"Here, let me show you"

        In a movie designed to illustrate the fact that there is not one “correct” image of femininity, The Barbie Movie also does a great job of showing the views of males and the stereotypes associated with them. Once Ken returns from The Real World and unites the other Kens to take over BarbieLand, clear male stereotypes are present. Ken gets his image of this newfound masculinity from the media and the looks of people around him, including men who work in fancy buildings, drive fancy cars, and have their pretty wives waiting for them at home. The satirization of masculinity is present once the Barbies begin to help the brainwashed Barbies and return them back to their normal selves. The Kens all are obsessed with cars, love The Godfather and make it their personality, and teach the Barbies everything from economics to sports. A man is often perceived to be a provider and must be smarter and stronger than the woman he surrounds himself with. The Barbie Movie satirizes this as the audience finds humor in the Kens' antics as they try to act agro-male around the Barbies, thus creating a hyperbole of the image of masculinity. 

This overarching image of men being providers for “helpless” women is also present in “A Doll’s House”. In Act lll, in a conversation between Nora and Torvald, Torvald says, “But you think I love you any the less for not knowing how to handle your affairs? No, no - just lean on me; I’ll guide you and teach you. I wouldn’t be a man if this feminine helplessness didn’t make you twice as attractive to me.” (Ibsen 144). Nora has always wanted to feel like she’s in control of her life, and Torvald just wants to take care of her and treat her like a doll. Torvald doesn’t understand that she wants her own life and just belittles her thoughts. Just as the Kens try to explain things to the Barbies by belittling them by saying things like “Oh sweetheart, you’re so cute when you’re so confused.” Just as Torvald tries to control and teach everything to Nora as a symbol of masculinity, the Kens try to do the same during these scenes. The satirization of masculinity is evident in The Barbie Movie as the Kens are meant to represent stereotypical agro-males, just as Torvald is to Nora.