Barbenheimer But “Barbie” Had a Bigger Impact (On Me)

Let me first get it out of the way and talk about the whole “Barbenheimer” thing, which, in my opinion, has a bigger impact on the cinematic world than most people would think. Not only do Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie have some parallels regarding the human experience when faced with a moral dilemma or the harsh realities of the world, but the two movies actually complement each other quite well when you watch them back to back. Premiering on the same day definitely had a cultural impact, hence “Barbenheimer,” which played a part in the box office successes each movie had. The combined box office collection of both films reached over $235 million in just the U.S. and Canada, so the success of these films is unquestionable. The point of the conversation isn’t so much the competition between the two movies, but rather that both movies are good in their own ways, and the real conversation to be had is probably the impact the simultaneous premieres of these films had on the world (though, Oppenheimer follows a more traditional route, fitting what the standard of a “good” movie is and will probably lead to more Oscar nominations).

Anyways, this review is going to be more Barbie focused since I have a lot more thoughts on the film and its message, but I will say this about Oppenheimer: it has a somewhat justified run-time of 3 hours, and all the actors, especially Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., and Florence Pugh (imo) really stood out for their performances. I remember I had to read American Prometheus as summer reading for A.P. U.S. History, and while I didn’t appreciate it as much as I would have now, I do remember it being a good read that had good, deeper insights into the mind of Oppenheimer, especially with the aftermath of the bombings, so I would recommend reading this if you want some more historical context lol.

**Side note: I would literally jump into Cillian Murphy’s eyes if I could; they are such a piercing blue that it’s hard not to admire the man when he’s staring right into the camera with a look of existentialism and psychological turmoil. His line saying, “I have blood on my hands.” will also haunt me for the next couple of weeks.

But I digress… I can’t find it, but I remember seeing an Insta thread about how this movie is just another movie about a white man spiraling into the depths of his own moral failings despite the lack of acknowledgement towards the people who actually suffered from his actions (over 200,000 Japanese people dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki), and while I do agree with this, I also see the care Nolan took with this movie to acknowledge the victims but also to slightly demonize/criticize the U.S. government (and Americans in general) for their complete lack of empathy towards these victims (I hope that last part doesn’t get me cancelled??). Two scenes in particular were quite memorable: Oppenheimer giving a speech after the “success” of the bombings to the people of Los Alamos and stepping on a body that’d been completely burnt to ashes; and when he’s meeting President Truman, still shaken up by what he’s done but Truman doesn’t seem to care about the turmoil he’s going through or what was done to the Japanese people.

Anyways, that was my little spiel on Oppenheimer, so now I want to talk about Barbie. Going into it, I had high expectations since it is directed by Greta Gerwig, who also had films like LadyBird and Little Women under her belt, but I didn’t think Gerwig would take the film to the depths that it was taken. Gerwig shows how Barbie really is for everyone (girlies, gays, theys, kens, and alans of the world). Gerwig and Margot Robbie somehow made a plastic doll more than some shallow, stereotypical version of what the “perfect” woman is, and the execution was so satisfying to watch. From the soundtrack (Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World” and Billie Eillish’s “What was I made for?” have been stuck in my head for the past 3 days) to the production design, it really felt like the characters were in BarbieLand and I appreciated how the audience wasn’t left in the real world for too long. Margot Robbie is not only a phenomenal actress, but just fits the “stereotypical Barbie” look so well. Ryan Gosling as Ken was also a really good casting choice because he really was the embodiment of Ken. I also really liked Issa Rae as President Barbie, America Ferrera as Gloria, Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie, and Michael Cera as Alan.

Barbie not only tells a story of the female experience through a female perspective, but through Ken, we also get a glimpse of the male experience from a female perspective. I actually didn’t expect Gosling’s character to be the main antagonist of the movie, I thought it’d be Will Ferrell’s character (the money-hungry CEO representing the capitalism and profitization of the female body), but obviously it make sense now. A large part of what Barbie was trying to say can be summed up during Barbie’s nadir and Ferrera gives her monologue about what it’s like to be a woman in the real world, which can be summarized as being one big contradiction. The cognitive dissonance women go through when growing up always seems to be due to what the world wants and expects of women, forcing us to chase this quixotry of being physically perfect while also achieving the best (that men will allow). The only real criticism of the film (not really though) might be how overbearing this feministic message was since it seemed so in-your-face, but at the same time, I think that’s part of the point. It should be in-your-face and a constant reminder to the audience because, just how it is in the real world, this message can be said a thousand times and heavily engrained in one’s mind, but nothing will probably ever truly change.

