Barbenheimer

For the first time in a while, the movies became the cultural center point. This was due to two massive movies being released on the same day. Barbie and Oppenheimer, which were given the name Barbenheimer. Initially people thought that one of the movies would change their date, so that the competition would not be as fierce, but in the end, they both stood strong, and this did not happen, so we got to have one of the greatest release date battles in years, and it did not disappoint, both the movies as a whole, and the box office draw were top tier. They combined to make over $200,000,000, and there were over 200,000 people who had tickets for Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day, and I was one of those 200,000 people, which has to be a double feature record.

I went and saw Barbie first, and I went to a 1:40 showing immediately after leaving work on Friday. The theater was sparsely populated, but it had more people than usual for a middle of the day Friday showing. I was surprised to see the wide range of ages that were present. It was mainly girls and woman, which was to be expected, but the kids were from all ages from babies to teens. One mom came with her baby, and she also had a little girl, who was probably like five or six, but the baby kept crying, so the mom kept having to leave the theater and take the younger girl with her, and I felt bad for them. They just wanted to watch Barbie, but the baby was ruining their experience! It was also great to see so many people out and wearing pink and dressing nicely for the movie. It almost had a Taylor Swift concert vibe.

Three weeks before Oppenheimer came out, I made sure to buy my IMAX tickets, sadly Syracuse does not have one of the nineteen 70mm IMAX theaters in the country, but I still wanted to see it on the largest possible screen with the largest possible sound. Also, when I first bought my ticket, there were only three other people that had placed their orders as well, but when it was show time, the movie was sold out, and I have not experienced a sold out movie in a long time. I was glad I preordered, and that I was able to get my usual seat. It would have been annoying to watch a three-hour epic in a chair that was not my own, but I did end up sitting next to a hooligan. This guy had the audacity to pull out his phone numerous times TO SNAPCHAT. Who does that!? This is literally a piece of art, and you are playing on your phone. Respect the 200 other people in the theater that care. The same guy was there with some friends, and a girl asked him how much time was left, and there was still like half the movie left, and she put her head in her lap in disappointment. They just did not have an appreciation of the art. Also despite getting up at 5 a.m on Friday, I was locked in for all five hours of the movies, and this is not easy to do. On a normal Friday, if a movie starts to slip away from average, I start falling asleep, and there was not a second in either film where I was even tired.

Barbie is centered on stereotypical Barbie, Margot Robbie, as she slowly learns that the world is not perfect. Initially in Barbie land, everything is a feminist paradise, and Barbie never has a bad day. Then weird happenings start occurring around Barbie, the first is that she starts to wonder about mortality, “Does anyone ever think about dying.” A literal music stopping moment. Then her feet become flat, and she develops cellulite on her leg. The only person who can “fix” her is Weird Barbie, and Weird Barbie tells Barbie that she has to go to the real world, because her owner is the one causing all of these changes to happen.

Ken only cares about Barbie, and he lives to be noticed by her, so he sneaks on the trip with Barbie to the real world, and they both have their eyes opened to the widespread dominance of misogyny and the patriarchy. To Ken, this was eye opening in a positive manner, he had always been told what to do by Barbie, he did not realize that he could have the power, so he fled back to Barbieland, and he turned it into Kenland. Meanwhile Barbie went to Matel, to see what was wrong with the world, and how she could get fixed, but they just chased her back to Barbieland. Once back, she had to band together with the other Barbie’s that have been brainwashed by the Kens, so that they can take their dream homes back.

First and foremost, Barbie is extravagant. The colors are so vibrant, and everything is meticulously designed, and all the performances are well done. Barbieland looks amazing, and when the story is there, it is always fun. The houses and the costumes are incredible. The bright blue and pinks are truly a visually appealing pallet. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling gave two incredible performances. Gosling is so over the top, that it is great, and Robbie also must deliver an emotional performance in a largely ridiculous movie, and she sells it, and it could have been very easy to falter. It is a story about gender inequality. Initially the movie is in a feminine paradise, but then they go to the real world, which is much more masculine, and Barbie is made to feel uncomfortable by all the men being in charge and harassing her. The movie concludes with the Barbies taking back control of their homeland, but they start to make society more equal, and the Kens get to have more rights slowly.

It also touches on purpose. None of the Barbies or Kens really have jobs, they just live enjoyable lives, but when Barbie goes to the real world, she realizes that she wants to be a part of something bigger. She needs to feel like she is doing something other than just looking pretty. The is also the idea of mortality that is partially paired with purpose. Initially the Barbies do not realize that death exists, but as a person gets older, they slowly have more of a grasp on mortality, and they want to accomplish something before they are gone. They build on this by also having a god like figure in the movie, who as the creator of Barbie. Finally Barbie cannot be mentioned without also bringing up the body positivity conversation, and they even take the time to address this. Although there is the stereotypical Barbie, that does not mean everyone needs to look that way.

