The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper The Spokesman-Review
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
Current Temperature
54°F
Current Conditions
Clear sky
View complete weather report

Color Scheme

Subscribe now

Warner Bros. got in on Barbenheimer memes. It was no joke in Japan.

Films “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” opened in U.S. theaters on July 21. After participating in the “Barbenheimer” meme culture online, Warner Bros. Entertainment, the company that produced “Barbie,” has released an apology to Japan, the nation that suffered two atomic blasts during World War II. “Oppenheimer” follows the story of the man who led the team in inventing the atomic bomb. (Universal Pictures and Warner Bros.)
By Annabelle Timsit and Julia Mio Inuma Washington Post

Warner Bros., riding high on the box-office success of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” has become embroiled in a controversy in Japan, after the U.S. entertainment studio interacted with social media posts overlaying Barbie with nuclear imagery from the movie “Oppenheimer” – prompting Warner Bros. Japan to issue a rare rebuke of its parent company.

“We consider it extremely regrettable that the official account of the American headquarters for the movie ‘Barbie’ reacted to the social media postings of ‘Barbenheimer’ fans,” Warner Bros. Japan said in a Monday statement posted on Twitter. “We apologize to those who were offended by this series of inconsiderate reactions,” it said, and asked Warner Bros. to “take appropriate action.”

The backlash came after a promotional Twitter account for “Barbie” in the United States cheerfully replied to fan-made art that featured Barbie in various settings inspired by atomic explosions, Nikkei Asia reported.

Many Japanese fans criticized the tweets as making light of the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945, which killed as many as 210,000 people by some estimates, forcing the Japanese to surrender to Allied forces during World War II. “Oppenheimer,” a biopic about the scientist who led the American effort to develop the atomic bomb, has not yet been released in Japan.

“Barbie” is scheduled for release in Japan on Aug. 11. The pairing of the two films has been nicknamed “Barbenheimer,” due to their shared release date in the United States, and the contrast in tone between the two films.

Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post early Tuesday. In a statement to Deadline late Monday, Warner Bros. Film Group said it “regrets its recent insensitive social media engagement” and offered “a sincere apology.” It said that “the offending tweets are being deleted.” The tweets no longer appeared to be available online on Tuesday.

According to Nikkei Asia, one of the images that sparked a backlash showed Cillian Murphy, who played J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Margot Robbie, who played Barbie, posing against the backdrop of what looked like a nuclear explosion. The “Barbie Movie” Twitter account replied, “It’s going to be a summer to remember,” with emoji of hearts and a face blowing a kiss, the outlet reported.

The outlet reported that in another exchange, a Twitter user posted an image of Robbie as Barbie with a mushroom cloud around her head instead of hair. “This Ken is a stylist,” the movie’s promotional account replied.

Japanese fans had for days tweeted their criticism of Warner Bros under the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer, with some calling for the release of “Barbie” to be canceled.

“Most of the 220,000 victims of the atomic bombings were civilians. It is not only inappropriate, but completely malicious. As a Japanese citizen, I demand that the movie “Barbie” be canceled from opening in Japan,” read one tweet that featured the hashtag.

“I don’t need to see Barbie anymore. … Even if I saw the movie, I don’t think I could fully enjoy it because the fact that they mocked the atomic bombing would remain in a corner of my mind the entire time I’m watching,” read another.

Public sentiment around the bombings in Japan – as well as in the United States – is complicated and changing. According to the Pew Research Center, surveys conducted since 1945 have shown that “Americans are less and less supportive of their use of atomic weapons, and the Japanese are more and more opposed.”

In a 2015 poll conducted by Japanese public broadcaster NHK, a sample of Japanese people over the age of 20 were asked how they felt about the bombings. When asked to choose between “can’t forgive even now” and “it was unavoidable,” 49% chose the former and 40% the latter.

Still, references, or perceived references, to the bombings in pop culture are often poorly received.

In 2015, Disney Japan apologized for and deleted a tweet, posted on the anniversary of the bombings, that featured a line from the movie “Alice in Wonderland,” “a very merry unbirthday to you.”

And in 2018, a Japanese television station canceled a scheduled performance of Korean pop band BTS after one of the band’s members was photographed wearing a T-shirt featuring a black-and-white photo of the bombing of Nagasaki, alongside a slogan about Korea independence from Japanese colonial rule following the end of World War II.

“Oppenheimer” has been criticized for not featuring the stories of those who suffered from the development of the atomic bomb – including Japanese people, and also residents of New Mexico who lived around the clandestine site where the bomb was tested on American soil, and who continue to suffer the health consequences of presumed radiation exposure decades later.

It is not the first time “Barbie” has encountered political trouble. As The Post has reported, Vietnam banned commercial screenings of the film last month because it features a map that appears to depict China’s disputed claims over a large swath of the South China Sea.