Barbenheimer

Similar Themes, Opposite Subjects

I finally saw both Barbie and Oppenheimer. The two subjects are nothing alike, but I found some similar themes. This will have minimal spoilers but obviously written for those who have seen both.

Barbie is a satire – a comedy and a screenplay to somehow tie an idea of what Barbieland would be like if all the Barbie characters lived out their lives and then what would happen if Barbie came into the real world. When you break it down – Barbies are made for girls to dream and imagine how they might grow up as a woman. How Barbie ended up is only partly Mattel’s fault (Unrealistic proportions, almost “perfection”). The rest lies with society and what is expected and accepted for how both little girls “should” be and later on, the role of women in society. Greta Gerwig did a great job paying homage to the clothes, current and past Barbie and Ken characters, and all the accessories you could imagine. Barbieland is much like an opposite version of the real world. Women are respected, they do everything and the men are there for all the Barbies. Think of it as Bizzaro World for you Seinfeld fans. Ken ends up going to the real world with Barbie and it completely changes him because he realizes how men are treated in the real world and he wasn’t having any more of Barbieland the way it was.

America Ferrera’s monologue which has been in the press a lot, has a lot of truth in it and goes with the theme of what has been said for years – everyone immortalized Fred Astaire, but Ginger Rogers danced just as eloquently as him but in high heels and she did it backward. In the 50s when Barbie came out, women were much like background noise or window dressing. We were modeled to be nice and “perfect” and groomed to make a man happy one day by becoming a housewife and popping out some kids. That was the role. The dream. Luckily, Mattel has updated their choices for Barbie today and how they look and what they do which goes along with the changing landscape of a different society today.

The pressure of being a girl/woman is still there, though. Social media influencers and celebrities like the Kardashians have had work done or they use heavy filters or photoshop to maintain some reality that just isn’t attainable for the normal girl or woman in society today. It’s always been there – the pressure to just be what society wants us to be. I hope those that saw Barbie – either girls or women felt a little bit better knowing that it’s ok to just be who we are. To not have to conform to society – to be different and unique. To be “Weird Barbie” (Kate McKinnon rules in this role). We just lost two very unique entertainers – Sinéad O’Connor and Paul Reubens. They were both weirdly different yet amazing – with their flaws and all. We need more unique humans that are ready to share their truth with the world. Even though Barbie as a doll is thought to be perfect, this was the theme I left with.

For a minute, Barbie has a meltdown because everything has changed and she wanted things to go back to the way they were. There were things out of her control – she couldn’t do it all on her own. The Kens were taking over. She wanted to give up. The funniest part by far is Macho Ken (Ryan Gosling) taking over Barbie’s dream house and calling it his Mojo Dojo Casa House. In the end, they figure it all out by all the Barbies and Alan working together to find a solution (even weird Barbie). The idea right there has so many symbolisms to the world today. Why can’t we all get along? Why isn’t everyone accepted? Why is there so much competition, even between women?

Now, how can you say anything with Oppenheimer is similar to Barbie? Like I said complete opposite subjects. One is a comedy/satire about a doll and the other is a serious movie about the massive achievement of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer is the only 3 hour movie with 99% dialogue that has ever kept my attention. Don’t get me wrong, Pulp Fiction was wordy but it was also about gangsters and murder. This was about history. I’m sure a fiction embellished history but history nonetheless. This was widely about the historical event of Lewis Strauss having Oppenheimer’s security clearance revoked which required a “closed hearing” as well as the nomination of Strauss for US Commerce Secretary under Eisenhower which was ultimately denied (thanks in part to JFK).

Oppenheimer was a unique legendary and at one point after the war, the most recognizable man on the planet. With his flaws and all, he made the unthinkable at the time happen. He made something that was once only theoretical, a reality. The key here and theme along with Barbie is he didn’t do it alone. He was a great orchestrator of the best of minds and put them all together to make it happen. He also had many outside forces trying to sabotage his reputation. The one thing that Oppenheimer stuck to was his truth regardless of what they were trying to do to him.

My only con is why make it R rated? Are the sex scenes necessary? This could have been a great film to show High School students. I’m sure Chris Nolan didn’t have that in mind because he’s making art but this is good enough to be educational without the nudity part.

Oppenheimer was honest about his life and his relationships in the hearing, and in the end it probably hurt him. Post humously, his denial of security clearance was nullified in 2022. That’s the one part I would have loved for them to note at the end of the movie. It was a witch hunt by a jealous man (Strauss) and it was so sad that our country treated a hero this way. If Oppenheimer doesn’t garner nominations for Christopher Nolan, Cilian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Robert Downey, Jr. – I would be shocked. He never did get a noble prize, but was finally honored in 1963 with the Enrico Fermi Award.

I think between both of these movies I take away the following:
Not everyone is going to like/love you – stay true to you so you will have no regrets living for other people later on in life.

There is always someone higher up, someone who wants something, who pushes and manipulates situations for greed or ego, or whatever to get what they want. They walk all over other people. It sucks, but it is what it is. We can choose to engage with those people or just keep living our life regardless. The truth will always come to light eventually..

We need to work together. If we were all the same, wouldn’t this be a boring place? Embrace differences, learn from them and appreciate the weird and unique in all of us. Teamwork really does make the dream work.

Society and the media isn’t always right – do some research, investigate – form your own opinion.

Don’t be a dick. Macho Ken and Strauss were both blinded by their own egos. I truly believe with egos and feelings aside, as a country we could accomplish anything just like we did with the race for space and of course the atom bomb.