The characters—and some of the audience—were audibly relieved the Kens couldn’t inflict the horrors we see in the U.S. every day.my daughters and I left the theater laughing and crying. But lingering in my mind was a scene that plagued me with reminders of how dystopic America has become in contrast to the dolls’ utopia. And it has to do with guns.
In the film, when the CEO of Mattel, played by Will Ferrell, enters Kendom , he and his corporate sidekicks walk into a brawl. The war between Kens is fierce, but the most brutal violence is rendered with beach balls, not bullets. “There are no guns in Barbieland,” as Ferrell said. The characters—and some of the audience, all of whom likely scanned the theater for exits before sitting down —sighed deeply, relieved the Kens couldn’t inflict the horrors we see in the news every day.