Actress and "Saturday Night Live" alum Kate McKinnon praised the new movie "Barbie" for showing that "gender roles deny people half their humanity."
McKinnon made the comments during an interview with movie ticket company Fandango, where she, alongside her "Barbie" co-stars Issa Rae, America Ferrera, and Margot Robbie discussed some of the themes of the summer film.
"Barbie," which hits theaters July 21, stars Robbie as the titular doll who leaves behind her colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land to travel to the real world where she learns to live alongside humans.
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During their discussion with Fandango last week, the actresses delved into some of the feminist themes of "Barbie," namely that the movie is in part a story of female empowerment, that relegates the male characters, like classic Barbie doll "Ken," to more of a support role.
Co-star Issa Rae, who portrays Barbie Land’s president, commented on the feminist themes, while McKinnon went even further, claiming that the film’s script torches gender roles entirely.
Rae told interview host Naz Perez, "I think a Ken for me is just kind of there. I think a Ken is just a great accessory. That’s what I loved about Greta’s imagining of Barbie is that the Kens are just supplemental characters to these Barbies."
In the film, the various Ken dolls are played by actors Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu and others, with Gosling playing Robbie’s particular male counterpart.
Rae further remarked that the Barbies in the world are the ones who "do everything" with the Kens backing them up.
"Barbies can do everything," she said. "Kens are there to kind of support and don’t necessarily have their own story and I think that’s not necessarily a negative thing. It’s incredibly strong for men to be in supporting roles and to support the greatness that is women/Barbie."
McKinnon agreed and noted that the Barbie script reflects director Greta Gerwig’s genius, which she said she knew of when they attended college together before their Hollywood careers.
Mentioning the script, the actress claimed, "I knew it was going to be something and then I read it, and it was like, sort of about how like gender roles deny people half their humanity and how like we need to just like be ourselves."
Rae nodded along to the actress’ takeaway from the film. McKinnon then exclaimed, "It’s just everyone’s themselves, you know?!"
Resonating with the message, Perez yelled, "Yeah! You know?" while the rest of the Barbie stars laughed and nodded in support.
