Justin Trudeau was always 'just Ken'
Similarities between our 'himbo' PM and Ryan Gosling's Ken too numerous to ignore
Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” has emerged as the undisputed summer box office champion, raking in more than $1 billion (USD) worldwide in just over two weeks in theatres. In addition to its commercial success, “Barbie” has received widespread praise from critics for its surprisingly nuanced take on 21st-century gender politics. The summer blockbuster has even nabbed the endorsement of our very own (very single) prime minister. (Over the weekend, Justin Trudeau tweeted a photo of himself taking in a showing of the film with 15-year-old son Xavier; the photo was captioned “We’re team Barbie”).
Canuck Ryan Gosling steals the show as the affable but dim-witted Ken. Indeed, Ken’s existential journey to figure out who he is outside of his attachment to the titular Barbie (played by Aussie bombshell Margot Robbie) gives the film its emotional core. (“I’m Just Ken”, a sorrowful ballad from the “Barbie” soundtrack performed by Gosling himself, cracked the Billboard Hot 100 last week, debuting at a respectable #87).
**Warning: Mild Spoilers Ahead**
Ken is also the catalyst of the film’s central conflict. After failing to land a job in the real world due to a total lack of qualifications (he describes his former occupation only as “beach” to one mystified prospective employer), Ken decides to return to his former home of Barbieland, bringing with him his newfound knowledge of the patriarchy that exists outside of the female-dominated hermit kingdom. (Women hold all the jobs and political offices in Barbieland, while men exist largely to cater to their whims).
Ken subsequently uses this knowledge to remake Barbieland into the Kendom: a leather-scented brotopia ripped straight out of an early-2000s Spike TV series. Ken and the community’s other men (most of whom are also named Ken) manipulate the women of the erstwhile Barbieland into serving them beer as they partake in a variety of “manly” activities. Ken’s own “mojo dojo casa house” — a tricked-out bachelor pad replete with saloon doors, mini-fridges, and all manner of equine-themed interior decorations — serves as the Kendom’s unofficial first residence.
(The Kendom is ultimately brought down by the Kens’ hubris, coupled with their collective affinity for 1990s post-grunge rockers Matchbox Twenty - - you’ll just have to watch the movie to see how this all makes sense.)
Walking out of “Barbie”, I couldn’t help but be struck by the many parallels between Gosling’s Ken and Canada’s own bro-in-chief: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Indeed, Ken and Trudeau share a number of striking surface-level similarities, including movie-star good looks, rock-hard beach bods, and a Zoolanderesque penchant for making laughably asinine remarks in public settings. Like Ken, Trudeau boasts a rather thin professional resume (he bounced around between snowboard instruction, teaching, and bit acting jobs before settling into politics in his mid-30s). Heck, Trudeau even has a well-documented fondness for the beach.
More perniciously, Trudeau’s own efforts to remake Canada as prime minister eerily resemble Ken’s failed utopian experiment in the former Barbieland.
A decade ago, Trudeau burst onto the national political scene espousing a cliff-notes version of the then fashionable globalist progressivism. Although never quite able to articulate a coherent worldview, young Trudeau’s North Star was a total rejection of the nation-state. He boasted of Canada being the world’s first “postnational state”, fought against convicted terrorists being stripped of their Canadian citizenship, and spat out such cosmopolitan platitudes as a “Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian”.
Over the past eight years, Canadians have seen Trudeau’s postnational vision for the country take shape. We now live in a Canada where waving the national flag has been decried as hate speech, where openly celebrating our national anniversary is frowned upon and where, soon, foreigners will be able to become citizens with a few clicks of a button. If Canada wasn’t already a postnational state before Trudeau came to power, it certainly is now.
While a far cry from the Kendom — just try scrounging together enough money to buy your own ‘mojo dojo casa house’ up here — “Trudeauland” has been similarly transformed (for the worse) by the half-baked ideas of its architect. Trudeau presides over a Canada that’s been reduced to a shadow of its former self.
With the recent news of his separation from his wife of 18 years, Trudeau is likely in the midst of his own personal journey of self-(re)discovery. One can only hope that he will come out of this period of self-reflection with the realization that he doesn’t need to continue on as prime minister to lead a fulfilling life: being a single dad and Canada’s most eligible bachelor is “Ken-ough”.
The country would be better for it.
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Rahim, I can't tell you how much I appreciate your work. I believe you are one of the best journalist in Canada today. Thank you.
Great article and writing. Spot on. Enjoy your perceptive and interesting articles. Wishing you continued success.