Japan refuses to co-market Barbie and Oppenheimer together over Nolan's depiction of nuclear war
Barbenheimer is not a success in China.
Barbenheimer is not being celebrated in Japan. Warner Bros Japan has criticised what it called 'extremely regrettable' tweets shared by their US counterparts in a post. Turns out Japan, unlike the rest of the world, is not keen to hype both Barbie and Oppenheimer together.
There has been a growing backlash in Japan against the clubbing of the two films, While Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, is a satire of the iconic doll, Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer is a biopic on J Robert Oppenheimer,the scientist who created atomic bombs that the US dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.
A translation of the statement, which was posted on Japan’s Twitter account for the Barbie film, reads: “Because the movies Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released in the US on 21 July, there is currently a movement driven by overseas fans to watch them together (#Barbenheimer), but this is not an official movement. We find the reaction to this fan-driven movement from the official US account for the movie Barbie to be extremely regrettable. We take this very seriously and are asking the US head office to take appropriate action. We apologise to those offended by these inconsiderate actions.”
The simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer resulted in millions around the world seeing the two vastly different blockbusters as an ironic double bill termed as Barbenheimer.
On social media, users have been sharing memes and art combining the fun pink imagery of Barbie with mushroom clouds and fiery explosions in Oppenheimer.
#NoBarbenheimer trends in Japan
Japan is yet to see the two films. While Barbie is set to release on August 11, the release date of Oppenheimer in the country is not known. Some state that the film may not get a release at all in the country.
The hashtag #NoBarbenheimer has been trending in Japan in the last week, with some social media users criticising the concept of Barbenheimer as trivialising nuclear weapons and the impact the bombings had on Japan, the only country to experience a nuclear attack.
One #nobarbenheimer post, reads, “The official Barbie movie account is completely on board with the atomic bomb and mushroom cloud memes, so Barbie is a no-go as well.”
Despite the sensitive subject matter, Japan often shows foreign films depicting the events of the second world war without backlash. But that has not been the case with Nolan's latest. Oppenheimer has been criticised for not showing the extent of the devastation wrought on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where estimates suggest thatup to 220,000 people died in the bombings and their aftermath.
