Is Allan from 'Barbie' Gay? 5 Reasons to Think He Might Be

From the moment the first character posters from Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie arrived on the scene, my finely tuned gaydar started to ping. Did my homosexual eyes deceive me or did Ken appear to have a gay friend named Allan? While I'd certainly heard of Ken and Barbie, I'd never heard a lick about Allan (and much to my parents' chagrin, I was highly invested in Barbie and playing my neighbor's copy of the PC game Barbie Riding Club growing up). While the other male actors in the film (Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa) all played Kens, the poster famously touted, "There's only one Allan." So who was this mysterious character played by Michael Cera and why was he wearing an almost-Pride Flag-colored shirt in his photo? Was it because he's a member of the Alphabet Mafia? I'd have to wait and find out.

With Barbie (now in theaters), starring Margot Robbie as a Barbie doll in the midst of an existential crisis, we finally get to see what's going on with Allan, the movie's only non-Ken male. Unfortunately for me, there is no concrete gay love story for Allan. In fact, Allan's story seems oddly out of place and doesn't really have a resolution. So now it's up to me, an investigative film journalist, to crack the code. Plus, we now have an abundance of evidence from Barbie to sift through in determining if Allan is in fact a queer icon (not that we'd ever want to out anyone, but he is a fictional doll) or just a strange friend of Ken's. Let's weigh the evidence and come to some conclusions.

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5 reasons I think Allan from the Barbie movie is gay

1. Allan isn't like all the Kens.

Let's begin with some in-movie clues. In addition to not being named Ken (which like why?), Allan is also established early on as being different from the Kens. While the Kens seem a bit territorial and competitive, Allan just seems like a nice guy. He's chilling at the beach or at Barbie's party, but he's not really besties with the Kens. He's set apart. He's shy, he's sweet and—dare I say—a bit more feminine than the Kens.

Growing up gay, this otherness is a feeling I often encountered around other boys. I wasn't a Ken, but I wasn't a Barbie, so what was I? And why was I there? Allan is in the script for a reason, we must discover why.

2. Allan is better friends with the Barbies than with the Kens.

The second piece of evidence as to why I think Allan is a lil bit fruity comes halfway through the movie when Barbie returns to Barbieland only to find that Ken has renamed it Kendom and instituted patriarchal rule. While all the other Kens and brainwashed Barbies seem thrilled with this development, Allan is NOT HAVING IT. He hates hanging out with the Kens, begs Barbie to let him escape with her, and then joins the Barbies (in matching pink jumpsuits) to stage a coup. Not to mention, post-Ken's takeover, Allan finds refuge with Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon) and a band of misfits who also seem a bit queer coded.

Gay men historically feel much more comfortable around women than they do around their own gender. I myself have had almost exclusively either female or queer friends for my whole life, and I would also run for the hills if forced to live in a society of only straight men.

Related: OK, Wait a Minute—How Old Is Barbie, Exactly?

3. While the Kens seem extremely interested in impressing Barbie, Allan is not.

From the jump, Ken is in love with Barbie, and while Barbie is ultimately not really interested in that romantic relationship, we get the sense that much of the Kens' motivation is their desire to be with the Barbies. Allan does not have that plot line. Rather, he wants to be friends with the Barbies, and if anything, seems slightly more attracted to the Kens.

Not to sexualize dolls without genitals, but Ken repeatedly asks to sleep over at Barbie's house. Allan could not care less, and I relate to that intensely.

4. The doll was originally described as Ken's "buddy."

Moving on to larger context clues, let's take a look at the real doll that Allan the movie character was based on. The "Allan" doll was introduced to the Barbie line in 1964 as "Ken's Buddy" a phrase that was trademarked. He was then discontinued only two years later in 1966. In the 1960s when LGBTQ+ people often had to live closeted lives, gay men often described their lovers as "roommates" or "buddies."

Perhaps a bit more damning is the fact that Allan's box proclaims, "All of Ken's clothes fit him" while bearing an illustration of Ken and Allan both in various states of undress. Two "buddies" who are sharing each others clothes? It's giving a lot of Rock Hudson energy if you ask me.

5. Allan is not married to Midge in the movie.

The other piece of Barbie cannon information that supports my point is that the only other time Allan was reintroduced to the Barbie lineup was in 1991, when he served as the husband to the pregnant Midge doll as well as the father to her baby, a decidedly straight role. However, while Midge appears in the Barbie film (played by Emerald Fennell), she is not linked at all to Allan. This retconning of Allan's doll history is interesting and must be here for a reason.

Conclusion: Is Allan Gay?

While we technically don't know if Allan is gay (and perhaps Allan himself doesn't know yet—after all, coming out is a long, difficult process especially if you don't have queer role models to look up to), I strongly believe that he is. The circumstantial evidence here is abundant and Allan's character is queer coded in just about every way possible. Also, in a movie that is so heavily addressing gender and romance and that includes such a massive cast, it makes sense that there would be a gay character in the mix.

This then begs the question, why isn't Allan explicitly gay in the movie? After all many gay boys (like myself) played with Barbies growing up and would love to see that representation on the screen. Allan's dangling plot line that seems to have no real conclusion is also odd for a movie that wraps up most other plots pretty cleanly. If I'm putting on my tinfoil hat, perhaps Allan was originally intended to have a queerer storyline but in light of recent anti-LGBTQ backlash, that plot was quietly edited out of the movie? Or perhaps Allan was always meant to be an ambiguous enigma? We just don't know.

As for me, I am choosing to believe that Allan is wish fulfillment for all of the little gay boys of the world, who just wanted to hang out with Barbie in her Dream House, play dress up, and stay as far away from sports as humanly possible.

Here's to Allan, a gay icon in the making.

Barbie is now playing in theaters. 

Next, Everything You Need to Know About the 'Barbie' Movie