The Road to Barbenheimer: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love Barbie
It was Barbenheimers Eve
During this week I will be observing Barbenheimer with both family and friends. I plan to see both Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer on opening day with my Mom. Then over the weekend my good friend Zack, co-host of our podcast Last of the 80’s Kids, and I will see the glorious 70mm print of Oppenheimer. Afterwards we will record a full reaction to the two films which will release in August. To access our first two episodes as well as upcoming ones click here. For more info on “The Last of the 80’s Kids” podcast and other projects from author and friend of the site Zack Ellafy visit ZackEllafy.com.
I am looking forward to reflecting on the experience of seeing these two films, but there are things I would like to explore about the lead up to this that may help to contextualize the hype around this unlikely cinematic event. Reviews of the film must always consider the unlikely hype that surrounded their release for good or bad. If the mood surrounding one of these films changes once it’s released, I’d like to share how we got here and what I think these movies will be.
Barbie started as basic as any other movie based on an IP with a critically and commercially successful director at the helm. The Barbie movie with Greta Gerwig in the directors chair was an enormous opportunity for the stars to align and for a blockbuster commercial and critical success. This is not always guaranteed, as many auteur projects have struggled at the box office. Anticipation was building given the iconic property, Gerwigs talent and the instantly iconic casting of Margot Robbie as the titular Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.
Some images of Robbie and Gosling dressed as Barbie and Ken roller skating at the beach generated buzz when a sequence filmed with Barbie being groped by a rude man (on camera) and immediately struck by Robbie seemingly leaked. Initially some reshared this video without context before it was revealed to be for the film. With that the social media footprint of the film had begun to show its breadth. A similar stunt was seemingly pulled by Joker: Folie à Deux, in which a video that was actually footage from the film leaked as though it was a spontaneous moment.
Two Tickets to Barbie Please
In the various movie groups I follow cult film fans, vhs/laserdisc collectors, and many more memes starting popping up. Often being posted, seemingly unironically overall and embracing a very open view of masculinity and that boys can enjoy but juxtaposing those ideas with mentally scarred or unstable men.
In a way, these memes suggested to me and others that grew up with Barbies being “a girls toy” can see that it’s okay to like Barbie and want to spread that message. It’s a positive outcome of years of feminist and queer intersectional work in the world that has made the message clear that we can all be who we want and like what we want and be worthy. Many completely straight men enjoy feminine things.
This was particularly uplifting because it was also trending in my social media feed amongst queer people, demonstrating that the Barbie movies appeal was widespread.
I follow a Spanish speaking film meme group that I love. I can understand about half the memes because the visual quality of film makes memes easier to understand. Additionally translation features make it possible to get the gist.
Within a couple months the hype around barbie as a semi ironic but earnest stunt was growing out of serious interest amongst film geeks across language barriers, gender identities, and ages to see the film. It was around this time that Barbie started to become an event, with those planning to go emphasizing the act of buying movie tickets and seeing it in the theater as a key part of the experience.
Only in Theatres
When the first picture of Barbie was tweeted by Warner Brothers on April 26th last year memes of Barbie skyrocketed.
Many began to speculate more and more about the aesthetic and plot of the story. Buzz was in perpetual generation as more and more people began to look forward to the film.
Then two months later the first picture of Ken was released by Warner Bros via twitter. The hype surrounding the film was sustained for almost 6 months on the strength of those two photos.
Eventually, in January, the teaser trailer dropped. In a throwback to a different time in film, the trailer seemingly featured footage shot to promote the movie rather than actual footage from it. The extended 2001 A Space Odyssey riff may or may not be included, either way it served to give audiences their first idea of what Barbie’s aesthetic would be along with a suggestion of its ambitions.
Since then anticipation has built in tandem with a little film called Oppenheimer. A film steeped in recent cinematic drama between movie studios and creatives due to Christopher Nolan’s departure from Warner Bros after their choice to release films to streaming. For a short time Nolan shopped the movie around hollywood and almost immediately negotiated a contract with Universal pictures to distribute the it.
Mainstream filmmakers changing to a different distributor after a long stint elsewhere is common enough. A similar shift that Tarantino made to Sony, though for different reasons. It’s however something Nolan fans and moviegoers can see as cause for a change of some kind.
