About

Ken vs. K Montage refers to a video meme template in which an uplifting montage of Ken from the 2023 film Barbie (portrayed by Ryan Gosling) is compared with a sad montage of K from the 2017 film Blade Runner 2049 (also portrayed by Gosling). Popularized by a meme Twitter account, the format achieved virality in early August 2023.

Origin

On August 4th, 2023, the Twitter^[1] meme account Shitpost Bale (@shitpostbale_) posted a video caption meme based on a side-by-side video of two contrasting fancam montages, one of Ken from the 2023 film Barbie and the other of Officer K from the 2017 film Blade Runner 2049, both portrayed by Ryan Gosling — a popular actor in Literally Me memes. The video (shown below) received over 13,700 retweets and 87,700 likes in five days.

pic.twitter.com/mAja266YnZ

— Shitpost Bale (@shitpostbale_) August 4, 2023

Spread

In the following days, the account posted multiple viral memes using the format. For example, on August 6th, 2023, @shitpostbale_ posted^[2] a meme about intrusive thoughts that gained over 8,800 retweets and 54,600 likes in three days (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/H1kjfWghdD

— Shitpost Bale (@shitpostbale_) August 6, 2023

On August 8th, the account posted a template for the format.^[3]

Starting on that day, more users on Twitter joined in on the trend. For example, Twitter^[4] user @AltHistCody posted a meme about the Roman Empire that received over 1,200 reposts and 8,600 likes in one day (shown below).

pic.twitter.com/WjnfezqCuM

— Cody (@AltHistCody) August 8, 2023

Various Examples

pic.twitter.com/WjnfezqCuM

— Cody (@AltHistCody) August 8, 2023

Real pic.twitter.com/skmJSSBhtG

— Shitpost Bale (@shitpostbale_) August 7, 2023

Template

Real pic.twitter.com/sJXTHsZfB8

— Shitpost Bale (@shitpostbale_) August 8, 2023

Search Interest

External References