“I’m Just Ken”might not havewon an Oscar,but it did win the hearts and minds of the Oscars audience. Ryan Gosling performed theoriginal songfrom theBarbiesoundtrack in a bedazzled fuchsia suit at the awards ceremony on March 10, making his co-star and producer Boss Margot Robbie giggle with the delight at the absurdity of the Broadway-inflectedspectacle.Hiding his face behind a cowboy hat and sunnies, Gosling began the performance of Ken’s magnum opus from the audience, “Shallow” -style, before joining a hoard of dancers on the stage as the first contemplative piano notes rung through the Dolby Theatre. The production and costume design was all very Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend,” giving the number a classic musical feel. As the music crescendoed, the other Kens — Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, and Kingsley Ben-Adir — emerged, together with Slash, whose guitar solo explained exactly why he was spotted at the non-music event where he wasn’t a nominee. Massive cutouts of the original Barbie doll’s head floated. As Gosling returned to the audience to give Robbie, a slightly tone-challenged America Ferrera, director Greta Gerwig, and Emma Stone a moment to sing into the live mic, we could see the toothy grins of the titans of today’s film industry.Barbiemight have been mostly ignored statue-wise, but no one could look away from this.
