Barbenheimer

 

A lot of people are excited about Barbenheimer. Maybe it started as a joke: since both Barbie and Oppenheimer released on the same day, the internet flooded with memes mashing up both films. And people announced their plans to watch both movies back to back as a double feature. One may wonder why people would feel driven to watch a brightly pastel colored movies about a child’s toy alongside a dour, grim telling of the man who destroyed his own psyche creating the greatest weapon ever known to man.

                The truth is, as much as people think this is a lark, it’s actually something else. We are driven by genetic memory.  Something deep in the oldest part of our brains knows that Barbie is more than we think. More than we want to admit.

 

                The smiling, weirdly proportioned woman carved in plastic is but a mask that she (or rather “she”) has presented to us. To look upon her true form would render men blind, mad, raving and ravening. It has happened before. When she came to us in victory, from beyond the stars, she forgot to hide her face. The men lucky enough to see her found sanity burned from them before they were devoured.

                It’s natural that we would be driven to see Barbie alongside a tale of atomic fire and manmade horrors beyond our ability to comprehend, as she is a fire and a self-made horror beyond our ability to comprehend.

 

Anyway, one ticket for Barbie and one for Oppenheimer, please.