How ‘I’m Just Ken’ Went From A Small Song To An Epic Barbie Battle

As truly absurd as it appears on screen to see all of the Kens march into battle, it’s a perfect showcase of how these characters, who only recently learned about the patriarchy, would interpret a fight at this scale. “They have zero information about what war is,” Gosling said. “It’s like the telephone game from the real world. It’s been distorted by the time it gets back to them, and they’re just kind of doing their best, but it’s really the worst.”

And by worst, it’s absolutely the best, because watching a gaggle of grown men use hobby horses, frisbees, surfboards, lacrosse sticks, tennis rackets, suction cup arrows, and pool inflatables as weapons is an absolute blast and a half to watch. A different behind-the-scenes featurette released in August showed what shooting the scene entailed, including the fact the actors were all pantomiming moving in slow motion, rather than actually shooting the scene in slow-mo.

It’s hard to imagine “Barbie” without “I’m Just Ken” at the center of the battle (with Jennifer White’s brilliant choreography), as it not only evokes a feeling of golden age movie musicals like “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Sweet Charity,” “Grease,” and “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” but helped solidify the film as one of the best of the year. It’s almost shocking to see what Gerwig was able to get away with in “Barbie,” and the “I’m Just Ken” battle is right at the top of that list.