The marketing itself has evoked Dunkirk by emphasizing the countdown to Oppenheimer’s release just as Dunkirk emphasized time. Oppenheimer was announced via a tweet on July 21st 2022, about a month after the Ken picture had been released. The film’s promotional team’s choice to utilize a countdown to the release of the film conflates the explosive nature of the Trinity test on the world with the explosive nature the new film will have on cinema or the summer movie season at least.
It was at this point that many began making the connection between the films. Barbie was being released through Warner Brothers, opening against a film that happened to be directed by the director the studio had recently lost. Oppenheimer’s release against Barbie was further emphasized by the countdown.
Hype has been building slower for Oppenheimer but those who admire Nolans films are a substantial fan base of people that enjoy the cinematic quality of them. In many ways this adherence to the cinematic ambition of the film has been equally marketed to good effect. Buzz has gradually built around the use of practical effects to recreate the trinity test explosion. In addition to that the cast stacked with various big names ensured that the historical biopic would be filled with talented performers.
The phrase “Only in theatres” resonates through these social media posts like the location of a fight after school. For some of us who have had a preoccupation with this movie going event for the better part of the year; the desire to fully participate in Barbieheimer and see both films in theaters on opening weekend is just too irresistible. But now, on Barbenheimers Eve I’d like to share a few predictions.
Barbie Predictions
It will be a culmination of Ryan Gosling’s neon vibe that began with Drive. The stoic handsome actor has cultivated a kind of personality as being a beautiful strong fixture in the night; which thematically fits with the neon lighting of Drive, Neon Demon, and Blade Runner 2049. Ryan Gosling has a unique aesthetic in these films. Having him with blonde hair in bright beach sequences and sunlight almost blurs the line between him and his technicolor surroundings, jacking the neon aesthetic up to the maximum and losing all seriousnness. Additionally, his presence circles back to the initial waves of memes that emphasized unhinged mentally unwell men seeing the film. A meme that seemed most on the nose was the following.
It will be judged heavily on how the movie shifts when Barbie and Ken leave Barbie land. How quickly this happens and whether the movie can sustain it’s energy outside of Barbie land remains to be seen.
Movies it will take cues from
- Brady Bunch (1995) : An early case of a satirical reboot of a popular property that both is an homage to the show and a critique of it’s medium. In particular Brady Bunch replicates the unrealistically chipper family of the sitcom and the way they contrast with the dour 90’s families around them is a source of a lot of comedy and heartfelt optimism in the story. My hope is that once Barbie/Ken leave Barbie land they contrast with present times.
- Pleasantville: Pleasantville is one of the deepest explorations of pop culture and how it’s consumers can interact and enrich eachother. Additionally this film deals with how social roles can be two dimensional impositions on individuals who must break out of those roles to fully be themselves. In a way Barbie appears to be positioned to have a Pleasentville’esque first act where they discover the artificiality of their worldand escape into the real world.
- Looney Toons Back in Action: The often maligned sequel to Space Jam features a self aware meta commentary on the corporate interests that control the Looney Toons. If Barbie struggles it will be due to similarities to this film.
- The Beach Party films series starring Frankie Avalon of the 1960’s : A notorious sub genre popular in the 1960’s the same decade in which Barbie dolls became a pop cultural phenomenon.
- Barbie Commercials 1980 Greta Gerwig knows how to dig deep into source material and really pull key thematic ideas from a text and so the historical qualities of Barbie, the feeling of having a Barbie, the marketing of Barbie will all be aspects that she focuses on.Even commericals from big box retailers such as Target or Wal-Mart may influence the look and feel of a scene in the film.
Oppenheimer Predictions
The creation of the atomic bomb has been written about and dramatized. Aside from Trinity and Beyond, a very popular documentary film narrated by William Shatner, there has not been a big budget film concerning it’s creation. I predict that as far as historical biopics go Oppenheimer will be stunning. Nolans film will be a technical marvel. Cillian Murphy’s acting style is perfectly suited to the stoic quality the film appears to have. Oppenheimer will be portrayed as calculated but caring. His efforts to stop the Nazis his primary motivation, but how will he respond when the nuclear bomb he developed to defeat the Nazis is used against Japan? How will the movie explore the idea that Oppenheimer made the world a less safe place in the long run. How will his guilt contrast with his hope?
Movies It will take cues from
- The Right Stuff: A dramatic retelling of a historic government project.
- Beautiful Mind: A film that explores that dark side of achieving scientific brilliance.
- October Sky: A film about imagination and the grit necessary to achieve scientific success.
