actor’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 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 of the characters were the same—some were tty, others sweet.

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. 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 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 obssg! Y, Tman Capote was gay, y he is portrayed as such, y shows his partner, BUT the primary foc of the film was Capote's alholism and his wrg of In Cold Blood (and that is FINE, aga, was an EXCELLENT film, jt not a LGBT film my opn).

Terrific st wh excellent chemistry and some genuely funny moments, Fourth Man Out is a rehg gay edy that I thk many would enjoy (even the "manlit" men of this world), thanks to the rehg and likable performance of Evan Todd as the likable, awkward, r-mechanic Adam and his goofy well-meang straight "bros. A young man returns to his fay farm, after a long stay ex-gay nversn therapy, and is torn between the expectatns of his emotnally distant father, and the memori of a past, lovg relatnship he has tried to bury. Not nearly as good or funny as Borat, but the film do a good job revealg the nonsense that is homophobia (Brüno viss a gay-to-straight nverter, a group of redneck hunters, and a martial arts expert who shows him how to "fend himself agast the gays").

KEN HAS ALWAYS BEEN BARBIE’S GAY BT FRIEND—NOT HER BOYIEND

Cast a few top-shelf gay ins there — your Bette Middlers, your Joan Crawfords, your Faye Dunaways playg Joan Crawford — and pecially have them reparteeg bchy l tearg each other to piec, and have an athetic that’s outre and unironilly mp, and you’ve got the wng-formula starter-pack for somethg licly fabulo and queer, even if not by tentnal sign. But settg a precent for movi now nonized by gay culture that don’t technilly have any (non-d, anyway) gay characters were some of Hollywood’s most all-time legendary actrs: Bette Davis “All About Eve” ma “’s gog to be a bumpy ri” an idmatic quip, while Elizabeth Taylor then ma Bette Davis’ “what a dump” even more inic aga the openg le of “Who’s Aaid of Virgia Woolf, ” livered while gnawg down on a chicken wg. Ed Bianchi’s 1981 “The Fan, ” meanwhile, livered perhaps the greatt gift to gay film fans of a certa era stg Lren Ball as an agg actrs stgglg to hold onto her legacy while beg stalked by, what else but, a psychotic gay fan.

THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’

There’s also, of urse, the trend many of the movi of men beg huiated and based — somethg the gay mal the dience love to partake — leavg our inic women wh all the chips the end and whom we n leave the theater rootg for. From the tfight the powr room to the over-the-top dialogue to the jaw-droppg mil numbers and not one but two montag that serve as md-bogglg time psul of the ’60s, the film is so outrageo that spired generatns of gay viewers to scream, “Sparkle, Neely, sparkle! Why ’s gay: A wacky sexploatn film wh high mp productn valu and a killer theme song, Barbarella mt fight the evil Durand Durand (om which inic New Wave band Duran Duran took s name), while scg a shirtls Aryan angel and outlastg an evil sex mache.

What is: Although has been staged wh two men ( 2015 London), the straight uple’s suatn “Brief Enunter” — a drama of two married people (Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard) meetg by chance and their growg mutual affectn — works fe as a metaphor for barriers to gay romance.

Why ’s gay: More than the one-act Noel Coward play (the gay wrer expand the screenplay), this ni the possibily of realistic nsummatn, elevat the tratn impossible love, and als wh the sts of turng hont people to liars.

5 FILMS YOU CAN STREAM NOW TO LEARN ABOUT THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Why ’s gay: Although “Mommie Deart” was negatively received at the time of s release, attracted a strong gay fanbase pretty much immediately, due to Dunaway’s performance, which was received by many as mp — most famoly, the inic “no wire hangers” scene. Why ’s gay: What’s gayer than a movie wh Lren Ball beg stalked by a closeted mil buff than also that same movie segueg to an out-of-nowhere stage mil medley a la “Sg’ the Ra’s” entr’acte, featurg Ball speak-sgg onstage while beg lifted and twirled around by a pack of male dancers?

19 MOVI ABOUT THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT YOU CAN STREAM RIGHT NOW

Why ’s gay: Those who had already read queer cu “Top Gun” three years earlier saw some the story of Dalton (Patrick Swayze, his first major film after “Dirty Dancg”), as a “oler” imported to a Missouri small-town bar om New York to impose orr.

” But what really ph to the gay film non is Ga Gershon’s hammy performance as bisexual star dancer Cristal, and the love/hate chemistry she builds wh Berkley, which arguably sgle-handly lifts the film om so bad ’s good to jt pla good. Of urse, this was 1948, and that queerns is all subtext, but roars to the surface thanks to gay screenwrer Arthur Lrents's script and performanc by s notably gay leads, Farley Granger who plays Phillip Man wh an anx flamboyance, and John Dall, whose Brandon Shaw embodi a more rerved, posh queerns.

This 1969 Japane New Wave film f avant-gar edg wh meta-documentary style filmmakg and non-lear storytellg to follow Eddie (played by androgyno cis actor Peter), a trans woman who works as a hosts as a gay bar — the l between trans and gay inty are msy at bt, given when this was ma. In this 1935 film that marks the first llaboratn between Hollywood gay ins Hepburn, Grant, and director Gee Cor, Hepburn plays Sylvia, the meek dghter of a bookkeeper who disguis herself as a boy to help her father flee gamblg bts. In Caravagg, Jarman queers the history of the Italian Baroque pater Michelangelo Merisi da Caravagg by takg the highly homoerotic subtext of his work (along wh age-old spicns about his sexualy) and jectg right to the text, reimagg the artist openly gay affairs.