Barbie to The Notebook: Revisiting Ryan Gosling characters with MAX Kenergy

Sugar and spice, all things nice! If there were ever a set of perfect lines to dedicate to brand ambassador of Kenergy and birthday boy Ryan Gosling, it would be these. Ryan’s birthday presents the perfect opportunity to jump back into some prime titles from his filmography which are proof that Ryan has been courting the essence of Kenergy long before he assumed Ken’s legacy.
So before we get into it, lets be clear on what Kenergy is. An ExtraTV interview with Barbie director Greta Gerwig, shortly after the film’s release, let the audience in on what exactly the vision was when the word was coined: “I sent him a video the other day of something that I felt had extreme Kenergy, and he was like, ‘That is Kenner in the wild.’ I think there’s self-actualized Kenergy, which is where Ken gets to at the end of the movie. Men in their sort of strength and confidence, supporting women with an open hand. There’s a feeling of, like, just that good Kenergy”, she shared.
Coming back to Ryan, we bet this list will have you itching to go back to titles which feature the actor in top form.
What is going to move you to tears if not a war-ravaged man, building a house, from scratch, for your ex-girlfriend, whose back in town with her fiancé, just because you promised her you would so, years ago? For how heart-wrenching (and equal parts exhilarating) The Notebook (2004) is, Nicholas Sparks and Nick Cassavetes really gave us one of the pookiest romantic drama lead of the Y2K era. If you ever find yourself wondering if the person you’re with is your Ken or not, just revisit Noah and Allie’s evergreen love story. It’ll put everything in perspective.
On the face of it, Blue Valentine (2011) is a great film which painfully captures how just love is almost never enough to coast a pair through life. And though the toxicity in Ryan’s Dean is a very evident undercurrent through the film, his choice to walk away for the good of his daughter Frankie, has some iota of Kenergy in it, though not picture perfect. Definitely hit play if you’re up for a good cry.
We love a good redemption arc wrapped in some hearty laughs and that is exactly the trajectory Ryan’s Jacob Palmer goes through when he realises there’s more to life than being a skilled womaniser when he falls head over heels in love with Emma Stone’s Hannah. Also, beyond the female context, a kenergetic guy will always have his brother’s back, just like Jacob had Cals, played by the very talented Steve Carell. Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011) will never disappoint.
Sometimes love is about letting go. And that is what Damien Chazelle’s Oscars circuit favourite, La La Land (2016), poignantly manages to capture. Ryan’s Seb wanting the absolute best for Emma’s Mia, no matter the vast differences in where they are at their life, exudes very real world Kenergy. If you want your heart to sting just a little with the whole right person, wrong time catch-22, La La Land should be your watch for the day.
The mother of Kenergy, the film which coined it all, Barbie (2023), featured Ryan in easily one of his most iconic roles, Ken. Ken went through quite the arc in the film what from his job just being beach to him becoming king of the Mojo Dojo Casa House and then eventually plateauing out into the Ken Barbie needed him to be. And after all, what is kenergy if not about evolution?
We wish Ryan a very Happy Birthday!