Why are more people watching ”Barbie” than "Oppenheimer"?

 

Read the following article and answer the question.

 

Realism with “Oppenheimer”, or escapism with “Barbie”?

What the fortunes of this summer’s blockbusters will reveal about our times

https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/07/14/realism-with-oppenheimer-or-escapism-with-barbie

Question: Do you agree with the writer that more people watch “Barbie” than “Oppenheimer” because they want to escape from reality?

 

                                                                                            

                                                                                            

                                                                                             

                                                                                            

                                                                                            

                                                                                            

                                                                                             

                                                                                            

 

 

 

 

Answer Key: It is exhausting to live in today’s world, especially with the impacts of climate change and nuclear threats, but I cannot totally agree with the writer that escapism is sending people to “Barbie” rather than to “Oppenheimer”. One reason is propaganda. No enough education about the horror of nuclear weapons is done, although improvement has been seen recently. Even in Japan, there are people who have not seen the photos of the victims or believe that the bombs were dropped only to end war earlier. The school board in Hiroshima removed a classic A-bomb manga “Barefoot Gen” from grade school textbooks, and Hiroshima G7 summit disappointed hibakusha and those involved in disarmament by accepting the deterrent theory, which logically never eliminates atomic weapons. Moreover, America has recently made a policy change to possess nukes to use them rather than for deterrence. These government policies and propaganda are making people unaware of the gravity of the issue and not seriously interested in the story of the scientist who regrets making the weapon of mass destruction. In fact, “Oppenheimer” has not even hit the screen yet in Japan as of September, 2023. Another reason is that “Barbie” is actually a very good film and is far from escapism. Certainly, it is full of marvelous and pleasant graphics that entertain the audience just like all the great films in the past did. But it is also a ground-breaking satire of patriarchy, capitalism, and more. It not only censures this male-oriented society but also presents an existential question if it is good for women to live with the incomplete realization of feminism, which is Barbie Land, ignoring the facts of life. It makes women, especially young women, think about how they should live humanly in this inhumane world and men reflect on the problems of themselves and this world. After all, the man problem is more real than nuclear disaster to most people, so they are rightly reacting to these two films, and dismissing “Barbie” as an escapism could be part of propaganda to keep the status quo.

 

Reference: “Barbie” will change our awareness about ourselves and the world. Boys must go see it if they want girls to like them. It relentlessly satirizes the shortcomings of men like childishness, narcissism, excessive masculinity, desire for dominance, dependent mentality, ego, misogyny, violence, and contentment with patriarchy, but with humor and in style, which makes women laugh out loud, transcending their bags of spite towards men, and men realize these shortcomings of theirs. The movie also satirizes a trap that independent single women fall into by showing unrealistic Barbie Land, or female-dominated world, which is seemingly a women’s utopia but actually a totalitarian dystopia controlled by lookism, capitalism, consumerism, and fascism. Moreover, this movie gives girls and young women a guideline on how to live as a woman in today’s world. In the beginning of the plot, little girls go through the dawn of woman and change from a baby feeder into a woman by destroying their babydolls after seeing a Barbie doll as an icon of a fashionable, independent young adult woman, completely in sync with the famous scene “ The Dawn of Man” in the classic “2001: A Space Odyssey”, but in the end a stereotypical Barbie doll chooses to leave Barbie Land and live as a human for the sweet pain and joy of motherhood and the true beauty of womanhood even though she is informed of the oppression of women in the patriarchal real world, being free from the feminism mantra and reactionism. This thread―a doll gets heart and becomes a human woman―is woven into radical satire of patriarchy and feminism and perfect parodies to make both men and women see themselves from a viewpoint above themselves for reflection and real feminism. Therefore, “Barbie” is be one of the most influential movies.