*Sings to the tune of I’m Just Ken*
“He’s just Ken. And now he’s a blog post on The TEN!”
Okay, this is absolutely not the newsletter I was going to send out today but my weird brain has decided that we are starting the week with an explosion of pink.
And it’s Ryan Gosling’s fault.
Here’s the man in question (above) in action at last night’s Oscars, singing I’m Just Ken*, taken from the movie, Barbie.
I loved the commitment to the bit, the staging, the sparkling pink suit (Gucci apparently), and the utter silliness of all.
But…we’ve seen all this before. This was, in fact, homage on steroids.
The OG is Marilyn Monroe, who was also surrounded by similarly square-jawed dancers in tuxedoes for her showstopper, Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend, in the 1954 movie, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
If you can find an extended clip of Diamonds you’ll see that it’s preceded by an aerial shot of dancers dressed in black latex bikinis strapped to a giant chandelier. People forget about them.
It’s all very erotica which leads us quite nicely to Madonna.
Currently on a world tour, the Queen of Pop took inspiration from Marilyn for her Material Girl video, which was the first inkling of where this sassy New York dance chick was heading with her music and image.
A direct lift of Diamonds, Madonna flipped the narrative, showing her in control, the leader of her own destiny, and empowered, which is exactly what the Barbie movie did for today’s generation of young women (making a billion dollars along the way).
Ken’s gender reversal paid tribute to all of that and was, in fact, borderline genius. Excuse the pun. (If you know, you know).
We’ve come full circle.
But really, no-one does pink better than my mum, Babs, who I spent Mother’s Day with yesterday. In her honour, I present this rather wonderful photo taken in the Canary Islands.
Pink is her favourite colour. In a sea of beige, black and brown, I can spot her very easily in a crowd. She’s her own AirTag.
Out shopping one day, we saw this magnificent costume, which was originally designed for the Santa Cruz carnival, and because Babs was in her signature pink, I stuck her in the middle of it. She’s very amenable like that.
When I moved to LA, everyone wanted to know if I’d met Ryan Gosling, who was nominated in the Actor in a Supporting Role category, for his performance as Barbie’s boyfriend. This happened so many times that one of the arcs of my celebrity journalism memoir, Ryan is Ready for You Now (yes, he’s the Ryan), centres around me trying to land an interview with Hollywood’s golden boy.
Did I achieve my goal? You’ll have to buy the book to find out.
It’s all a while ago now but Ken and his over-the-top musical stylings took me back to my adventures in Hollywood, how far I’ve travelled, how much of a Madonna fan I was back in ‘84, how the life of Marilyn Monroe informed my script, Jeannie Miller, what I’ve achieved with my writing thus far, and how much remains to be done.
It’s raining outside, so my world’s a little brighter for this explosion of colour.
Ultimately, this glorious trip down memory lane has tickled me pink.
And that’s all the motivation I needed for today.
Lisa
I love that picture of Babs!
It reminds me of the saying by artist Sue Kreitzman in a Guardian article following the death (at 102 no less!) of fashion icon Iris Apfel. Fans of Iris were asked about wearing and mixing bright colours and patterns.
Sam said: "Don't wear beige, it might kill you!" Words to live by.