This past summer, on July 21st, the movies Barbie and Oppenheimer were released that drew many people to the movies. Although two very different themes and topics, many people were still able to enjoy their movies marathons over the summer.
Both Barbie and Oppenheimer were released on the same day, yet they are very different. “They are very opposite in themselves, you have one movie that plays on a very central, almost stereotypical, masculine figure in America, but historically a big time masculine figure, and then Barbie, you have historical feminine figure,” says Mr. Moeller, who is a film teacher at DePaul Prep. Barbie’s color palette is very bright and has a fun pastel color, whereas in Oppenheimer, the color palette is muted and more dull.
It was a Wednesday morning in the middle of September, and the halls of DePaul Prep were filled with bustling chatter, a normal, pretty average day— except for the fact that almost the whole school was wearing pink. Teachers and students united as a collective to all match by dressing in shirts that were all various shades of pink. Homecoming spirit week was upon DePaul College Prep, and a new theme, Barbies vs. Kens, had been introduced this year.
The release of the Barbie Movie on July 21st, 2023, was a moment that was being widely discussed across the country, the internet, and social media. According to the Times of San Diego, “the hashtag Barbie had been used [over] 14.1 million times on Instagram and had 50.5 billion views on TikTok.” The Warner Brothers picture, written and directed by the Academy Award nominated Greta Gerwig, had taken over the news, even wedging its way into the daily life of a Catholic high school in Chicago.
Barbie (2023) is known by many due to its uniqueness, particularly when it comes to color pallette. With its trademark pink, it creates a fantasy world with a much darker twist. Junior Mateo Rimando liked how “it captured real life scenarios.” Junior Ferrill Kelley really enjoyed the Barbie movie and can agree with Rimando when she said that she “really liked the story and the cross between the Barbie world and our world.” People were able to enjoy this movie because they were able to relate to it. Junior Katherine Tentler said that she “liked Barbie more than Oppenheimer because I was able to relate to it more as woman on an emotional level”
Despite the pastel world it depicted, the film itself proved to be significantly more controversial than expected. Emphasis on deeper themes based on current issues in our world such as sexism, gender roles, stereotypes, and the patriarchy took some viewers by surprise. Many moviegoers were excited to view the film due to the impact that Barbie had on them while they were growing up. “The Barbie Movie is nostalgic for me,” says junior Christiana Galiano. Like Galiano, many students and viewers alike anticipated that the movie would be reminiscent of their childhood, as opposed to a high budget feminist film.
Although the heavier themes of sexism and the darkness of the corporate world came as a bit of a shock to some viewers, that didn’t necessarily mean that they disagreed with the message that Gerwig put in her film. “I feel like the political takes weren’t ‘too much’ and they just referenced what’s going on with gender roles/male privilege today,” says sophomore Harper Jordan. Jordan feels that Barbie is a beneficial work of criticism that addresses pressing issues within our society.
Although Barbie and Oppenheimer have many different themes and storylines, they share many similarities. They both have famous actors and directors and were able to draw the audiences’ attention. Junior Rachel Lipsitz enjoyed Oppenheimer better than Barbie because it had a lot more meaning to it and junior Manny French enjoyed it because of how there was less pink than the Barbie movie.
