Making Sense of Life – On the Philosophy of ‘Barbie’ & ‘Oppenheimer’
by Alex Billington
July 24, 2023
“The actual voyage of discovery consists not in in search of new lands however seeing with new eyes.” –Proust. Two of the very best motion pictures of 2023 at the moment are enjoying in theaters worldwide: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. Yep – they’re each excellent motion pictures deserving of all of the reward, each formidable and distinctive and inventive, each made by exceptionally proficient filmmakers who perceive the terrific energy of visible storytelling. They could differ in some ways, particularly in tone, however they’re really fairly related in lots of different methods. I’m in awe and delighted that we’ve two of essentially the most philosophical motion pictures I’ve seen in years, each massive price range studio tasks, each intellectually stimulating, displaying on massive screens and drawing massive crowds. That is an invigorating second for cinema that we should always relish. What I admire essentially the most is how a lot every movie depends on mental storytelling, with no want to pander to audiences or be accessible to everybody. There’s a lot to debate about every, and I need to dig into the philosophy current in each movies. To borrow a quote on Twitter: “It isn’t Barbie and Oppenheimer. It is Barbie, and it is Oppenheimer.”
I am elated these movies are rattling good and particularly so sensible. I’ve watched each Barbie and Oppenheimer twice already; the second viewing is a lot extra fascinating, as I can observe in nearer element all the things these filmmakers are doing and the way this works splendidly within the film. Mental filmmaking is moderately unusual nowadays and but we’ve two massive motion pictures pushing boundaries once more. Nolan’s Oppenheimer is not simply a narrative concerning the man who led the group that created the atomic bomb, it is concerning the ethical implications and existential struggles that include that. It is about how laborious it’s to deal with the guilt and unhappiness that comes with figuring out your creation killed so many individuals, then lead right into a world perpetually afraid of loss of life. Gerwig’s Barbie, alternatively, additionally offers with existential worries. What occurs if you exit into the “actual world” and be taught that who you might be, and the world you come from, should not really consultant of the actual world. It was only a utopian fantasy, and the true world is far more sexist and grasping and careless. Each movies ask related profound philosophical questions: what does it imply to be you, how do you make sense of your life, particularly in relation to how your life has impacted the world – in each good & unhealthy methods.
Watching Oppenheimer is like watching a horror film (although critics are arguing about whether or not it is horror or one thing else) – in some unspecified time in the future we understand this well-respected, optimistic scientist goes to come across among the darkest darkness ever when confronted with the horror of what he constructed – even with the context of stopping the opposite nice darkness threatening the world on the time. There are scenes within the second half that play like a psychological thriller, with visions of the lifeless showing, the room shaking violently, vibrant gentle taking on. Nolan has artfully visualized this remarkably hard-to-describe feeling of dread and guilt and loss of life. Oppenheimer is a biopic, it is not about what the bomb did, as a result of he desires to inform the story of this man and put us in his footwear. There are questions posed about whether or not he is actually a foul man, as a result of all he wished to do was save the world. There’s additionally questions on – as soon as you’ve got created this lethal gadget, what subsequent. How do you reply, how do you deal with it, how do you progress on, how do you even stay? Everybody is aware of Oppenheimer’s well-known quotes borrowed from the Bhagavad Gita, and the movie reveals us that he handled frighteningly existential dilemmas: is he loss of life? Is he now the destroyer of worlds? What has he finished?
Among the best evaluation I’ve learn is an examination of ending of Oppenheimer written by my colleague Bilge Ebiri for Vulture. In his evaluation, he connects the opening photographs and ending photographs of the movie and goes on to elucidate how it’s a intelligent visible metaphor for Oppie’s obsession with a scientific understanding of the world. Ebiri factors out how the ripples that he sees within the pond mirror the circles being drawn on maps on the finish of the movie, measuring the dimensions of nuclear explosions atop cities in Russia (and elsewhere). The movie’s editor, Jennifer Lame, explains: “Science to him is magnificence and artwork and poetry. It simply makes the film a lot extra devastating on the finish.” After occurring this three hours journey with Oppie, he realizes his fascination with science and information concerning the universe we all exist in has crossed over into the “actual world” with devastating penalties. Maybe he does not understand it but, at that time, however humanity is perpetually modified. He’s accountable, in idea, however we will not blame him (alone) nor can we blame his fascination with science. There are, after all, different conversations on the inevitability of atomic weapons – if it wasn’t Oppenheimer, somebody else would’ve discovered the right way to use fission for a bomb. His article ends with a potent realization:
“Nolan’s closing photographs do function a warning and a portent of doom, and they’re enormously shifting as such. However they’re additionally one last glimpse into this character, revealing that in his thoughts at the very least, he has destroyed the world: He has destroyed his world, his very conception of actuality. The place as soon as he noticed the astonishing connections that lay on the coronary heart of all matter and even human relations, now he sees solely horror and hearth, of the damaging energy that lies beneath the form of all issues.” Through Vulture
It is an intricately complicated movie that asks – is one man actually, solely answerable for what he makes if others misuse our creations in nefarious methods, particularly when it’s merely unlocking the scientific secrets and techniques of our universe? Oppenheimer hits laborious with this profound, overwhelming realization. It is a grand examination of a life – that is additionally an examination of humanity, of our actual world, of males and warfare and the ability they crave.
