Over the long summer, two long awaited movies aired. On July 21st, the Barbie Movie and Oppenheimer soared in popularity after opening in theatres. Due to the fact that most upcoming movies are catered towards the younger generation, many MRHS students went to see them over their summer break.
Barbie dolls are a classic. People’s childhoods were filled with either roleplaying with those dolls or dressing them up. Because Barbie dolls were around for such a long time, the movie’s announcement instantly sparked curiosity among many on what it would be about, while also gaining traction because it was just Barbie.
“It was very hyped, so I was kind of excited to watch it.” Sophomore Sumaylla Llivichuzcha-Loja said.
Barbie’s fame caused the movie to gain immediate attraction. And with new trends such as dressing in all pink to go watch the movie or seeing both Barbie and Oppenheimer back to back (a trend called Barbieheimer), the movie was an instant hit. Compared to what was expected though, sophomore Emauni Stokes was surprised by what the movie actually was about.
“I didn’t think it would be anything about feminism. I thought it was just about the dolls,” Stokes said.
After watching the movie, students had mixed opinions on the message but enjoyed the film as a whole.
“There should be more explanation for little children since if a little girl, not someone who understands that it’s about feminism, watches that, they’d be confused and hate all men. Although, the movie does convey that men have emotion and women should be represented,” Sophomore Rowah Abdelghani said.
Barbie was not just a sweet sitcom, it was heavy on the commentary on today’s societal views and had a clear message about feminism.
“I think the message of Barbie is feminism and women empowerment,” Stokes expressed.
Some people loved it and some people thought it was too extreme. The Barbie movie was meant to call out the pressure society puts on women, making it somewhat controversial to some people. In the end, to the students who watched it, it was a fun watch with an important underlying message.
Oppenheimer was another movie that was released on July 21st, having so much potential that it seemed to garner positive reviews from many. After watching the trailer, Llivichuzcha-Loja thought that Oppenheimer would be fun to watch.
“Based on what I heard, it was really good and historically accurate. The plot was also good; it wasn’t confusing,” Llivichuzcha-Loja said.
J. Robert Oppenheimer created the Atomic bomb. Because Oppenheimer was a retelling of this moment in history, a good quality of this movie was that it was easy to understand for those who aren’t familiar with the history of the atomic bomb.
“I didn’t have much background knowledge regarding the historical context of the movie, so I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to it in the way that others may have been,” junior Natalie Shin said.
Despite not knowing all that much about the Manhattan project and Oppenheimer’s involvement, Shin was convinced to watch the movie because of the content in the trailer. The movie was better than she had expected.
“I ended up enjoying it. I thought that the stylistic choices, in terms of the cinematography, were creative and well done.”
Originally, the movie Oppenheimer was hyped up, not only because of the interesting idea, but also because of the actors and directors.
“The acting was great, particularly Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt’s performances. I also liked Christopher Nolan’s choice to use black and white to convey the difference in the perspectives between Oppenheimer and Strauss.”
Christopher Nolan was also the director of the movies Interstellar and Inception, which are known to be incredible films.
Another well discussed topic about the movie is its moral themes. As shown in the trailer and the movie, the audience watches as Oppenheimer struggles with internal conflict once he realizes how dangerous the bomb could be. The students believed that the movie executed this theme well.
“It’s kind of interesting how Oppenheimer himself was struggling mentally throughout the movie,” Llivichuzcha-Loja said.
However, Natalie Shin does believe there could be a little change to the original movie.
“They did not show how the bomb impacted the actual victims… and maybe explored the moral implications of the bomb further.”
Other than these small critiques, Shin enjoyed the movie. Shin explained with a wonderful analogy the message of Oppenheimer, “It’s essentially a modern retelling of Pandora’s box.”
Despite Barbie selling the most tickets in the box office, both Barbie and Oppenheimer were well received by certain critics, the students of Marriotts Ridge.
With ever-rising trends and discussions on new cinema still circulating among the MRHS student community, this year of new movies will be one to remember.