As the title says; I watched both Oppenheimer and Barbie back to back with my friends today, so if you’re interested in what the experience was like or what happened in each movie or any questions really please ask away!
You can’t convince me that the meme surrounding these films wasn’t a corporate guerilla marketing tactic. It came out of nowhere and doesn’t seem at all funny enough to be as big of a meme as its become.
Honestly, I’m willing to somewhat believe that this was natural. It just feels… obvious when its forced.
For example with the new Saw and Paw Patrol movie they tried doing the same thing and it failed horrifically.
Also Barbie was purposefully given that release date in order to attempt to screw Nolan over, as Barbie was made by a studio that has bad blood with him, and they specifically waited for him to release a date for Oppenheimer. It doesn’t make much sense for that studio to then try and give Oppen free advertising.
Perhaps, but when a big part of the meme is to literally buy two tickets and watch both films that just seems way too consumerist to come around naturally. Like wow, the main theme of it just so happens to be getting you to act just how the studio executives would want you to, go figure. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but box office ticket sales since the pandemic are still recovering, so I would not at all be surprised if these sort of tactics were being used to drive sales. And its not entirely free advertising for Nolan’s film, since the whole point of the “Joke” is the absurdity of watching both films despite their vastly different subject matter. It just seems to me like the prefect opportunity to piggyback off each other’s popularity.
You’re not wrong about shameless marketing in the form of memes, but whether the intention was a distraction type op or just out of touch marketers trying to recreate the Morbius phenomenom, i dont think we can say. I can also agree that the memes aren’t funny at all just like Morbius memes.
Why the hell is there so much attention diverted to Barbie and Oppenheimer? Were they pushed this heavily as some counter-intelligence operation?
Call me naive but I don’t really think this was some elaborate scheme. From what I can tell, the hype and whatnot came from the hilarious fact that both Barbie and Oppenheimer were released on the same day and both were anticipated to be the movies of the summer, naturally putting them in competition. Two very big films with vastly differing aesthetics is the perfect pairing for such a phenomenon. Thus the memes came out in full force and definitely contributed to the further marketing of these films.
It may have not been intentional the first time but they sure as hell will try to do it again.
They already did. Look at what they’re trying to do with the upcoming Saw and Paw Patrol movie. Its laughable and everyone can blatantly see what they’re doing.
There definitely went many millions in the advertising of both. The generated hype will probably die down in one or two months, I suppose.
I really enjoyed the Barbie movie, it was thought provoking without being preachy or trying to drive a particular narrative. It was also funny, and sad, and overall fun to watch with great costume and set design. Probably will go see it again if its still in theaters at the end of the month honestly
I heard that Barbie was inspired by Lain. Can you confirm or deny the Lainness of the movie?
Oh cool! I’ve watched the series a couple times, although its been over a decade since.
Which one did you enjoy the most?
Both were well made films but I enjoyed Barbie more, I cried a few times and it made me really want to call my mom afterwards. Both complex in their own ways, too.
Ditto and agree. Barbie is the better movie for lots of reasons, OPP was actually a huge let down… I was really hoping for more details on why the bomb was actually used, more details on Russians involvement in Japan’s surrender, and far more desperate angst. All in all OPP is fine, it’s just definitely not Nolan’s best.
I really don’t understand why people online (twitter and TikTok, but mostly twitter) were freaking out about this movie. I’m not talking about the valid historical critiques, but more so the people arguing whether Oppenheimer himself was portrayed as a sympathetic character vs a coward. I have to wonder if we watched the same movie because to me it was pretty damn clear what they were trying to portray, not just with the characters’ actions but with the framing and music choices. I did say both movies were complex and I stand by that, but Oppenheimer wasn’t complicated in the way some are making it out to be.
