"She's everything. He's just Ken."
The tagline for the record-breaking "Barbie" movie highlights the stark difference between Margot Robbie's lead character and her lackluster, overlooked boyfriend Ken, played by Ryan Gosling.
It quickly became a running joke on social media leading up to the release of the movie. Now, education activist Malala Yousafzai might have the funniest take on it of all.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Yousafzai posted a picture of herself with her husband, Asser Malik, inside the Barbie box.
"This Barbie has a Nobel Prize," she captioned the image, adding: "He's just Ken."
In 2014, Yousafzai became the youngest recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize, which she was awarded along with Kailash Satyarthi in recognition of their efforts on behalf of children's rights.
In the social media post, Yousafzai went on to give her take on Greta Gerwig's film, which had the largest opening weekend of 2023 and the biggest-ever debut for a female director, stating: "We loved the movie, it was so funny and thoughtful."
She continued with a warning that she meant no harm with her initial words, adding: "I hope this caption doesn't hurt all the Kens as much as the movie Ken."
It clearly did not hurt her husband, who took the caption light-heartedly, comically responding: "I'm Kenough."
The post amassed more than 500,000 likes and thousands of comments, with social media users heaping praise on the caption.
"This caption wins," wrote YouTube star Lilly Singh. "BEST Barbie caption I've read so far," another user wrote.
Yousafzai graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 2020. She and Malik married the following year.
Ahead of the release of the "Barbie" movie on July 21, Warner Bros. released a "Just Ken" teaser in which the downtrodden character sings about not knowing who he is without Barbie and living in her shadow in Barbieland. (Warner Bros., like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery).
"It doesn't seem to matter what I do, I'm always number two," he laments musically.
"I'm just Ken. Anywhere else I'd be a 10. Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blonde fragility?" he goes on to sing.
The song does later get more upbeat however, with Ken exclaiming: "I'm just Ken and I'm enough. And I'm great at doing stuff. So, hey, check me out."
