2023-08-03 19:59:00
The hashtag “Barbenheimer”, contraction of Barbie and Oppenheimer, is growing on social networks. Which is not to the taste of the Japanese.
GA with AFP Movie Poster Oppenheimer.
Published on 08/03/2023 at 7:59 p.m.
A hashtag circulating on social networks that seems to lightly associate American blockbusters Barbie et Oppenheimer sparked outrage in Japan. This phenomenon, called “Barbenheimer”, a pun combining the names of the famous doll and the designer of the atomic bomb, appeared after the simultaneous release of the two films in many countries at the end of July. On social networks, Internet users were encouraged to view the two works one after the other.
But this “hashtag” was quickly accompanied by the appearance on the Internet of “memes”, graphic montages of sometimes dubious taste, showing for example the heroes of the film Barbie in front of a mushroom cloud, which provoked protests from Internet users, particularly in Japan, a country which suffered the consequences of nuclear weapons in 1945. A few days before the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which caused more than 210 000 deaths on August 6 and 9, 1945, the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer grew in protest.
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A growing controversy
The controversy went up a notch after the official American account of the film Barbie on Twitter (renamed “X”) appeared to encourage the Barbenheimer phenomenon by responding to one of the memes with these words: “This is going to be a memorable summer. The post, which appears to have since been deleted, even prompted an appalled comment from the Japanese division of Warner Bros., the film’s producer, on Monday. Barbie.
“We find the disregarding reaction extremely regrettable” from the official account of Barbiecan we read in this statement posted on the Japanese account of the film, adding: “We take this situation very seriously and demand an appropriate response from the American headquarters” of the studios.
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“How dare you (…) make fun of this unacceptable meme? “Replied in English under this message a Japanese Internet user, adding:” You should visit the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima and learn what happened there. It is one of the most serious crimes against humanity. “We Japanese will never forget that summer,” reacted another Internet user, attaching the photographs of burnt children’s clothes found in the rubble of the atomic bomb.
The film Barbie will be released in Japan on August 11. On the other hand, Oppenheimer does not yet have a release date in the archipelago, where Western films often arrive several months after their original release.
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