What 'Barbenheimer' Tells Us About Us

"Barbie," "Oppenheimer," and why we shouldn't avert our eyes from Hiroshima.

Promo shots for the films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” (Warner Brothers, Universal)

TOKYO — America’s pathologies are, in my experience, more apparent (though no less troubling) from afar. The simultaneous release of the films “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” resulting in the distasteful but hardly surprising “Barbenheimer” meme is a case in point: America’s twin obsessions of how it looks in the mirror and how it’s remembered in the history books have collided head on, leaving a twisted mess of wreckage—however harmless at this point—revealing more about our culture and ourselves than we care to admit.

As someone who has yet to see either film, I’ll withhold judgment on the filmmakers’ vision and their success or failure in realizing it on the big screen. Like last year, I’m happy to report that I’m spending much of this summer in Japan visiting family, meaning my 11-year-old son’s grandparents and a whole host of welcoming uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, and neighbors.

These, it shoul…