Existential Crisis: Redefining Ken’s Character in the Barbie Movie
Abstract
This paper explores the transformative journey of the character Ken in the live-action adaptation of Barbie (2023), directed by Greta Gerwig. While existing reviews tend to center on Barbie, this paper shifts the spotlight onto Ken, a character often overshadowed by Barbie’s fame. Utilizing a qualitative methodology, the paper employs literature and multiple viewing of the film to gather essential visual information and dialogues related to Ken’s existential crisis. The analytical framework is rooted in existentialism by Soren Kierkegaard and Jean-Paul Sartre, examining key concepts such as existence preceding essence and the importance of subjective experience. This paper aims to provide new insights into Ken’s character, illuminating broader themes of identity, gender roles, and personal development in the movie’s narrative. By analyzing Ken’s existential journey, this paper offers a deeper understanding of individual struggles against societal norms, emphasizing the perspective of marginalized male characters within the film.
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References
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[2] Butėnaitė, J., Sondaitė, J., & Mockus, A. (2016). Components of Existential Crisis: A Theoretical Analysis. International Journal of Psychology: Biopsychosocial Approach, 18, 9–27. http://dx.doi.org/10.7220/2345-024X.18.1.
[3] Collinge, M. (2023). The Hollow Man: What Do You Mean “Just” Ken? Esquire. Retrieved from https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a44285254/the-history-of-ken-barbie/.
[4] Cooper, M. (2016). Existential Therapies. SAGE.
[5] Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, and mixed methods approach. SAGE Publication.
[6] Dockterman, E. (2023). Barbie Is a Movie About Male Fragility. Let’s Dig In. Time. Retrieved from https://time.com/6287484/barbie-male-fragility-ken/.
[7] Erikson, E. (1970). Autobiographic Notes on the Existential Crisis. Daedalus, 99(4). https://www.jstor.org/stable/20023973.
[8] Fleck, A. (2023). Barbie: Biggest Debut Ever for Female Director. Statista. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/chart/30467/female-directors-domestic-box-office-revenue-for-opening-weekend/.
[9] Fleming, G. (2018). One-dimensional Characters in Literature. ThoughtCo. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/one-dimensional-character-1857649#:~:text=The term one-dimensional character,the course of a story
[10] Flint, E. (2023). Paunch-free zone: why the Barbie movie’s body diversity message shortchanges Ken. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jul/24/paunch-free-zone-why-barbie-movie-ken-body-diversity-empowerment.
[11] Freedman, L. (2023). My Kendom for a Horse? Comment Is Freed. Retrieved from https://samf.substack.com/p/my-kendom-for-a-horse.
[12] MacMillan, S., & Yue, A. (2017). The Existential Student: Towards a Model of Student Success. Workplace Review, Special Issue.
[13] Mullor, M. (2023). Barbie: are the Kens the most subversive part of the movie? Digital Spy. Retrieved from https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a44515529/barbie-kenergy-definition-subversive/.
[14] Nicholas, L. (2023). Ken’s rights? Our research shows Barbie is surprisingly accurate on how ‘men’s rights activists’ are radicalised. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/kens-rights-our-research-shows-barbie-is-surprisingly-accurate-on-how-mens-rights-activists-are-radicalised-210273.
[15] Routledge, C. (2018). Suicides Have Increased. Is This an Existential Crisis? The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/23/opinion/sunday/suicide-rate-existential-crisis.html.
[16] Ulaby, N. (2023). The “Barbie” movie’s success puts her among history’s top-20 films. NPR. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2023/08/23/1195387845/the-barbie-movies-success-puts-her-among-historys-top-20-films.
[17] Holmes, Janet. 1992. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics. New York: Longman Publishing.
[18] Holmes, Janet. 1984. “Women’s language”: a functional approach. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania state University Press.
[19] Jakobson, Roman. 1995. On Language. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
[20] Lakoff, Robin. 1975. Language and Women’s Place. New York: Herper & Row.
[21] Leoni, M., n.d. 2018. “An Analysis of Women’s Language Features Used by Mia in The Princess Diaries Movie (Undergraduate Thesis). Yogyakarta: Sananta Dharma University.
[22] Masaru. Kurihara. 2009. A Study of Womens’s Language in English and Japanese Socities. Tokyo: Keio University Bulletin Publishing Committe.
[23] Oktapiani, Ti, Natsir, M., Setyowati, R. 2017. Women’s language features found in female character’s utterances in the Devil Wears Prada movie (Undergraduate Thesis). Samarinda: Mulawarman University.
[24] Pebrianti, A.A. 2013. Women’s language features used by Indonesian female bloggers (Undergraduate Thesis). Passage 1, 109–118.
[25] Sebeok, Thomas. A. 1960. Style in language. New York: The Technology Press of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sebeok,
[26] Thomas A. 2001. Signs: an introduction to semiotics (2nd ed.). Canada: University of Toronto Press.
[27] Lanigan, R. L. 1991. Roman jakobson’s semiotic theory of communication. Georgia: Southern Illinois University.
[28] Wardaugh, Ronald. 2006. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics 5th Edition. New Jersey: Blackwell Publishing.
Published
2024-10-14
How to Cite
UTAMI, Arvhi Mega; NISA, Nadhifa Khoirun.
Existential Crisis: Redefining Ken’s Character in the Barbie Movie.
Udayana Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, [S.l.], v. 8, n. 2, oct. 2024.
ISSN 2621-9107.
Available at: <https://ojs.unud.ac.id/index.php/ujossh/article/view/113100>. Date accessed: 16 nov. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.24843/UJoSSH.2024.v08.i02.p03.
Section
Articles
