Well, this has taken my Barbie interest from lukewarm to must-see! For some reason, the vibes I'm getting from this description remind me of my and my female friends' fervent positive reactions to Mad Max: Fury Road, with its juxtaposition between men destroying the world and women daring to reimagine it.
The best part of seeing Barbenheimer this weekend? The audience of young boys who were DEFINITELY there to see Barbie. I overhead comments from a pack of 11-12 year old boys including, "I want to buy a Barbie now!" (seemingly sincere?) And another one looking at me, a 6'0" blonde and saying, "Barbie!?"
Having also seen both films and very much enjoying both, the joy surrounding Barbie and the strength of its message is something unforgettable. I doubt I'll have such a wonderful moviegoing experience for quite some time.
Currently out of free articles at The New Yorker (lapsed subscriber), so I can’t access the mentioned profile but do get the weekly newsletter. The blurb for the “Barbie and the Bomb” article conveys a lot:
“Christopher Nolan sets the physicist in a swirl of Cold War conspiracy, and Greta Gerwig tries to imbue a story about the doll with a feminist critique of capitalism.”
Nolan “sets” his film, implying achievement already, while Gerwig “tries” with hers. Not that Gerwig didn’t take on a serious and meaningful challenge with Barbie, but the reviewer’s wording automatically and frustratingly implies that she might not succeed.
I have appreciated your focus on work culture the past few years but man oh man have I missed these pieces. Please write the essays mentioned in the post notes!!!
I really loved the Barbie movie (the Matchbox-20 song! the last line! Barbie explaining why she isn't a fascist!) but I also really loved the joy and the communal pleasure of watching this in a theatre filled with other women but also with multiple groups of teenage boys. It was one of the most fun movie going experiences I've ever had. And Ryan Gosling deserves an Oscar. For real.
Seeing it in the theater with everyone (all genders, most ages) simultaneously losing it over that song and many of the other jokes definitely added to the magic of the experience. Probably what I miss the most about seeing movies in the theaters -- haven't been around that many people laughing in way too long!
The communal experience of it was so joyful. I had a young guy next to me who was at the movie by himself ask what my friend and I were drinking out of these cute little cans. When I told him it was rose from the concessions stand he was amazed. And I realized I can't even remember the last time I spoke to someone sitting around me at a movie theater if it wasn't to shush them or ask them to turn off their phone! lol Everyone was there wanting to have a good time and it felt great.
I am a New Mexican and I’m so annoyed by how Oppenheimer elides its context, particularly in terms of downwinders, ie the people who were already there. I haven’t seen it yet, just argued about it over text with my mother. And I’m waiting to see Barbie with my childhood best friend (and 90210 Barbie playmate) when she comes to visit.
I saw Barbie last night...as a girl who grew up on Barbies in the 90s, I fully expected it to be a fun, nostalgic movie. And I was SO impressed. I loved the story, the cast was phenomenal. America was so good, I’ve loved her since Gotta Kick It Up and LOVED the husband going “si se puede!” 😂😂😂 I loved Ryan Gosling’s rendition of push! 😂 all around, I loved it more than I expected.
I wonder though...it feels like there’s always this story told that women can watch/identify with male characters and stories because we’re taught to empathize with men. Is it not the other way around?
I grew up in a time where most things we watched were about boys and men. Boys (white boys) don’t have to do that, because they have more options than they could ever hope to watch with main characters that actually look like them. Boys don’t HAVE to learn to identify with a girl character, so why would they? Girls don’t do it because they’re more empathetic, they learn because they have to. I would have LOVED to watch 5 girl power rangers, but it wasn’t an option.
Even growing up, the stories about women largely centered around either finding a man or being saved by a man. I am absolutely loving any new media I find where women save themselves and/or their friendship is the love story. Stories like Barbie and Legally Blonde and Firefly Lane...and obviously there are more especially recently, but my brain is failing me.
Anyway, Barbie was great and bring us more girl movies!!
