“Barbie” Ending, Explained: Why Did Barbie Choose to Become Human — and What Happened to Ken?

The end of Barbie leaves the iconic Mattel doll with a big decision to make.

The film, with Margot Robbie as Stereotypical Barbie, Ryan Gosling as Ken and Greta Gerwig in the director’s chair, follows the doll experiencing a series of “malfunctions,” including existential thoughts, flat feet and cellulite. Not only do these issues cause Barbie to question her identity, but they also lead her to the “real world” in pursuit of someone who can help her fix them.

To Barbie’s surprise, Ken — whose entire sense of identity is dependent on Barbie — joins her on her mission. In the real world, Ken discovers patriarchy and decides to bring the concept home to Barbie Land where he can implement it, giving the Kens a sense of self beyond the Barbies.

While much of the film, now streaming on Netflix, navigates a battle of the Kens and Barbies, the movie’s central arc traces Barbie’s internal shift from a desire to maintain her static flawlessness to a later realization that she might want to be human after all. By the end, Barbie has to make a very scary choice about her future.

While Gerwig has said that Barbie’s story mimics that of a girl’s journey from childhood to adolescence, she clarified to The Guardian, “It’s not about growing up, exactly.” She continued, “This is about Barbie, an inanimate doll made out of plastic. But the movie ends up, really, about being human.”

So, how does Barbie decide whether to leave Barbie Land for good? Here’s everything to know about the Barbie ending, from making amends with Ken to asking Ruth Handler — Barbie’s creator — for permission to become human.

How does Barbie end?

Near the end of Barbie, inspired by the patriarchy of the real world, Ken organizes all of the other Kens against the Barbies. When Stereotypical Barbie discovers this, she becomes depressed, only to be brought back to life with an empathetic and invigorating speech made by Gloria (America Ferrera).

Following the moving monologue, Barbie organizes the other dolls to resist the Kens, winning Barbie Land back and restoring it to its former glory. However, Barbie isn’t sure if she wants to stay.

Barbie and Ken have a heart-to-heart and she apologizes to Ken for having been dismissive of him before they left for the real world. However, Barbie makes it clear that she isn’t interested in Ken romantically, which he reluctantly accepts.

As Barbie is pondering her decision to leave or stay, Handler, Barbie’s real-life creator, appears for the second time and helps her to decide. In this scene, Handler tells Barbie, “Take my hands, close your eyes, now feel.”

This moment is followed with a video montage of real women and girls at both important and ordinary moments in their lives. Set to Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?," it was an incredibly moving and now-viral moment.

In a July 2023 interview with Andrew Freund, Gerwig explained that the montage was made up of footage from the film’s cast, crew and editorial staff. “We got the most beautiful moments from people’s lives. It was people’s friends, aunts, mothers, daughters, sisters. It was just extraordinary," she said.

The “now feel” montage moment has since become a TikTok trend, with girls and women capturing their own “girlhood” montages set to Eilish’s track.

In the end, Barbie opts for the real world, explaining that she wants to move beyond her life as an object: “I want to do the imagining. I don’t wanna be the idea.” As she leaves Barbie Land, Ken waves goodbye to Barbie, wearing a tie-dye hoodie emblazoned with the message "I am Kenough."

In the final scene of the movie, Gloria and her daughter, Sasha, drop Barbie off at the gynecologist, a moment of humor, but also a pronouncement of her humanity.

What was America Ferrera’s Barbie monologue about?

Following the film’s debut, it wasn’t just Barbie who was garnering attention, but also Ferrera’s Gloria.

In the second half of the movie, Barbie pays a visit to Weird Barbie, who she initially visited earlier in the film when she began experiencing malfunctions. Now, Barbie is experiencing depression for the first time, completely defeated by her inability to be all things at once.

When Barbie announces that she doesn’t feel good enough, Gloria meets her with a monologue that both empathizes with Barbie and expresses frustration with what the patriarchy has done to women — including low self-esteem and unattainable expectations.

“It is literally impossible to be a woman,” Gloria starts. “You are so beautiful and so smart, and it kills me that you don’t think you’re good enough. Like, we have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong,” she tells Barbie.

Gloria rings off a series of contradictions: “You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin; You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money because that’s crass; You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean,” and so on.

Following Barbie’s release, Gloria’s monologue hit a nerve with women worldwide. After the voracious reception, Ferrera told the Los Angeles Times: “There’s no woman in my life who those words aren’t true for. Not a single one. And when we hear the truth, it hits in a certain way, and you can’t unhear it, right?”

Who is Ruth in Barbie?

Ruth Handler is the founder of Barbie — she created the famous doll in 1959.

Additionally, Handler co-founded Mattel with her husband, Elliot, and held the position of the company's first president from 1945 to 1975. Famously, Barbie is named after Ruth’s daughter, Barbara.

In Barbie, Ruth is played by Rhea Perlman and serves as a motherly, even god-like figure to the doll character. The pair first meet in the movie when Barbie is taken to (and then tries to escape from) Mattel headquarters. In the first scene between Ruth and Barbie, the doll is still coming to terms with having lost her former perfection. Ruth reassures her: “I think you’re just right.”

At the end of the film, the pair are reunited just as Barbie is deciding whether or not to leave Barbie Land and become human. Ruth explains to her, “Being a human can be pretty uncomfortable. Humans make things up, like patriarchy and Barbie just to deal with how uncomfortable it is.” Barbie responds by saying that she wants to be “a part of the people that make meaning, not the thing that’s made.”

With that, Barbie asks Ruth for permission to become human and Ruth assures Barbie that she doesn’t need her permission.

What is the significance of the final line in Barbie?

Just after one of the movie’s heaviest moments, when Barbie ultimately makes the decision to leave Barbie Land in pursuit of her own human life, the screen goes dark and we’re met with what is presumably Barbie’s first day as a human.

In this final scene, Gloria drops Barbie off at what looks to be an office building; Barbie waves goodbye and heads in. When greeted by the receptionist, she proudly exclaims: “I’m here to see my gynecologist" as the final line in the film.

This final line cements her humanness and is open-ended, providing the perfect bridge to a sequel.

Will there be a Barbie sequel?

While there’s certainly popular demand (and no shortage of speculation) regarding another Barbie movie, there has not been any official announcement to indicate a Barbie sequel or franchise.

Robbie told TIME in June 2023, “[The narrative] could go a million different directions from this point. But I think you fall into a bit of a trap if you try and set up a first movie whilst also planning for sequels.”

After a Hollywood Reporter story claimed that Barbie 2 was in the "early stages," in December 2024, Gerwig's rep denied the report.

Where can I watch Barbie?

Barbie is available to stream on Max and Netflix.

Additionally, Barbie is available to purchase or rent digitally on Prime Video, Apple TV and more on-demand platforms.

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