ken gets asked what time it is
2023, september 9
note on the barbie movie
when ken steps into the human world, someone casually asks him the time addressing him as “sir” (according to my memory). it blows his mind. that simple act feels monumentally respectful to him. this took me back to a moment at prinzenbad when an elderly white lady approached me, wondering if i could help straighten out the back of her swimsuit. a part of it had gotten all crumpled up. that caught me off guard. i suddenly realized that i’m not used to white grandmas in germany asking me for such a favor. usually, i sense a certain distance, some kind of hesitation, or fear, towards people who look ‘foreign’ to them. sometimes it can manifest as outright hostility — like that time a grandma at oranienplatz verbally attacked me, accusing me of shoplifting “like a typical foreigner” — but more often it seems like they simply wouldn‘t consider someone who doesn’t look ‘white german’ as a person who could help with mundane things like de-crumpling a swimsuit strap. not necessarily out of malice, but maybe rather because, in their eyes, we seem to inhabit a completely different universe, too alien to request earthly favors from.
so when she asked me without a second thought, i was stunned. and then, i was stunned by my own surprise, showing me how i’m not used to this kind of interaction. that’s how the ken scene resonates with me; it highlights how ‘being seen’ often manifests in the most ordinary moments.