On July 21, 2023, there was an explosion at the box office. Two highly anticipated films, Greta Gerwig’s hot pink daydream “Barbie,” and Christopher Nolan’s gritty wartime biopic, “Oppenheimer,” were released on the same day.
While films frequently share release dates without anyone noticing, the contrast between the aesthetics of these two made them an instant source of amusement. People passed around memes with fake “Barbenheimer” electoral maps and promotion campaigns, comparisons to friends with opposite aesthetics and jokes about the juxtaposition.
“Barbenheimer” became a unique phenomenon that was about more than the films themselves, as summarized by University of New Mexico film student Ben Arndt.
“I think ‘Barbenheimer’ morphed the two movies into a different kind of experience entirely. I loved how it became a movie theater event that helped return general audiences to theaters,” Arndt said.
It started as a joke, but it became something more. All art is in dialogue with other art. Beyond the coincidence of their release dates, the films took shared inspiration from the filmography of Stanley Kubrick, according to Far Out and IndieWire.
Both stories also have a shared theme: once you put something you created into the world, you lose control over it.
J. Robert Oppenheimer is astonished by the destructive power of the atomic bomb after his part in its creation. After the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Oppenheimer recalls to Albert Einstein a conversation they had had earlier in the film about the risk of a nuclear detonation starting a chain reaction that would cause the atmosphere to explode. As the final line of the film, Oppenheimer solemnly remarks that he thinks they did, indeed, start a chain reaction that would destroy the world.
Barbie and her creators similarly have to grapple with the differences in the intention of their creation and the way it functions or is perceived later. Barbie notes that she was created to inspire little girls, but became another symbol of patriarchy and insurmountably high standards for women.
The same existentialism and guilt are present and heavy in both films, be it black-and-white or candy-coated.
This loss is present even within the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon. Neither film was created with “Barbenheimer” in mind – it was entirely an accident, entirely a result of the audience as opposed to the creators. The act of creation is risky; you never know what sort of ripple effect you’ll have.
“Oppenheimer,” for example, downplayed the struggle of downwinders ‒ the ordinary people residing near the Trinity sites who suffered due to the nuclear tests performed there. The radiation caused water contamination and an astronomical rise in cancer and other health complications, according to the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium.
Heidi Menges, a UNM engineering student, said she wished New Mexico was a larger focus of the film.
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“As it was presented, Los Alamos could've been anywhere in the West; it had no flavor, no culture. The way the movie completely ignores the locals displaced, poisoned and otherwise affected by the bomb is disgraceful. Just more sanitization of the American military machine,” Menges said.
However, “Oppenheimer” may have brought renewed attention to the struggles of downwinders. In New Mexico, a Public Service Announcement regarding the downwinders’ fight for justice played before every showing of the film.
But was “Barbenheimer” good for either movie? Yes and no. Both films were major hits at the box office and raked in the cash. “Oppenheimer” made over $950 million at the box office, according to Forbes. “Barbie” made $1.45 billion worldwide, according to Statista, making it the highest-grossing film of 2023, the highest-grossing film directed by a woman and the 14th highest-grossing film of all time according to Variety.
“It is probably worth noting that a lot of the somberness and real-world horror that is presented in ‘Oppenheimer’ is kind of diminished when it’s placed alongside the pastel-colored fun of ‘Barbie,’” Arndt said.
In many audience’s eyes, “Oppenheimer” seemed to live in the long shadow of “Barbie’s” neon plastic world; in the eyes of critics and awards, “Barbie” was a joke. “Oppenheimer” took home seven Oscars, including the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director. “Barbie,” on the other hand, received four nominations and no awards.
I’d hoped that the presentation of “Barbie” alongside what would later be considered Nolan’s best film to date would help people see what I see. I’d hoped it would elevate “girly” cinema to the heights of cinema made by and for men. I think I was wrong.
For years, Gerwig has made films centered around themes of girlhood, and for years, those films have been overlooked by awards and male critics.
I fear that “Barbie” won’t be remembered as “Barbie,” it will be remembered as “Barb-”, one-half of a cultural phenomenon. It deserves so much more.
I walked away from “Barbenheimer” with my jaw on the floor. I couldn’t stop thinking about my place as a woman, an artist, a bomb, a doll.
But, like most things spawned from internet comedy, “Barbenheimer” seems forgotten.
Both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” had their flaws and critics. Some felt they failed to achieve what they set out to do. In an article in The Saint, Anna Owen remarks on the ways the film's feminist messaging feels over-simplified and toothless.
“Oppenheimer,” in the eyes of some critics, failed to be anti-war, instead presenting a sanitized and almost glamorized presentation of nuclear weapons, according to the Guardian.
I can’t help but feel that we, as audiences, also failed these movies. Did we take them too lightly? Too seriously? A little bit of both? What’s most important is that we not forget these films; we can’t let them be swallowed up by and then die with the meme.
“Barbenheimer” was fun while it lasted, but “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” were genuine masterpieces. Cinema shouldn’t just be a joke. This summer, after “Barbenheimer,” movie theaters are struggling once again.
Sincere engagement with film seems to be disappearing. If we only bear witness to art when it’s funny to do so, how can we expect art to thrive?
“Barbie” was meant to be uniquely, unapologetically girly and empowering to young women, and as Nolan explained, “Oppenheimer” was partly meant to pressure society and scientists into considering the consequences of their actions. Have these movies succeeded in what they hoped to do? At the one-year mark, it is still too early to tell.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com
