I wept for Ken: why men have the most to gain from watching Barbie | Akin Olla

Men suffer under patriarchy, too - and Ryan Gosling's man-child Ken is a brilliant demonstration of that

I didn't expect to cry during Barbie, let alone to weep for Ken, the lonely man-child who's barely more significant than the ampersand that sits between him and his lover's name.

While Greta Gerwig's movie is full of feminist sentiment, much of it feels like deeply trodden ground, long explored by movies from 2001's lighthearted Legally Blonde to 2014's cutting Gone Girl. What sets Barbie apart is its introduction to the mainstream of an idea introduced by feminists like bell hooks - that men too can benefit from feminism and are actively harmed by the capitalist patriarchal systems that allow a small group of men to dominate society while individual men get to dominate their homes and workplaces, isolating themselves from their family and inner selves in the process.