July 21, 2023: a day that will live in cinematic history. Oppenheimer, Barbie, and sleeper hit Who Cloned Tyrone. While Who Cloned Tyrone flew under most people’s radar, Oppenheimer and Barbie are two of the biggest movies of this decade so far. The juxtaposition of a WWII political thriller and a satirical corporate feminist comedy was a unique combo I doubt most filmgoers will see again.
With Oppenheimer getting a 93% critic score and a 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, narrowly edging Barbie’s respective 88% and 83%, there is some debate on which film is better. While Oppenheimer has the critical lead, Barbie has grossed $614,576,857, which is nearly double Oppenheimer’s measly $315,136,955.
In a survey conducted on Oakton students, 42 participants were asked to choose Barbie or Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer won by a narrow margin of two votes. This shows the diversity in thoughts and opinions Oakton has. Barbie is politically relevant and speaks on topics such as feminism and patriarchy while remaining light-hearted. However, Oppenheimer is a serious biopic that remains faithful to the life of one of the most important individuals of the past century, J. Robert Oppenheimer.
It is very difficult to compare the two, with one being a socially conscious comedy based on a line of toys and the other being a historical biopic of the creator of the nuclear bomb. While Barbie’s messaging is much stronger than Oppenheimer’s, it feels less genuine in critiquing consumerism. This is despite the Mattel Corporation (creator and owners of Barbie) outwardly claiming that the film is an advertisement for their product, creating a genuinely great film is only a very pleasant byproduct. Barbie attempted to spread inclusivity with strong Latina leads and a diverse cast of characters. However, a subtle reference to the nine-dash line, an incredibly controversial topic of borders in Southeast Asia, caused many people from South and East Asia to leave the theater offended, as well as with the movie being banned from nations like Vietnam. Additionally, the main characters of the movie compare a plot point to the Native Americans contracting Smallpox.
On the other hand, Oppenheimer does not reference how the bomb testing in Los Alamos greatly harmed the Native American population surrounding Los Alamos. However, taking intent into account, Oppenheimer never intended to talk about the victims of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, or any testing but to be an impartial look at the person who made these weapons. On the other hand, Barbie was attempting to be inclusive, which failed at certain points in the movie.
Both movies are fantastic and are a must-watch this year. I think I would give the edge to Oppenheimer being the better movie because it impartially shows us a situation and lets us take away what we gathered from the plot and themes. Working as a film equivalent of a Rorschach test, a psychological test in which a viewer finds random patterns in a paper with ink blots, Barbie has a very clear message that is quite difficult to ignore, even if it is more politically relevant and hits closer to home to many of us.