Tayyaba
Greta Thunberg’s greatly anticipated ‘Barbie’ movie starring Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Ryan Gosling (Ken) has captured social media attention for many reasons already and it doesn’t even hit theaters until July 21. First, there were those paparazzi pics taken at Venice Beach, then the trailer came out following a bunch of cast posters. Next, there was a dance single from the film’s resident pop superstar Dua Lipa. One of the most recent ones is a wave of intense backlash to Ryan Gosling for playing Ken.
What do the online critics have to say?
People online have been calling Ryan Gosling ‘too old’ or ‘too weathered to be playing opposite Margot Robbie. A #NotMyKen tag has been trending and the actor has just opened up about his feelings about this in a GQ cover story. He has also talked about the break he took for 4 years to give more time to his wife and kids, and how he’s been treating filming this movie more like a job than therapy, which is probably for the best. The ageist comments trending online have come as a surprise to a lot of people as they thought Ryan the perfect actor for this role.
Ryan Gosling’s response to the backlash:
Ryan had a lot to say to GQ about the ageist remarks he’s been dealing with since the trailer came out. He says the ‘haters never cared in the first place’ and calls them out on their hypocrisy. He stated many times that nobody ever noticed Ken, including Barbie and now that they’ve cast Gosling, everyone has formed an opinion on it. He commented on people who claim that they’ve cared about Ken all this time saying, “No, you didn’t. You never did. You never cared.” and that “If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed”. He thinks that this is the main reason why Ken’s story must be highlighted.
“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?”
Ryan Gosling in an interview for GQ