Bombs and roses. How we married “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie”

Let’s start with the similarities. “Oppenheimer” (about the father of the atomic bomb) was directed by the well-known, beloved and award-winning director Christopher Nolan. “Barbie” (about Barbie) – famous, adored and award-winning director Greta Gerwig. The casts are stellar. Cilian Murphy, Robert Downey Junior, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and Rami Malek play in the first film, and Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell and Michael Cera play in the second. Trailers of both productions ignite curiosity. It wants to see.

The contrast did the rest. “Barbie” is plastic, beach, glitter, roller skates, a big smile and zero worries. “Oppenheimer” is war, explosions, annihilation, powerful constructions and moral dilemmas. Gerwig’s film will certainly be funny, seemingly feminine, perversely feminist. Nolan’s picture promises to be an epic tale of ultimate matters. On the one hand, we will get – and we have already got, in the trailers – gloomy grays, uniforms and steel, on the other hand, pink, pink, pink and pink (rumor has it that the production of “Barbie” all over the world ran out of paint in one particular shade). The situation is asking for alterations, memes and widely understood joyful creativity. Welcome to postmodernism.

When the mountain comes down

Could “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” be one movie? As indicated by searching the hashtags “Barbieheimer” and “Barbenheimer” – absolutely. The mushroom cloud has never been so cute and a Mattel doll has never been so sinister. It’s not even worth writing down, let the image speak instead of words:

Of course, graphics are not everything – below are some examples of grassroots video trailers. Here is Ken pulling the uranium out of the back seat of the convertible, and Barbie becomes death, the destroyer of worlds.

What about Barbieheimer memes? At this stage, they literally talk about everything. For example – and this is really the first example – about how neurodiverse people function:

Another example – a climate meme. Barbie represents the world of people who believe that when it snows, global warming does not exist and there will be no catastrophe, and Oppenheimer opened his eyes:

And a meme about a Uruguayan writer whose poems were brighter than prose:

There is no need to go deeper and further. You can see what it’s about.

Logistical hardships

“Barbieheimer Week Begins”. “We’re starting the countdown to Barbieheimer.” “Happy Barbieheimer week to all who celebrate.” Here are quotes from some recent tweets about the phenomenon. Indeed, there are many people who are getting ready to see both premieres one after the other. American cinema chain AMC Theaters reported that 20,000 tickets for “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” were bought on the same day. viewers, and this is data from more than two weeks ago. And in European cinemas (examples: , ) there are sales of tickets for the Barbieheimer marathon.

So the question is not which movie to see, but in what order to ensure an optimal experience. Should “Oppenheimer” be treated as a heavy, three-hour main course, and leave “Barbie” for a sweet dessert? Or would it be better to throw in a light Gerwig first and then correct with Nolan? It’s all serious stuff. Followers of the Discussing Film profile on Twitter asked a question about the sequence of screenings, and nearly 300,000 liked the schedule proposed in response. people:

Dear friends, here is the schedule for Saturday: black coffee and cigarette in the morning, “Oppenheimer” in the morning, followed by brunch and prosecco with orange juice, “Barbie” in the late afternoon, and dinner, drinks and clubbing in the evening. Where’s the error? I guess none. Perfect plan.

Only love

The creators were also asked about the order in which to see both films. Margot Robbie – who played the role of Barbie – recommended that we start with “Barbie”, then move on to “Oppenheimer”, and then return to Barbieland. Her co-star Issa Rae judged that leaving “Oppenheimer” until the end was slightly psychopathic. And director Greta Gerwig said you could have both experiences – watch one movie first, then the other, and do the opposite the other day.

The team of “Oppenheimer” also has nothing against this movie hybrid. “Those of us who care about cinema really waited for the market to get thick again. Now it has and it’s great,” Christopher Nolan told the American portal IGN. Cilian Murphy, who plays Oppenheimer, has confessed that he can’t wait to see Barbie himself. Matt Damon from the same cast was pleased that people are scheduling to see two films in the same weekend. And Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer’s film wife) recorded a video in which she puts on pins à la Barbie.

The festival of love among creators continues. And among the audience – perhaps more surprisingly – also. In the dominant emotion, none of the films is treated as better or worse. There is relatively little even mockery of the stupid “Barbie” for women and the praise of the serious “Oppenheimer” for men – although anyone who was not born yesterday knows well that on the Internet it could end up like this. But no, it turns out that we want both of them, in the right setting and in a well-thought-out order.

And there’s something pleasantly simple and human about us just wanting good stories – whether it’s the drama of a physicist working on a deadly weapon or Barbie and Ken in Pink Neverland.