LEKCJA
These are weird times for men named Ken.
Ever since cast photos emerged from Greta Gerwig’s upcoming movie “Barbie,” Ken ― Barbie’s long-time boy toy ― has been the butt of a lot of internet jokes.
Earlier this month, a handful of official posters from the film dropped featuring Margot Robbie, who plays Barbie, and Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken, among other cast members. (Barbie fanatics were quick to point out that Gosling’s character seems to be based on “Earring Magic Ken,” a 1993 version of the doll that became an accidental gay icon.)
Robbie’s poster bears a tagline that simply reads, “Barbie is everything.”
The tagline for Gosling’s poster matter-of-factly states: “He’s just Ken.”
The other Barbies and Kens in the movie got posters, too. (Click through the slides above to see them.)
While the posters say the other Barbies hold down jobs like doctor, diplomat and Supreme Court justice, all the other Kens in the movie are just, well… Kens.
The internet responded by turning the ad campaign into a meme, using the setup, “she’s everything, he’s just Ken” as a caption for photos of other mismatched pairs from real life and pop culture: Princess Diana and (now) King Charles, Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber, Katniss and Gale in “Hunger Games,” Meredith and Derek in “Grey’s Anatomy.”
The self-seriousness of Gosling’s approach to playing the Mattel doll is just as funny as the movie posters.
While speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Gosling said that he initially doubted he had the right “Ken-ergy” for the “Barbie” movie.
“I only knew Ken from afar. I didn’t know Ken from within, and if I’m being really honest, I doubted my Ken-ergy,” Gosling told the audience at a Warner Bros. Pictures presentation.
“I didn’t see it, but Margot and Greta, they conjured this out of me somehow,” Gosling said. “It was like I was living my life and then one day I was bleaching my hair, shaving my legs and wearing bespoke neon outfits and rollerblading down Venice Beach.”
“It came on like a light scarlet fever,” the star joked. “Then I woke up one day and was like, ‘Why is there fake tanner in my sheets? What just happened?’”
Given all the commotion about Barbie’s boo, we thought we’d check in on men named Ken. How does it feel to be the butt of the joke? What was it like growing up with the same name as a man with hairless, perfect plastic pecs and seemingly no career or ambition of his own besides “professional plus-one”?
Ken Dobell, a 53-year-old digital marketing consultant from Quebec, Canada, loves the current crop of Barbie memes.
“I find they’re mostly themed around calling out and parodying the outdated social mores that characterized the Barbie dolls of the ’70s, ‘80s, and ’90s, which I’m sure is the era that the producers of the new Barbie movie grew up in,” he told HuffPost.
Dobell genuinely likes being called Ken, and especially liked it growing up.
“As a teen, I sometimes had girls flirtatiously offer to be Barbie to my Ken, and how do you not love that?” he said. “I would respond with one-liners about being an anatomically correct, fully operable action figure, batteries included.”
Now that he’s older, he wouldn’t mind if someone likened him to the doll or the very toned, very tan Gosling.
“Now that I’m middle-aged, any suggestion about being good for physical as well as psychological company is more than welcome,” Dobell joked.
Kenneth Fisher, a 53-year-old programmer, has gone by “Ken” and “Kenneth” in equal measure in his lifetime, and a fair amount of “Kenny” as a child. (Yep, he had to endure a lot of “they killed Kenny!” jokes for a while in the late ’90s, too.)
Interestingly, he went out with a woman named Barbara once. (Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.)
“We both agreed it was way too weird and never did it again,” he said.
This Ken is full of Ken factoids.
“Over the years, I think I was probably more aware of Barbies in general than someone my age and gender would normally have been, but mostly because I thought it was hilarious and always made a point of making jokes about it myself,” Fisher said.
“FYI: Did you know that Ken and Barbie were named after the kids of the woman who invented them? So yes, Ken and Barbie are siblings,” he said.
Fisher just celebrated his 25th anniversary with his wife, and yes, he is absolutely “just the Ken” in the relationship.
“My wife and I have always said that she’s management and I’m labor,” he said. “She makes the decisions and then plans ― also mutually decided on ― and I help implement them. It’s just what’s always worked for us.”
Ken the dollhas always been comfortable playing second fiddle to his woman; Barbie was officially introduced to the world on March 9, 1959, and Ken came three years later, basically evolving from Barbie’s rib.
According to Mattel lore, Ken entered the scene “wearing red swim trunks and the barest hint of a smile … He became Barbie’s supportive boyfriend, ready to accompany her anywhere from the beach to black-tie balls.” (We stan a supportive S.O.)
to bicker – przekomarzać się
to emerge – pojawić się, wyłonić się
to bear – nieść, dźwigać (zwykle metaforycznie)
to conjure – wyczarować
to tan – opalać się
to liken – porównać
RZECZOWNIKI
a stopover – przystanek, postój
a publisher – wydawnictwo, wydawca
an offer – oferta
a handful – garść (czegoś)
a tagline – slogan, hasło (reklamowe)
a caption – podpis
a one-liner – tekst (krótki, z filmu)
labour – praca fizyczna
lore – wiedza z uniwersum
PRZYMIOTNIKI/PRZYSŁÓWKI
disgusted – obrzydzony, zniesmaczony
incorrectly – niepoprawnie
genuine – szczery, prawdziwy (nieoszukany)
mutually – wspólnie
FRAZY
I first discuss it and then work steadily towards the final result – najpierw to omawiam, a potem systematycznie pracuję, żeby osiągnąć ostateczny efekt
we need to make an appointment at a specified time – musimy umówic spotkanie na konkretną godzinę
the passage of time – upływ czasu
he entered the plea of (not) guilty – (nie) przyznał się do winy
they got on well – dobrze się dogadywali
a line of thinking – sposób myślenia
it feels timely – to wydaje się być czasie
tightly wound – mocno związany
he’s a bomb waiting to explode – jeszcze chwila, a (ten człowiek) wybuchnie (złość)
a lead character – główny bohater
an involving drama – wciągający dramat
they want to as few people as possible – chcą zatrudnić tak mało ludzi jak mogą
to turn a fly into an elephant
one of the pieces we saw had been printed
what I said was turned against me
it was blown out of proportion
part and parcel of being an artist
if the gossip is true…
to be the butt of a joke
the plaque reads „closed”
matter-of-factly
to hold down a job
a bespoke outfit
what’s all the commotion?
to call out somebody
outdated social mores
I’m Robert but I go by Bob
in equal measure
he has the barest hint of a smile
an S.O., a significant other
WYMOWA
flirtatiously [fle-TEJśysli]
Angielski z Czarkiem 