The first part of the film shows Barbie living this perfect life that seems to repeat everyday, creating a sense of idealism and any sort of change to the routine would lead to a catastrophe. A spot of cellulite, a depressing thought about one’s own mortality, etc. means imperfection and we can’t have that with Stereotypical Barbie. When Robbie goes to McKinnon’s “Weird Barbie” for help, she’s faced with the decision to leave Barbieland and her comfort zone to fix things or to stay and deal with the the growing imperfections of her body (she chooses wrong at first but is forced by McKinnon to make the right choice of going to the real world despite Barbie not wanting to take any initiative to change the way that things are). When she goes to the real world with Ken, Robbie is immediately filled with emotions of anxiety, uneasiness, and self-consciousness. She’s going through these negative emotions and the experiences tied to those emotions as she faces sexual harassment and the inferiority that is forced upon a woman when living in a male-dominated society. Almost every interaction she has with a man in the real world involves some sort of sexually aggressive comment on her body. Her first real positive experience isn’t until she meets an old lady at the bus stop and genuinely calls her beautiful as she realizes how beauty isn’t necessarily perfect hair and flawless skin but a real woman like the old lady is one example of what beauty can look like. Also, Barbie looking through her visions of Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) growing up was lowkey emotional and kinda beautiful (?) Later on in the film, there’s a montage of actual footage taken from the cast and crew of different women and girls as Billie Eillish’s song plays in the background and it’s just so perfect.

This whole first act of Barbie going from her perfect, idealistic world where women rule society to a world ruled by the patriarchy is actually a common journey many women go through at some point of their lives (to an extent). There’s a loss of innocence where women, as children, have this naive idealism about the world until they hit a turning point in their lives where they realize how unfair the world can be and face harsh truths that change their whole reality. You generally become an object or accessory to a man while simultaneously develop this sense of competition against other women to survive.

“Why didn’t Barbie tell me about Patriarchy?” — Ken (Ryan Gosling)

This brings me to my next talking point: Ken. Gosling performed really well as this character, and I remember there being a lot of criticism towards this casting choice when it was first announced, but after watching the movie, I think it was a perfect choice. Anyways, the character of Ken not only acts as a good parallel to the female experience in a male-dominated world but also demonstrates how men become so influenced by the culture and society they grow up in to become the stereotypical version that is depicted in the film. Ken’s experience as a Ken pre-Kendom is that of an accessory to Barbie, only really existing as an object, being taken advantage of, and constantly competing with the other Kens. Gosling’s Ken is really experiencing, to a certain extent, what it’s like to be a woman in the real world, and it’s not until he goes to the real world and learns about the Patriarchy does he develop this superiority complex and comes back to Barbieland to overthrow the Barbies. This leads into the main conflict of the film where Barbie tries to take back Barbieland and have things return to normal, which she succeeds in. However, when Ken is crumbling from his loss and throwing a tantrum, somehow it’s still Barbie’s responsibility to comfort him and his bruised ego and apologize when he’s the one that invaded her space by intruding and defiling her peaceful world. Then he has the audacity to genuinely believe that Barbie would love him back after all of this and — I was waiting for this moment even though I knew it wouldn’t come — but he never even apologizes for anything as if the consequences of his actions were innocuous. Ken (man) played a part in taking something from Barbie (woman) and treated her and the other barbies with blatant irreverence and being let off with no sort of punishment, with some of the kens even being given some council positions (though this is moreso to make them feel important and better about themselves). It was so frustrating to see Ken just be given a pass like this, but I guess that was kind of the point (-_-).

“I want to do the imagining, not be the idea.” — Barbie (Margot Robbie)

There are so many other valid points and themes to Barbie (Existentialism, what a “real woman” looks like, finding your purpose in life beyond the expectations people put on you, pretty privilege, mother-daughter relationships, etc.) but this review is already running kind of long… Go watch Barbie (and Oppenheimer), please. Both are solid movies that are worth watching, and for the people who say Barbie looks stupid maybe you are exactly the type of people that should go watch Barbie (not an attack omg but a strong encouragement).