Oppenheimer focuses primarily on the scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and the other scientists and people that he had around him that lead to the creation of the atomic bomb, but it also tells the story of the case that was set against Oppenheimer that blamed him for the creation and dropping of the bomb, and they wanted to take his clearance away, because he talked to people that the U.S did not like. The movie is at its best, as it slowly builds up in the creation of the atomic bomb. They build a whole city in Los Alamos as they race to beat the Germans and the Russians in the development of the bomb. Although Oppenheimer is a genius, he is not able to do this alone. There are multiple times in the film, when he says that some scientific act cannot be done, but then he is proven wrong. The second act ends with the first successful drop of the bomb in Los Alamos, and then the third act is composed of the court case, and Oppenheimer coming to terms with the fact that he was one of the creators of a death machine.

This movie was incredibly dense, and that is not a bad thing. There was a ton of information in it, and it, like Barbie, looked amazing, but in a totally different way. There were real explosions, and the color pallet was darker, but it looked so great on the screen. Not to mention that there were a few horseback riding scenes out in the desert that were stunning. Also the cast was packed in this as well, including some big names who played smaller roles, just so they could be a part of Nolan’s greatness. Cillian Murphy plays Oppenheimer, and his charisma is palpable, and every time he was on the screen it was incredible. One of my favorites was also in this movie, Florence Pugh, and I had no idea it was her, till I looked at the cast after, and I was shocked, she looked so different. It also has some serious themes like coming to terms with hard decisions. Of course, no one reading this had to make the decision to make a weapon that could destroy the planet, but everyone makes decisions in their life, that they have to make peace with, so although the scale in this is grand, it can still be applied to normal life. It also comments on how terrible the government is being run, and how petty everything is. Oppenheimer was just doing what he was hired to do, but then the government ended up turning on him, and they tried to get his credentials taken, and this was mainly headed by Lewis Strauss, and the only reason he wanted to take away Oppenheimer’s access was because Oppenheimer made fun of him one time. So just from that, he convinced the government to persecute this guy, who was just trying to solve a problem that could potentially have saved America.

The best part of this movie was the music and the sound. The score in this is amazing. There are multiple times, where the music is leading up to different climaxes in the story, and although there is no real action in the film, it raised my energy so much as the music crescendos. Especially the scenes that have the ticking sound, and it slowly speeds up. I cannot stop thinking about it. There are also all the static sounds that are being played when atoms are being talked about and theoretical physics is being explored. It will most likely win Oscars in these areas. There is a whole discussion on who decided to drop the atomic bomb, and I wrote a whole paper in college on the decision to drop the atomic bomb, and there was no connection to Oppenheimer in any of the sources, it was either Truman, or someone high up on his staff that made this decision. So did Oppenheimer make something horrific? Yes, but it was going to be created somewhere either way, so the destruction that it made cannot truly be placed upon his head, although I do understand why he felt the guilt from it.

One interesting fact I learned was that the atomic bomb had the smallest fraction of a chance of destroying the world. It was possible that the reaction started by the bomb would not end, and then the whole atmosphere would catch fire. When Oppenheimer discovered this, he showed Einstein, and when Oppenheimer was leaving, Einstein made sure to give him the paper back, and he said, “This is yours,” which was simple, but it was so loaded, like Einstein did not want that responsibility on his head, and he was giving back to Oppenheimer. Also it would not be a Nolan film without there being a time bending element. The story telling was not linear, and there was a build up at the end with a “grand reveal.” Although it was just a reveal of what happened in a conversation, Nolan still built it up in his classic fashion.

Barbie is filled with laughs and great one liners, but there are times when it feels a little long. There were also kids of all ages there, and the movie does have some parts specifically to be digested by kids, and they will enjoy the way it looks, but most of the stuff will go over their heads. It truly is a movie made for adults. Also I really expected to love Barbie, but I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I was going to, but that does not take away from the fact that it is packed in with many themes and lessons. As far as flaws in Oppenheimer go, one of the early screenings said that people were leaving the theater devastated, so I expected to see something gruesome about the aftereffects of the bomb, but that was not the case. It ended with a court case. So there was no devastation to be had, and that is why I try to hear as little about movies as possible before I see them, so that I do not have my hopes up for a certain aspect, but I do think it says something about me, that I chose to see the movie that was supposed to be devastating with a packed theater, and I saw the movie that was supposed to be fun in a much less populated theater. Both of these flaws in the films are minor though, and Barbie got a 4-star review and Oppenheimer a 4.5 star review, and those are rare. They are both well worth seeing, and they will stay in the public eye for a while including during awards season. Go see them!!!