Barbie really digs a lot deeper into the philosophy of which means and existence than Oppenheimer (unusual, however true). It borrows from the Pinocchio story of an ideal, plastic girl who enters the true world and discovers what it means to be a “actual” girl. Not simply an ideal Barbie. One of the stunning scenes is when she first has a second to herself in the true world: she’s sitting on the bench and out of the blue breathes and takes on the earth round her. She seems to be on the timber and sky, and notices each happiness and unhappiness, and the anger and melancholy and pleasure throughout her. She sees children enjoying, a pair arguing, completely happy and unhappy folks and realizes that is the grand, magical complexity of life. It’s all the things unexpectedly. It is a visceral and visually beautiful second of existential readability. Afterward she actually meets her creator, and should confront the very concept of what it means to be Barbie and if she is free to be herself and stay on this “actual world” in the way in which she desires to stay. She does not even know what that’s precisely, she’s on the highway to figuring that out. All of that is performed towards the eye-opening, Plato’s cave expertise of stepping out of Barbie Land for the primary time and realizing the world is not this idealistic, shiny, pink actuality. That is as shut as film can get to The Matrix narrative of “free your thoughts” and, as she does, escape into the true world for a “voyage of discovery”.
They even point out Proust Barbie at one level. (And there is discuss of philosophy books on Oppie’s cabinets in a single scene as nicely.) Barbie’s final thesis is that this query of who she is, how does she navigate and exist on the earth, how her experiences and her understanding of the world adjustments who she is as an individual. Ruth Handler, the unique Mattel creator of the Barbie Doll, explains to her that the concept of Barbie can be extra necessary that the precise excellent definition of or picture of Barbie, that’s what actually issues. It is nearly a direct reference to V for Vendetta, and V’s empowering speech that “beneath this masks there’s an concept, Mr. Creedy, and concepts are bulletproof” – concepts can transcend an individual, concepts stay past a person individual, or a person Barbie. That is one thing profound she should cope with as nicely… Has the “concept” of Barbie she embodies change into poisonous, extra dangerous to the world than useful? How can she free herself from that, confront the patriarchy, and re-establish an concept that actually represents how empowering she feels. It is bizarre that an costly Barbie film made by Mattel dares to dip into this sort of philosophical dialogue, however that is a part of the genius of this film. It is what makes these two Hollywood motion pictures invigorating, so thrilling, as a result of they each dare to be intellectually provocative when so few modern Hollywood motion pictures are…
It is no coincidence that each movies function their foremost characters having psychological breakdowns, making an attempt to determine who they’re and what their place is in a world. The parallels are fascinating, in that they are so totally different but so related of their exploration of existence and which means and the way one individual (and even one concept) can have have an awesome influence on humanity and on our “actual world”. Did Barbie change the world for the more severe? Is she really a dangerous illustration of poisonous feminism? Did Oppenheimer change for the world for the more severe? Is he really a dangerous illustration of harmful science? Fortunately each filmmakers are proficient and clever sufficient to not present one clear, definitive reply to those sort of questions – each motion pictures are an exploration of concepts; conversation-starters, thought-provoking artistic endeavors. Barbie, although it’s pink and shiny and vibrant and enjoyable, can be inspecting the identical darker sides of the world as Oppenheimer. “Is one girl actually, solely answerable for what she [causes] if others misuse our creations in nefarious methods…?” Humorous sufficient, referencing what I wrote earlier about Oppenheimer, Barbie is additionally “a grand examination of a life – that is additionally an examination of humanity, of our actual world, of males and warfare and the ability they crave.”
As a lover of philosophy, of huge concepts and large considering, and of cinema that may make marvel about all these massive concepts, I’m delighted that these two motion pictures are so profound and stirring and profitable. The cliche concept of what “going to the films” means has been getting louder & louder in these previous few years: “shut off your mind and simply take pleasure in it,” they like to say. Nonetheless, actual cinema, actual clever storytelling, is about turning on your mind. It has the ability to make you suppose, even make you re-examine your life, your selections, your identification. And perhaps, simply perhaps, it could make you query who you might be. As soon as once more, there’s an ideal Proust quote for this: “If just a little dreaming is harmful, the treatment for it’s not to dream much less, however to dream extra, to dream on a regular basis.” A rejuvenating reminder that motion pictures can do that. Considered one of my favourite strains in Barbie is close to the top when she’s speaking with Ruth. She explains, perhaps the issues that you just suppose make you you, should not really the issues that make you you. All of us have to cease & take into consideration this, course of this conundrum, to really perceive ourselves and perceive what makes us us, what defines humanity. We have to determine whether or not we actually need to make the world a greater place, or if all of us simply need extra energy and/or perfection.