Yes to more girl movies! I’m just old enough to have caught reruns of The Facts of Life in the late 80s. LOVED that show! Five female leads, all about female friendships and growing up and keeping those friendships in tact. So grateful to have been able to grow up with Blair, Jo, Natalie, Tootie and the indomitable Mrs. Garrett.
There are surely lots of clips on YouTube too. Facts of Life ran for 9 seasons. Nancy McKeon, who played tough girl Jo, was Demi Lovato’s mom on the Disney Channel show Sonny with a Chance.
My 80+ year old cinema opened Barbie and we went all out: I wish I could show pics but the whole theater is pink. It absolutely killed, I think Friday was a record setting day but even greater I don’t think I’ve felt such joy and happiness from patrons out at the movies since Wonder Woman and every coworker agrees with me. I could tell dozens of stories from opening weekend and all of them are joyful ones.
I wish the Barbie movie had been around when I was a tween. So many of my formative years were shaped by "you can do anything you want" then hitting a glass ceiling/the patriarchy once I entered the "real world."
I was displeased with Christopher Nolan and/or his film editor to give Flo Pugh multiple scenes with frontal nudity. I could see one scene, sure, they are lovers who have sex. But there’s no accident when it is that many times: he’s choosing to portray her as the bad Commie girl who lures Oppy astray, and if we did not get it the first time, he’s going to keep emphasizing it until we do. Contrast that with Memo in The Natural. We know she is bad for Roy Hobbs, and in league with the antagonists, yes we see them in bed together, but Kim Basinger is given dignity.
Oh, I didn't take it that way at all! To me, this was the only time we saw Oppenheimer's vulnerability and rawness. Everyone else got his more polished, calculated, and literally buttoned-up persona, but she burrowed down into the heart of him. I don't think she was some vixen who led him astray, I think they saw each other clearly, without artifice or facades. Nakedness as vulnerability, not temptation.
Agreed, especially when we consider that his other affairs are mentioned but she's the only one we see with him in those intimate moments. I think it serves to emphasize that the others were flings where this was a real connection. That's probably why Kitty is so hurt by the revelation in the hearing that she has the vision of it.
I definitely saw these movies in the wrong order, because I'm still sitting with the existential angst of Oppenheimer, instead of the joyful possibility that Barbie evoked.
But I'll say this. Seeing all the people who were joyfully sporting as much pink as possible for Barbie (girls and women, yes, but even a few boys, too) gave me real hope. We'd rather be in Barbie's world than in Oppenheimer's, and that's worth cultivating.
AHP’s last paragraph sums up my total disinterest in Oppenheimer. Sure, sure, great man, anguished destroyer of other human beings, massive disappointer of women. But I’m already immersed in that in my daily life, its artful exploration notwithstanding.
Barbie, OTOH—I remember being godsmacked on the initial news of Gerwig making a Barbie movie, then the trailers added to the intrigue. Note that I didn’t play with nor was ever interested in playing with dolls (Barbie was unavailable in my country when I was growing up). And I might’ve used the term ‘Barbie Apologist’ to my good friend, when she listed its positive aspects. So yeah, I brought (jumbled) expectations to the movie viewing and was very, very pleased that they were more than met!
I think Gerwig did a great job crafting a story that ranges from camp to heartfelt (the mother-daughter scenes, sob) without losing its drive. So good.
Oh wow shades of The Hairpin again, I’ve missed your writing about movies and culture! Thank you for this, I have had little interest in Oppenheimer but reframing it in this way has definitely sparked my interest a bit more!
So eager to see both of these movies! Thanks for this reflection. "Great questions. But what if we asked some different ones?" is how I intend to contribute to every discourse from now on.
Well, this has taken my Barbie interest from lukewarm to must-see! For some reason, the vibes I'm getting from this description remind me of my and my female friends' fervent positive reactions to Mad Max: Fury Road, with its juxtaposition between men destroying the world and women daring to reimagine it.
Oh, yeah. "Barbie" IS "Fury Road" without all the dust. Thanks for highlighting this!
Exactly!
