A Piece of my Mind: “Barbenheimer” Bites
Two blockbuster movies provided conversation and impromptu personality tests this past summer. “Barbie” presented a world full of parties and pastels, with non-stop smiles, smashing costumes, almost all women slim and successful, and men relegated to the status of accessories. “Oppenheimer” presented a wartime world of dark suits and uniforms, almost all men brilliant and competent, and women relegated to the status of loyal housewives or untrustworthy temptresses. Reactions to the two movies contrasted as strongly as the movies themselves.
At a block party, I sat between two women and asked the innocent question: “Have you seen the ‘Barbie’ movie?”
The older woman with curly ash blonde hair on my right smiled broadly. “I saw it with some friends. We did the whole pink thing. I laughed all the way through it.”
The face of the younger Asian woman on my left twisted into a grimace. “Did you really? Some of it was funny, but that part about how hard it is to be a professional woman – I’ve been through all that. I’ve heard it all: ‘We need someone with more gravitas’ (Euphemism for ‘You look too young’). “You’re too aggressive/not aggressive enough (‘We don’t see a woman in this position.’). ‘We don’t feel you’d be a good fit.’ (‘You’re too Asian’). ‘We want someone who can grow with the company.’ (You’re too old.’) When the movie got to that section, I was crying. “
“Oppenheimer” also elicited very different reactions: “Oppenheimer wasn’t the greatest scientist, but he was an organizational genius.” “Oppenheimer was a martyr, a scientific genius sacrificed to the red-baiting right after some harmless flirtation with communism in the 30’s.” “Oppenheimer was so focused on solving the puzzle of how to construct an atomic bomb that he didn’t consider the human consequences. He left all of us in later generations to live under the constant threat of nuclear devastation. He had blinders on.”
When the men of “Barbie” stage a brief revolt, the women become arm candy and servants, but by the end of the movie the matriarchy is restored, together with the pastels, the sunshine, and the smiles. This world has all the substance and nutriment of Necco wafers and spun sugar.
The women of “Oppenheimer are seen only as frazzled housewives and overburdened secretaries, while the men wrestle with problems of domestic politics, national security, and the ongoing world war. Those of us who remember the “Duck and cover” drills of the Cold War decades have to wonder – would they have gotten better results with a bit less testosterone?
Can we strike a balance? Not a matriarchal world with the colors and substance of cotton candy, and not a patriarchal world of dark suits and uniforms and the threat of annihilation, but some blend of the strengths of each?
Allyson Johnson 