Over the summer, America witnessed a movie phenomenon. This revitalization of going to the theater was brought on by two smash hits, Greta Gerwigs’ Barbie, and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Both released on the same day, these movies engaged in a competition against each other, resulting in people picking sides and endless jokes in the media. 

One of the most appealing parts of the Barbie v. Oppenheimer discourse are the movies’ starkly different aesthetics and story. People engaged in back to back viewings of them, and often chose sides as to which film they felt resonated with them more, adding to the cultural spectacle of it. 

Because of the feature films’ fun competition, I decided to survey students and get their opinions on the movies, and find out how close they really are in popularity. 

It turned out that roughly 52% were team Barbie, and 47% were team Oppenheimer. While the results were very close, Barbie still took the win. It’s also to note that nearly no student was opinionless, showing the respective cultural impact of the movies. 

Team Barbie cited the movie’s fun attitude and relevance as reasons for their choice. Savannah Page said, “It reminds me of childhood.” pointing out the relevance of Barbie to kids everywhere. 

One of the most important parts of Barbie though is its reflection of the female experience. Analise Astflak said, “I liked the showcasing of women.” 

For team Oppenheimer though, the appeal of the movie was based in its drama. Student Rodney Patterson said, “It sounds cooler.” 

A lot of kids liked Oppenheimer more because of its complex plot, “I love the history side of it,” Kiera King said. 

Some student’s reasons were a lot simpler though. Most succinctly, Kush Patel said “Kaboom”. 

The polling shows the movies’ closeness in popularity, and their combined cultural effects. We’ve really gotten lucky with a great year of blockbusters, and it’s been very enjoyable to witness both films’ meteoric rise.