The best part of seeing Barbenheimer this weekend? The audience of young boys who were DEFINITELY there to see Barbie. I overhead comments from a pack of 11-12 year old boys including, "I want to buy a Barbie now!" (seemingly sincere?) And another one looking at me, a 6'0" blonde and saying, "Barbie!?"
Having also seen both films and very much enjoying both, the joy surrounding Barbie and the strength of its message is something unforgettable. I doubt I'll have such a wonderful moviegoing experience for quite some time.
Gen Z kids rock and the younger crew coming up behind seem every bit as lovely.
My sons (9 and 12) hit me up as soon as I got home from Barbie to ask if they could watch it. I'm excited to take them (and their dad) soon.
Very late to the Barbenheimer party but the (tiny) audience at Barbie today included a boy and his dad!
Currently out of free articles at The New Yorker (lapsed subscriber), so I can’t access the mentioned profile but do get the weekly newsletter. The blurb for the “Barbie and the Bomb” article conveys a lot:
“Christopher Nolan sets the physicist in a swirl of Cold War conspiracy, and Greta Gerwig tries to imbue a story about the doll with a feminist critique of capitalism.”
Nolan “sets” his film, implying achievement already, while Gerwig “tries” with hers. Not that Gerwig didn’t take on a serious and meaningful challenge with Barbie, but the reviewer’s wording automatically and frustratingly implies that she might not succeed.
I have appreciated your focus on work culture the past few years but man oh man have I missed these pieces. Please write the essays mentioned in the post notes!!!
I really loved the Barbie movie (the Matchbox-20 song! the last line! Barbie explaining why she isn't a fascist!) but I also really loved the joy and the communal pleasure of watching this in a theatre filled with other women but also with multiple groups of teenage boys. It was one of the most fun movie going experiences I've ever had. And Ryan Gosling deserves an Oscar. For real.
Seeing it in the theater with everyone (all genders, most ages) simultaneously losing it over that song and many of the other jokes definitely added to the magic of the experience. Probably what I miss the most about seeing movies in the theaters -- haven't been around that many people laughing in way too long!
The communal experience of it was so joyful. I had a young guy next to me who was at the movie by himself ask what my friend and I were drinking out of these cute little cans. When I told him it was rose from the concessions stand he was amazed. And I realized I can't even remember the last time I spoke to someone sitting around me at a movie theater if it wasn't to shush them or ask them to turn off their phone! lol Everyone was there wanting to have a good time and it felt great.
You’ve reminded me that the line about why she can’t be a fascist was very good. 👍🩷
I am a New Mexican and I’m so annoyed by how Oppenheimer elides its context, particularly in terms of downwinders, ie the people who were already there. I haven’t seen it yet, just argued about it over text with my mother. And I’m waiting to see Barbie with my childhood best friend (and 90210 Barbie playmate) when she comes to visit.
I saw Barbie last night...as a girl who grew up on Barbies in the 90s, I fully expected it to be a fun, nostalgic movie. And I was SO impressed. I loved the story, the cast was phenomenal. America was so good, I’ve loved her since Gotta Kick It Up and LOVED the husband going “si se puede!” 😂😂😂 I loved Ryan Gosling’s rendition of push! 😂 all around, I loved it more than I expected.
I wonder though...it feels like there’s always this story told that women can watch/identify with male characters and stories because we’re taught to empathize with men. Is it not the other way around?
I grew up in a time where most things we watched were about boys and men. Boys (white boys) don’t have to do that, because they have more options than they could ever hope to watch with main characters that actually look like them. Boys don’t HAVE to learn to identify with a girl character, so why would they? Girls don’t do it because they’re more empathetic, they learn because they have to. I would have LOVED to watch 5 girl power rangers, but it wasn’t an option.
Even growing up, the stories about women largely centered around either finding a man or being saved by a man. I am absolutely loving any new media I find where women save themselves and/or their friendship is the love story. Stories like Barbie and Legally Blonde and Firefly Lane...and obviously there are more especially recently, but my brain is failing me.
Anyway, Barbie was great and bring us more girl movies!!
