Has the Barbenheimer phenomenon gone too far? In Japan, voices are raised against the hijackings made by fans, deeming these reactions offensive because of the sensitivity of the subject in the Land of the Rising Sun.
UPDATE AS OF AUGUST 2: The Warner Bros studio. US, which distributes Barbie, responded to criticism of the phenomenon Barbenheimer via a press release.
“Warner Brothers regrets the recent disrespectful and callous social media phenomenon. The studio sincerely apologizes.” The offending tweets have also been deleted.
FACTS :
Oppenheimer and Barbie, released in theaters on July 19, have become the cinema phenomena of the summer. The two feature films are a hit internationally, the first having so far collected 405 million dollars and the second 780 million.
However, one country resists “Barbenheimer-mania”. Japan. For obvious reasons [l’œuvre évoque les bombes atomiques larguées sur Hiroshima et Nagasaki en 1945]the film by Christopher Nolan does not yet have a release date in Japan.
Indeed, the subject is extremely delicate in the Land of the Rising Sun. No release date has therefore been set and the trailer for the film with Japanese subtitles has not been made public either.
Speculation is rife that distributors don’t want to get involved in political controversy, or at least decide on a date as the anniversaries of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings approach, which took place on August 6 and 9, 1945.
However, a controversy still erupted in Japan due to the Barbenheimer effect. Some fans have fun recreating posters mixing the two blockbusters of this summer, Barbie and Oppenheimer. According to Newsweeka diversion particularly shocked the Japanese.
On a fan poster made by a certain Steve Reeves, we can see Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, sitting on the shoulders of Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy). In the background, we can see the atomic fire.
The official American Barbie account retweeted this poster along with the comment “It’s going to be an unforgettable summer.” This angered Japanese Internet users, who did not fail to show their indignation on social networks, deploring a lack of sensitivity.
Twitter user Karafune said in a post viewed over 300,000 times: “I absolutely cannot condone the joking posting of tweets that make fun of the atomic bombing that killed so many people in Japan. I strongly demand that the affected tweets be taken down and deleted immediately.”
The “bad buzz” went so viral that Warner Bros. Japan was forced to apologize. The official Barbie in the Land of the Rising Sun Twitter also apologized, calling the reaction of the American account “regrettable”, inviting Warner Bros. US to take action against this “series of inconsiderate reactions.”
If Oppenheimer has not yet obtained a release date in Japan, Barbie will land on August 11 in the Land of the Rising Sun. As a reminder, in France, Barbie has already attracted 1.6 million spectators. As for Oppenheimer, he gathered 1.1 million curious people.