Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Barbie.
One of the many reasons that men are dumb for being offended by Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is that male protagonist-turned-antagonist Ken (Ryan Gosling) gets all the best jokes. Case in point: Toward the end of the film, once the Barbies have smashed the day-old patriarchy foisted upon them by the Kens of Barbieland, we get a glimpse of Gosling wearing a hoodie that reads “I am Kenough.”
Sure, it’s a decent pun, but what really makes the joke stick is the realization that Ken has always measured his worth against how much attention and admiration he gets from Barbie, which is the only reason he falls for the Real World’s patriarchy in the first place. Once Ken realizes that he can be the main event himself, he doesn’t feel insecure anymore; thus, he doesn’t need the patriarchy anymore. “Kenough” isn’t just a new “fetch“-like term introduced by a colorful, female-centric narrative. It’s a declaration of masculinity that isn’t threatened by women being empowered. Imagine that!
Where can you buy “Kenough” apparel?
As soon as we saw the new mantra spelled out on Ken’s hoodie, we knew it was only a matter of time before viewers could purchase their own “Kenough” merch. Turns out, that time is just a few hours after opening weekend — courtesy of Mattel.
We still can’t believe Mattel was cool enough to allow their iconic dolls to inspire a movie that critiques so many facets of society and also uses a deranged Will Ferrell as the company’s mouthpiece — not to mention their logo popping up to conceal a flagrant F-bomb. But we do believe the company is capitalistic enough to see the profits in selling pretty much everything shown in the film, including “Kenough” stuff.
And yet, we’d probably feel less bad about culture if more men wore Babie merch, so we support this initiative wholeheartedly. Pre-orders are up now on Mattel’s site, and products are set to ship by the end of September.
Curiously, Universal’s online store has yet to list any “I am become death” tank tops with Cillian Murphy’s face on them, which seems like a missed opportunity.