She’s Everything. He’s Death, the destroyer of worlds. She’s Mattel. He’s the Manhattan Project.
Directors Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach’s summer blockbuster Barbie (2023) is set to open in theaters on July 21, the same day as Christopher Nolan’s long-anticipated film Oppenheimer (2023), a movie about the development of the atomic bomb. Many theaters across the country are screening these polar opposite movies back-to-back, and the notion of a double feature has the internet in absolute shambles. So what better way to cope than with a deluge of absurdly dark memes?
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In the weeks leading up to the dual blockbuster opening, people are preparing for the emotional wreckage that will undoubtedly besiege them from the confluence of these films. Notably, Christopher Nolan told Wired reporters that some early viewers of Oppenheimer (2023) “left the movie absolutely devastated,” which is, you know, super uplifting to hear.
Those who are seeing Oppenheimer (2023) before Barbie (2023) are calling the mash-up “Oppenbarbie,” and those who are wrong and seeing the films in the reverse order are calling it “Barbieheimer.”
Like many others on the internet, I have strong opinions about how theatergoers should spend the day. The following meme is giving “No sleep. Bus. Club. Another club. Another club. Plane. Next place. No sleep”:
The pairing of the two films has led some to make interesting observations of real-world phenomena that could fit the Barbie-Oppenheimer theme — such as this pair of surreal houses:
… Or this strange pink cloud that’s either another hazardous “gender reveal” or (hopefully) an incredible PR stunt by the Barbie (2023) marketing team:
Speaking of the Barbie (2023) marketing team, can we just take a moment to appreciate this bubble gum pink Xbox console? I, myself, was a Wii stan growing up, but even this video game set-up would have me begging my mom to drive me to the nearest Toys-R-Us. (RIP!)
Of course, this wouldn’t be a proper meme round-up if I didn’t include this spot-on Sopranos reference:
If New Jersey Italian mafia jokes aren’t your thing, perhaps this Avril Lavigne meme is. Can I make it any more obvious?
But whether you decide to see Barbie (2023) then Oppenheimer (2023), or Oppenheimer (2023) then Barbie (2023), just remember that David Lynch did it first.
If you can barely wait to sit through a three-hour movie about the atomic bomb, and then a two-hour movie about Barbie in the real world, you’ll be happy to know that tickets to see both films in theaters are already available online. Happy watching, and good luck!
Source: Hyperallergic.com