Savannah Sandhaus (284)

The only term that can be used to describe the film-frenzied 2023 season is “Block Buster Summer.” Two films released the same day, stuck out to movie-watchers—  Barbie and Oppenheimer, or “Barbenheimer”. Many saw both films on the same day– still dressed in pink while watching Oppenheimer split atoms.  As the credits rolled and dim lights rose viewers encountered a philosophical conundrum. The wonderfully talented director and writer, Greta Gerwig, captures how the perfect life of “Barbie”, portrayed by Australian actress Margot Robbie, is tainted when the plastic doll experiences raw and emotional human thoughts for the first time. In award-winning director, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, starring Irish actor Cillian Murphy, viewers were given the opportunity to understand Robert J. Oppenheimer’s unstable logic in making the first nuclear weapon.  

Students of Central hold strong opinions in regard to the purpose of these films. Barbie attempts to take a feminist perspective with the intent of critiquing the patriarchy. Iris McLeary, a member of the 284 class, believes the film did a good job of highlighting the societal categories women have been placed into. McLeary explains, “[s]ociety places women into the roles of mothers and wives and it can feel like your life will never be more than just filling that expectation. No matter if you are the daughter now, the way society sees it, one day you will become a mother. Even if a woman has great success in a career, her most important role is still the one that revolves around gender standards.” She believes through Gerwig’s portrayal of Barbie, the audience can gain a deeper understanding of the necessity of feminism in creating a just society. However, as the film communicated its feminist message through its satirized world, the critique is apparent that the movie was not, as McLeary put it, “the epitome of feminism” and was truly just a generalization of the fight for gender equality. 

Oppenheimer was a film, that despite its length, drew you in. Nate Johnstone (284) describes his experience as an avid film watcher, “it was a fantastic cast…it was so engaging the three hours practically flew by”. Johnstone believed every actor fulfilled their role perfectly, specifically mentioning the amazing job done by Robert Downey Jr.’s performance portraying Lewis Strauss, Oppenheimer’s foe. Johnstone went on to acknowledge that as Oppenheimer was caught up in his scientific breakthroughs, the scientist could not truly see nor fathom the monster he was actually creating. This “Dr. Frankenstein effect” Oppenheimer’s experiences leave the audience and “Oppy” questioning the morality of scientific exploration. 

Gathering the opinions of Central students who have watched both of these films, revealed a similarity between the two; their ability to create empathy  for the protagonist. Throughout both movies the protagonists, Barbie and Oppenheimer, went through a crisis  questioning their humanity. Barbie, on the one hand, addressed societal expectations for women, allowing the audience to resonate and relate the message to their own experiences. In Oppenheimer, after the bomb was dropped many students said that they empathized with the scientist, although they felt guilty as they knew Oppenheimer’s creation could not be justified. However, the film’s goal was to get the audience to question their morals. As Oppenheimer is the protagonist, we each sympathized with his character; specifically with his feelings of intense regret as he felt he was the one to blame as he had the “blood on his hands” of the victims. The audience could feel through the screen the diminishing guilt and in turn, felt bad for his character as we had grown to understand that his motives were not violent, but scientific. 

Ultimately, the collective enjoyment of the films ranges among the student population. But from many perspectives, Central students were satisfied with their movie-watching experience and both understood and resonated with the directors’ purpose behind the creation of each film.