Controversy and Outrage: The #NoBarbenheimer Phenomenon – Uniting Protests Against the American Blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer

2023-08-01 07:56:14

“Don’t mess with the atomic bomb”: A hashtag on social networks that seemed to lightly bring together the American blockbusters “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” provoked outraged reactions in Japan, victim of nuclear weapons in 1945.

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The so-called “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, a contraction between the comedy inspired by the famous Barbie doll and the feature film “Oppenheimer” regarding the designer of the atomic bomb, two films released on the same day in many countries at the end of July, has spread. on social networks, calling on Internet users to see the two works in a row.

But this “hashtag” was quickly accompanied by the appearance on the internet of “memes”, graphic montages of sometimes dubious taste, showing for example the heroes of the film “Barbie” in front of an atomic mushroom, which provoked protests from Internet users, particularly in Japan.

Just days away from the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which killed more than 210,000 people on August 6 and 9, 1945, the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer has grown in recent days to unite the protests.

The controversy escalated further following the official American ‘Barbie’ movie Twitter account (renamed ‘X’) appeared to encourage the Barbenheimer phenomenon by responding to one of the memes with these words: ‘It’s going to be a memorable summer.

The message, which seems to have since been deleted, even provoked a dismayed comment on Monday from the Japanese division of Warner Bros, the producer of the film “Barbie”.

“We find the inconsiderate reaction extremely regrettable” from the official Barbie account, can we read in this statement posted on the Japanese account of the film, adding: “We take this situation very seriously and demand an appropriate response from of the American headquarters” of the studios.

“How dare you […] do you laugh at this unacceptable meme?”, had replied in English under this message a Japanese Internet user, adding: “You should visit the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima and learn what happened there. It is one of the most serious crimes once morest humanity”.

“We Japanese will never forget that summer,” reacted another internet user, attaching the photograph of burnt children’s clothes found in the rubble of the atomic bomb.

The movie “Barbie” will be released in Japan on August 11. On the other hand, “Oppenheimer” does not yet have a release date in the archipelago, where Western films often arrive several months following their release.

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