Yes to more girl movies! I’m just old enough to have caught reruns of The Facts of Life in the late 80s. LOVED that show! Five female leads, all about female friendships and growing up and keeping those friendships in tact. So grateful to have been able to grow up with Blair, Jo, Natalie, Tootie and the indomitable Mrs. Garrett.
I was born in 90, so I missed it, but that sounds amazing! I’m gonna have to put it on my list!
There are surely lots of clips on YouTube too. Facts of Life ran for 9 seasons. Nancy McKeon, who played tough girl Jo, was Demi Lovato’s mom on the Disney Channel show Sonny with a Chance.
My 80+ year old cinema opened Barbie and we went all out: I wish I could show pics but the whole theater is pink. It absolutely killed, I think Friday was a record setting day but even greater I don’t think I’ve felt such joy and happiness from patrons out at the movies since Wonder Woman and every coworker agrees with me. I could tell dozens of stories from opening weekend and all of them are joyful ones.
I love this so much!!!
I wish the Barbie movie had been around when I was a tween. So many of my formative years were shaped by "you can do anything you want" then hitting a glass ceiling/the patriarchy once I entered the "real world."
One of my favorite moments of the Barbie-in-the-theater experience was when a trailer for a DC superhero movie came on and nobody cared.
Omg in my theatre too! 😅
I was displeased with Christopher Nolan and/or his film editor to give Flo Pugh multiple scenes with frontal nudity. I could see one scene, sure, they are lovers who have sex. But there’s no accident when it is that many times: he’s choosing to portray her as the bad Commie girl who lures Oppy astray, and if we did not get it the first time, he’s going to keep emphasizing it until we do. Contrast that with Memo in The Natural. We know she is bad for Roy Hobbs, and in league with the antagonists, yes we see them in bed together, but Kim Basinger is given dignity.
Oh, I didn't take it that way at all! To me, this was the only time we saw Oppenheimer's vulnerability and rawness. Everyone else got his more polished, calculated, and literally buttoned-up persona, but she burrowed down into the heart of him. I don't think she was some vixen who led him astray, I think they saw each other clearly, without artifice or facades. Nakedness as vulnerability, not temptation.
Agreed, especially when we consider that his other affairs are mentioned but she's the only one we see with him in those intimate moments. I think it serves to emphasize that the others were flings where this was a real connection. That's probably why Kitty is so hurt by the revelation in the hearing that she has the vision of it.
I definitely saw these movies in the wrong order, because I'm still sitting with the existential angst of Oppenheimer, instead of the joyful possibility that Barbie evoked.
But I'll say this. Seeing all the people who were joyfully sporting as much pink as possible for Barbie (girls and women, yes, but even a few boys, too) gave me real hope. We'd rather be in Barbie's world than in Oppenheimer's, and that's worth cultivating.
AHP’s last paragraph sums up my total disinterest in Oppenheimer. Sure, sure, great man, anguished destroyer of other human beings, massive disappointer of women. But I’m already immersed in that in my daily life, its artful exploration notwithstanding.
Barbie, OTOH—I remember being godsmacked on the initial news of Gerwig making a Barbie movie, then the trailers added to the intrigue. Note that I didn’t play with nor was ever interested in playing with dolls (Barbie was unavailable in my country when I was growing up). And I might’ve used the term ‘Barbie Apologist’ to my good friend, when she listed its positive aspects. So yeah, I brought (jumbled) expectations to the movie viewing and was very, very pleased that they were more than met!
I think Gerwig did a great job crafting a story that ranges from camp to heartfelt (the mother-daughter scenes, sob) without losing its drive. So good.
Oh wow shades of The Hairpin again, I’ve missed your writing about movies and culture! Thank you for this, I have had little interest in Oppenheimer but reframing it in this way has definitely sparked my interest a bit more!
So eager to see both of these movies! Thanks for this reflection. "Great questions. But what if we asked some different ones?" is how I intend to contribute to every discourse from now on.
The fact that the female characters without interior lives are almost always brunettes is such a "not like other male auteurs" move.