Barbie Movie Spoilers
As a big fan of Matchbox Twenty, I was shocked when Push came on in the car as "Ken's new favorite song," both because *thats my favorite band* but also, this song is totally out of context. To my even greater surprise, it wasn't just that one-off bit in the car, ohhh my god that beach scene
*insert currently nonexistent gif of the Kens singing at the Barbies here*
I've been actively a fan of Matchbox 20/Rob Thomas for more than a decade now, but I've been talking about it way more in recent weeks what with the album release and tour, so I was sat there in the theater like, "My friends are going to see this and be like, this is that one band *** is obsessed with" and I did not know what to feel about that 😂
My brother and I discussed this after the movie, wondering what the process was for choosing that song and getting permission to use it...and The Algorithm came through for me today by presenting me with an article all about it!
“Push” was co-written by the band’s frontman, Rob Thomas, who sings about an emotionally abusive ex-girlfriend. In the context of “Barbie,” it’s an ingenious choice for the fragile Ken, who feels adrift in Barbie’s orbit and vengefully embraces toxic masculinity.
Confidently misinterpreting a song and then making it an anthem actually makes so much sense with Ken's patriarchy 👏
When I got the call for “Barbie,” they told me, “Ken’s by the fireside, he’s playing the song and it’s his favorite band.” So I did this thinking I’d be the butt of the joke, and I was fine with that. I’m pretty thick-skinned.
Reading what Rob Thomas had to say about the song and its use in this movie makes me enjoy it 10x more. And the bits of backstory on the creation of Push make the article well worth the minute or two it takes to read (here's a little snippet)
I wrote that song about someone I had been with who I felt was manipulating me and taking advantage of me. The ‘90s was a time of manufactured angst, and nobody wanted to be a victim in a song. So in a weird twist of different times, there’s something very problematic about “Push,” if it wasn’t for the innocence of how it was written. But everything about it was about emotional manipulation.But at the time I was in my early 20s. I didn’t even know what I was writing about. It takes being in my 50s now, and being married for 24 years, to look back and go, “Oh, man, I was going through some (stuff).” Therapy didn’t seem like an option in the ‘90s, so I was just journaling my feelings and sharing them with the world.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/07/23/matchbox-twenty-ryan-gosling-ken-push-cover-barbie-movie/70433729007/