- Dunkirk: Stylistically, the film appears similar to the 2014 WWII drama, though its color gradient was a heavy blue and this film seems to be orange.
Christmas 2019: Little Women Vs. 1917
This is not Greta Gerwig’s first rodeo in many regards. When Little Women was released the same day as 1917 on Christmas in 2019 there was a similar showdown between a beloved property centered on women and a historical war film directed by an acclaimed British Filmmaker.
One interesting aspect of this showdown is that both films had the exact same theatrical window domestically from December 25th 2019 to March 12th 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. According to box office mojo Little Women grossed 218 million worldwide while 1917 grossed 384 Million worldwide. It would seem that 1917 was the clear favorite but it was only after it went into wider release in January that it became a huge hit. For the first two weeks Greta Gerwig’s Little Women was in wide release it grossed 68.5 Million while 1917 had grossed 2.7 million. By March 12th, at the onset of the pandemic, Gerwig’s film made a profit of 56 million worldwide while Sam Mendes’s film made a profit of 77 million worldwide. The films, when all was said and done fared relatively the same.
My prediction is that a similar dynamic will play out at the box office, though barbie will surely make hundreds of millions in merchandising.
1917 leaned into historical war reenactments, sets, and complex camera work and editing to spectacular effect and it is perhaps the most visceral and engrossing films I’ve ever seen. Little Women is an engrossing and emotionally resonant character piece that thematically explores family, individuality, and the tenacity to push through the difficulties of adulthood. The two films were my favorites of that year and they were both immediate awards contenders.
When the awards season began 1917 received ten nominations to Little Women’s six. 1917 was the favorite and eventual winner of 3 technical awards including Cinematography while Little Women won for Best Costume Design.
Both films were inevitably compared as the two historical dramas of the season, and between the two of them I feel Little Women was a far more emotionally resonant film that explored themes that are accessible and relatable to the audience while still maintaining the period drama formula with modern cinematic flair. For that I have always viewed it as the movie of that year despite my love for 1917 as well as Bonj Joon Ho’s class satire Parasite, which swept the major categories and to its credit speaks more to our current times.
In the end it was a draw between the two, with 1917 possessing a small edge in box office and awards.
Overall Predictions
However this time things have changed. These are two oscar contenders releasing mid summer instead of december. Greta Gerwig is adapting a modern IP with much broader appeal and branding and she is clearly ready to employ all of the set, costume, and practical and digital effects at her disposal to create a technicolor extravaganza in similar grandeur to the spiderverse films or the Wachowskis Speed Racer. The crossover appeal, successful marketing, and feel-good nature of the film may win out commercially and sweep up costume, set design, original song, and other categories and may even lead to some surprise nominations such as best screenplay.
If there is one thing that is certain, it is that Christopher Nolan is still sore about Tenet’s underwhelming box office, which he blames on Warner Brothers, and he is hungry for another gargantuan critical and commercial success like Dunkirk or Interstellar. His passion for the medium combined with his ambition to make a great film are sure to result in Nolan on his A-Game.
This is not a fight, but during awards season these movies will be contenders. You can be sure that the box office tracks for each film will be hotly compared. Based on the presale buzz it looks like Barbie will open stronger, however as buzz dies down Oppenheimer may have a more sustained audience at the box office making more in the long run. I can easily see Oppenheimer nabbing the multiple oscar nominations for best picture, actor, director, and writing catagories. In a strange way the timing of the strike has cleared the field to allow them to fight, now free from the promotional game and living by momentum, word of mouth, and reviews alone.
The Strike
At the London premeire the strike led to actors leaving the showing as restrictions against promoting the film from the union went into effect. It is important to acknowledge that currently there are actors and writers advocating for themselves to make a fair wage in their craft. I encourage anyone that is passionate about cinema, film, or just good old pop corn movies on a saturday night to consider the negotiations that are going on and how they can be supportive of a good oucome for the people that make movies so special. To read the demands from the Screen Actors Guild directly click here. Additionally the AMPTP has released the following statement.
While this review touched on the marketing strategies and content of two films, first and foremost my desire was to document the impact that those campaigns had on popular culture. This review is not a blanket endorsement of either film or their respective studios and was not solicited in any way from the film owners or distributors.
And so here we are on the eve of one of the most exciting summer pairings of recent memory. Me, my family, and my friends may never be the same after Barbenheimer, and after this strike movie making may never be the same.
