Barbenheimer and the nuking of criticism
YOU live within an almost century-wide window utterly unique in the history of life on this planet.
Universal Pictures/Atlas Entertainment/Gadget Films
1-2 million years ago, humanity discovered fire. It eventually stumbled upon other world-defining novelties – from agriculture to iron, penicillin to Pluto – but none of these would come close to a breakthrough by the Manhattan Project at the close of World War 2, helmed by Robert Oppenheimer.
The invention of the nuclear bomb stands as likely the single most important event in human history, for we became Death, the destroyer of worlds.
Yes. For the first time, one of the many scuttering species on this chunk of rock invented the means by which to devastate civilisation, to throw us back with a flash of light into the Dark Ages, and to eradicate the very concept of a victor emerging from the next global war, instead leaving each player in the prospective apocalyptic chess endgame as doomed as the other.
The chances of you being born within this century-wide window – a fleeting moment in the history of the planet, but one which has and will shape everything to come – is inconceivably miniscule. But you’re living through another pivotal moment, too. At least in the context of art.
I’ve always been a Nolan-freak, but for some reason his latest offering has confirmed his genius to me in a whole new way.
Yeah, folks. You’re alive during the time of Christopher Nolan’s films.
Oh, and Barbie.
I’m going to keep this brief because out of many points I could make about both Oppenheimer and the Barbie movie, I only want to make a few today. I am, as I type these words, just back from witnessing Oppenheimer in IMAX. The prevailing message I want to get across is that, as with most of Nolan’s films, I really do feel like I just experienced something genuinely monumental. Something important.
But why? It’s only a film.
Well, art’s only art, a medium of human creation designed solely to poke and prod our souls, to coax from deep within an emotional response, and to fire the exact synapses by which something profound inside us might resonate.
This isn’t a review. I’m going to refrain from diving deep into the master artisanship from every individual involved in this film, from the writing to the cast, the costume design to the lighting. I’ll bore you not with Oppenheimer’s use of sound (or the lack thereof), Cillian Murphy’s understated yet weighty performance, the structural utilisation of colour and monochrome to tell at once both a subjective and objective narrative, a score that seems to do the impossible in coming close to anything Hans Zimmer ever did for Nolan, or the very achievement of a three-hour historical biopic competing with an established-brand marketing wet dream property such as Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
Neither will this be an expansive commentary on the Oppenheimer/Barbie cultural phenomenon. It’s just a short burst of thoughts on a movie that’s shaken me to my core, and a brief expression of my disappointment at people’s seeming inability to hear any and all criticism of the Hallowed Pink Thing©.
And guess what?
I see you.
I know why you’re here. I know why you clicked whichever link you clicked, or decided to open the email that landed in your inbox. (THANK YOU, dear subscribers!)
You’re here for Barbie.
Fine, I’ll jump right in.
There’ll be no spoilers for either (not least due to my determination to wrap up this thing as quickly as possible so I can go and sit in a darkened room to try and come to terms with what I just witnessed) but allow me to drop one slice of dialogue from Oppenheimer:
“It appears to most scientists around this country that Robert Oppenheimer is now being pilloried and put through an ordeal because he expressed his honest opinions. No board in this country should sit in judgement of a man because he expressed an opinion.”
My ears perked at this line. It felt relevant not only to our current times, but our current week. How many tweets (X’s?), posts, articles, and rants have I seen sniping down any and all criticisms of the Barbie movie’s not-so-subtle messaging of patriarchal tyranny and the balance of power between the sexes?
I’ve checked out several commentaries both for and against the prevailing messages Trojan-horsed into Barbie. (Margot Robbie’s words, not mine. They’re Trojan-horsed because, let’s face it, the marketing didn’t remotely hint at such a politics-laden affair.) Disclaimer: despite having read quite a bit about it, I’ve not seen the film, so I’m limited in what I can say. Some will say that prohibits me from even writing this article. But have you read Mein Kampf? Have you an opinion on that? Yes, I really did just use Barbie and Mein Kampf in the same sentence, and yes, tongue is planted firmly in cheek. Bring on the misinterpretations of my words. I dare ya.
Yes, I’ve read about (from both sides of the debate) the plot of Barbie, the themes, the messages, and the societal and cultural assertions it makes. Without having seen the film, it frankly sounds like more of the same divisive outrage-fodder Hollywood has been inundating us with for the past sixish years, but I won’t push an opinion. Some claim the movie is being misrepresented and misinterpreted by its critics, but you know what? I’d be interested to hear what a select demographic has to say about a film that makes blatant and bold assertions about the role they play in a world supposedly riddled with injustices of their doing.
Sometimes I feel like we’re doing such a great job of listening to each other.
Other times I feel the opposite.
The sole point I want to make about Barbie (and if there’s demand for a full review then I’ll comply and watch the damned thing – you can submit requests for future dissections at the Dissection Room hub) is that if a film is released with not only clear political and social messages, but also a specific, damning statement about one demographic of people, then those same people should be allowed to contribute their opinion and feel heard. There’s bad faith hypocrisy inherent in proclaiming the importance of the politics imbued through a movie, all while attempting to invalidate any challenge to its messages because:
“It’s just a film about a doll, lol.”
