Side-eye to singing: Ryan Gosling’s most viral 2024 award’s season moments

I think we can all agree that every single one of us fell in love with Ryan Gosling when watching that final scene in Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. We all know what I’m talking about: the looking over his shoulder, the teary eyes and the heart-breaking little nod of acknowledgement. 

Then Ryan became a feminist icon when he played the hilarious role of ‘Ken’ in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie which came out in July last year. His job was “beach” (whatever that means) and he wore the cutest cowboy fit ever.

But this 2024 awards season, many of us have fallen head over heels for Ryan, yet again with his heart-warming and amusingly outrageous behaviour at various ceremonies so far. So, as we gear up for the Oscars, here are all the times Ryan Gosling has proved he really is ‘Kenough’ everywhere from the Golden Globes to the Critics’ Choice Awards: 

The Golden Globes 

On the 8th of January, Gosling went and put the ‘golden’ in ‘globes’. Engaging with the incredible post-Barbie feminist frenzy, our second-favourite male-barbie-doll-in-human-form (after Alan, duh) proved that Gerwig’s Barbie movie has, perhaps, forever changed ideas around feminism and male attitudes towards women’s achievements. 

Anyone ever had a dream where they’re in the midst of a stand-up comedy routine and a joke absolutely bombs? No, just me? Well, this was the reality for American actor and ‘comedian’ Jo Koy, who decided that it would be funny to tear down Gerwig’s work and put a sexist spin on the success of the Barbie Movie. He completely missed the message of the film, comparing it to Oppenheimer, saying that Barbie was just  “‘a plastic doll with big boobs”.

Whilst Gerwig responded maturely and sympathetically to his childish sexism, the uneasy tension in the audience after the “joke” was palpable. A double-parked Taylor Swift sipped champagne with a dead-pan expression, Selena Gomez put her head in her hands and Ryan Gosling pulled a face which had “what made you think that was funny” written all over it. 

The Critics’ Choice Awards

 

I’m sure we’ve all gone through a period of time where we have been unable to get the sound of Ryan singing the catchy line ‘I’m just Ken, anywhere else I’d be a ten’ out of our heads. The song lives rent free in everyone’s minds, reminding us that in Barbie land, Ken is no match for powerful women. To most of us, the song seems like a funny and frustratingly memorable tune which added to the Barbie movie’s feminist flare. I think Ryan Gosling would also agree with this. 

However the judges of the Critics’ Choice Awards felt slightly differently. Ryan wound up winning best song at these awards and his reaction was priceless. As the song was announced, his face remained absolutely stuck still and he gave the room a humungous side eye, becoming (of course) an instant meme. 

The BAFTAs

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling are, for me, the most iconic on-screen couple of all time. Their chemistry in La La Land was unbeatable and they perfectly portrayed the unfortunate cliché of right person, wrong time in the most beautiful way possible. This bond between the two reappears in Crazy, Stupid, Love and hammers home that the two of them are the most perfect pair in film. 

Which is why, when Emma got up to receive her award for Best Actress for her role in Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things we all lost it when Ryan, being the cheeky heart-throb he is, gave her a little wink in gesture to their wholesome friendship. 

The Oscars

There has been much speculation concerning Ryan and this year’s imminent Oscars ceremony, taking place on the 10th March. Although there has been no confirmation, there are rumours flying around, claiming that the Barbie actor will take a break from being Ryan and might just, for one night only, reappear as the one, the only Ken. 

Cross your fingers and your toes, people, because Ryan Gosling might be performing the Critics’ Choice Award winning tune I’m Just Ken, live, for all of us to hear and watch. 

There can be no doubt that Ryan Gosling has proved in just the first three months of 2024 that he is the man of the hour. He might have stolen your heart as Noah Calhoun in The Notebook, as the piano player master, Sebastian Wilder, in La La Land, or dressed in lycra as Ken, but this awards season he’s proved how to be a self-deprecating man who supports women— just as Ryan. 

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Everything the Critics Choice Awards 2024 winners list hints about this year’s Oscars 

• This why Barbie is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Oscars

• All Oscars 2023 Best Picture nominees, ranked by Rotten Tomatoes score 

Featured image credit via CW