Barbenheimer: The Power to Destroy Ourselves

Reviews for both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," and the thematic similarities between the two

You may have noticed that a couple of big movies hit theaters this past weekend. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie have been the talk of film Twitter ever since they were announced. The hype escalated when the films were revealed to be arriving in theaters on the same day. People dubbed the event “Barbenheimer,” and excitedly wondered what magic spark Nolan and Gerwig would bring to a lackluster blockbuster season.

Both films succeeded. Critics and audiences alike are praising both. Aside from movies being technical triumphs, their themes seem to be striking a chord with audiences as well. Thematically, both films are surprisingly similar in that they both capture the self-destructive tendencies of humanity and how the temptation of power is a key component to that self-destruction.

(Spoilers for both films ahead)

Oppenheimer

I’ll start with Oppenheimer, simply by virtue of it being the first of the two that I saw. Nolan’s latest is, unsurprisingly, magnificent. And horrific. Depicting the life of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the development of nuclear weapons (as part of the Manhattan Project), the movie plays out as a complex psychological drama. It features career-defining performances from several members of its stacked cast (including Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer and Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss) and includes one of the most jaw-dropping practical effects ever put to film. Using similar nonlinear narrative techniques he’s utilized in other films, Nolan also experiments with his filmmaking to capture the inner turmoil of a tortured soul. The film acts as a character study of Oppenheimer dealing with the consequences of his world-changing invention.

One of several bone-chilling lines in the film is spoken by Kenneth Branagh’s Niels Bohr, when he suggests that building the atomic bomb would give humanity “the power to destroy themselves.” Nolan expertly explores this idea in two distinct ways. First, in the very literal sense, the movie deals with the worldwide fear that was produced when the atomic bomb became a reality. The back half of the film deals with Oppenheimer’s personal response to his own “achievement,” symbolizing on a broader scale our continuing fears and anxieties surrounding these advanced weapons. The final shot shows Oppenheimer wondering if his invention will set off a sort of chain reaction that will forever change, or obliterate, the world as we know it.

Second, Nolan looks at the ways human beings can personally destroy each other and themselves by making this movie a legal standoff between Oppenheimer and Strauss. The movie reveals Strauss’ plan to end Oppenheimer’s positive public persona by framing him as a Communist. This is done for purely personal reasons, as Strauss believes that Oppenheimer once spoke negatively about him to another scientist, Albert Einstein (Tom Conti). The entire drama, therefore, boils down to a petty personal dispute. Nolan shows on both macro and micro levels how mankind can cause catastrophic damage, and the moral, personal, and political complexities that come with the human experience.

Barbie

Barbie was one of the most intriguing upcoming releases for me. I love Gerwig’s previous directorial efforts (2017’s Lady Bird and 2019’s Little Women). But this film, perhaps obviously, didn’t feel like my cup of tea. Still, I became increasingly intrigued the more the (killer) marketing campaign was rolled out. It became increasingly obvious that the film would be a subversion of sorts from what many people might have expected. The movie works as a hilarious, sometimes heavy-handed meta-commentary about our current society. This is where the similarities to Oppenheimer begin to take shape.

The “power to destroy ourselves” component in Barbie comes in the form of Ken (a hilarious Ryan Gosling) discovering “the patriarchy” when visiting the real world with Stereotypical Barbie (an equally great Margot Robbie). Ken returns to Barbieland, where the rest of the Kens form an uprising of sorts and implement their own version of patriarchy. The once-Edenic paradise is corrupted by man’s quest for greater power (sounds quite Biblical, no? Vox published a thought-provoking article continuing this analogy). This film poses, in an unabashedly feminist way, the same basic idea as Oppenheimer: When left to our own devices, we will find a way to destroy ourselves or our society, often in an ill-conceived attempt to attain personal power.

The movie spurs on a positive message: Girls should be able to grow into women who feel like they have a place and can succeed in the world. Gerwig makes her points in a much more optimistic way than Nolan, but both filmmakers begin at the same starting point: How should we as humans navigate a world full of corruption, and how do we deal with the complexities of day-to-day existence in the presence of so much evil? Gerwig’s conclusion seems to be that self-discovery is the essential first step in living a better life and making a better world. I am not of the opinion that Gerwig’s Barbieland is meant to represent a perfect, matriarchal society. Robbie’s Barbie had to escape the bonds of her seemingly perfect world to figure out who she really is, and what it means to be “real.” The movie ends with her leaving behind the “perfect” fantasy and becoming human, accepting the challenges that come with that humanity (culminating in a perfect final joke). The film states that despite our cataclysmic screw-ups, the human endeavor is well worthwhile.

Conclusion

In terms of tone, both films are polar opposites, posing different outlooks on the future. Oppenheimer reminds us of a looming threat, and the role human beings have played in some of our greatest atrocities, while Barbie recognizes an inherent corruption within the “system,” but leaves room for improvement. Both, however, accept the same premise: The presence of human corruption causes pain, suffering, and ultimately death. Whether it be Oppenheimer’s war or Barbie’s toxic patriarchy, we know all too well that we have the power to destroy ourselves, literally and morally. These films acknowledge a Fallen World from which mankind needs to be saved.