“You’re shouting at a film about dolls, you pathetic little dickhead.”
“Calm down fella, it’s just a film about a toy doll.”
Real tweets, by the by.
Just a book about farmyard animals, right? RIGHT?
Image by Jhack via Flickr.
Animal Farm was a book about farmyard animals, and yet going by the prevailing logic from those unwilling to engage in healthy debate about Barbie’s sociological themes, I’m beginning to think these same people would believe cow pat and hay bales are the only points of discussion to be garnered from Orwell’s novella.
Once again, I’m not taking sides on the merits of the Barbie film, not without having seen it. I’ve heard convincing arguments both for and against the movie’s messaging, and could certainly be convinced to watch this feminist allegory of male oppression, but coming out of it with zero intention of engaging with opposing opinions?
No film should serve as dogma.
No moviegoer should forget that one of art’s functions is to provoke discussion.
I repeat, there’s only one point I’m attempting to make in commentary of Barbie, so let me spell it out nice and clear for those at the back ready and waiting with their pitch forks and torches: criticisms of this or any other movie – whether on artistic or political grounds – are valid. Someone is not a fAr rIgHt eXtReMiSt iNcEl (exactly the accusation I’ve repeatedly seen levelled at anyone with a Barbie bone to pick) for having something to say about a movie that paints their picture in rather broad strokes. They are not pathetic for expressing an opinion about a film containing weighty, complex issues – a film that should really be begging for discussion, debate, and engagement.
No. They’re human beings with thoughts and feelings. Got something to say about Barbie? You have a brain. Use it. Don’t be silenced. Because let’s be honest: the same people who will attempt to invalidate your right to criticise a politics-laden film will attempt to invalidate my right to put out this very article, and what point have I ACTUALLY made?
That opinions should be heard.
If that doesn’t float your boat, then I posit that your ideal world is one in which a select portfolio of political messaging can be put out to which no critical response should hold any legitimacy. We saw how that game went down all through the 20th century. I hope you’ll agree the results don’t bear repeating.
In reference to my recent viewing of Oppenheimer, I said near the beginning of this article that I was left with the feeling of having witnessed something genuinely monumental. Something important. Others will feel that same thing just as strongly when they come out of Barbie, and that’s cool.
I’m just tired.
I’m tired of movies, books, games, and every other imaginable media being used to provoke outrage, and to drive us further apart. To divide. How did we get here? How did we arrive at a time when criticism of a politically themed movie (one aimed at children, no less) is held up as some totem, regarded with such idolatry that we can’t even shed countering opinions on the topic?
That we can’t simply talk to each other?
When Oppenheimer created the atomic bomb, it was hoped that it may be the weapon to end all wars. It certainly didn’t do that, but it’s deterred the planet’s superpowers from allowing another world war to unfold. Imagine the descendants of apes evolving not only to a point where they’re capable of wreaking global war, but also of inventing a device to end it!
Those same descendants of apes have also achieved the means to connect the planet. Through the silicon chip-fuelled toys to have taken up permanent residence in our pockets, we can now reach out to any of our fellow humans in an instant with the tap of a few buttons.
Such capability would be unthinkable a few short evolutionary moments ago, and yet what are we using it for?
To connect deeper with each other? To hear what our fellow humans have to say? Films like Barbie provoke in me both hope and despair. As a people, we’ve raised marginalised voices to a point where a feminist can assert her social and cultural opinions to millions through a movie – a good thing – yet we’re still unable to listen to dissenting voices without anger, antagonism, and seeming hatred.
A bad thing.
What was the message of Oppenheimer? I can’t get into that right now. I still need that darkened room before I can say much more on the matter, but what’s the message of any film that details humanity’s balancing act between tentative survival and all-out, self-inflicted destruction?
I’d like to think it’s unity.
Unity in finding the answers to our problems together instead of apart, and in lifting ourselves up as one instead of stepping over each other. Maybe it all comes back to what’s required of each and every one of us if that big red button is to be left unpressed.
Make no mistake: we’re teetering on the edge. The world we’ve inherited from every Neanderthal forager to have ever lived, every peasant, innovator, leader, and every fallen soldier is on the brink. This truth hasn’t been as clear as it has been in the past year since the Cold War. Nations are divided. Sabres are rattling. Futures are uncertain.
And who’s leading whom?
Are the kings and commanders and presidents and dictators who have control over weapons like Oppenheimer’s showing us the way, or are we showing them? If our example is anything to go by – our unwillingness to hear each other – then the seeds of division we’re planting in our time may well grow into something worse. Something that rises on the horizon of every nation in fiery clouds of mushroom-shaped devastation.
What’s my point?
That by taking greater pains to listen to each other we might stop nuclear Armageddon?
Not precisely, but like I said, I’m just tired of us all speaking past each other.
Whether or not these really are the end times, regardless of whether the aforementioned kings and commanders and presidents and dictators are leading us or we’re leading them, and no matter on which side of any political, cultural, or pink-themed divide you stand, maybe listening a little better to each other ain’t such a bad way to move forward.
Maybe that’s my point.
–GG
Cover thumbnail uses images from Universal Pictures/Atlas Entertainment/Gadget Films.
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