Yesterday was the 78th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This is usually a solemn time for Japan to reflect on its past and express its desire to remain a peaceful nation. But this year there’s been a major controversy on the Twitter X social media platform. That’s because of “Barbenheimer” memes making light of the tragedy. Keep reading to learn more!
Why is Japan Angry at The Official Barbie Twitter Account?
Ever since it was announced that the Barbie Movie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer biopic were going to be released on the same weekend, the Internet has been having fun creating memes about “Barbenheimer.” These typically highlight the gap between the perfect, plastic world that the Barbie film depicts, and the horrifying reality of what the atomic bomb has represented since its creation in 1945.
But while making memes on the Internet is usually harmless fun, this was decidedly not the case when the official @barbiethemovie account got in on the action, quote-retweeting several memes. This caused a firestorm across Japanese Twitter as users reacted to this inappropriateness.
Warner Bros. Japan issued an apology to fans, but the reaction on Twitter has been ongoing under the hashtag #NoBarbenheimer. There has been no mention of the issue from the official Barbie movie account other than deleting the offending Tweets.
The Barbie Movie opens in Japan on August 11, while Oppenheimer has no release date set yet. But given the close association between the two films on social media, releasing Barbie in the month of August was clearly a Really Bad Idea. It would have made much more sense to bump the film’s release in Japan for a few months to avoid touching a cultural nerve.
Is Japan going to ban the Oppenheimer film? Of course not. Unlike China, Japan doesn’t use its citizens’ love of going to the movies as a weapon to force companies to draw maps a certain way or reflect its preferred political messages. The Oppenheimer film will probably debut in a few months unless Universal (who makes big bucks in their theme parks here) decides to skip a theatrical release altogether.
Japan’s Reaction to Barbenheimer Has Been Interesting to See
I’ve lived in Japan for 30+ years, and I’ve naturally had many interesting discussions with Japanese people on many topics. But with the exception of one drunk farmer I talked with in rural Toyama Prefecture, who asked me, “Why did big, strong America beat up on little Japan during WWII?” the only emotion Japanese people have expressed to me about the war has just been shikata ga nai (“it can’t be helped”).
This word is a powerful mantra that can seemingly allow anyone to be stoic about any bad situation. Are there major social problems that we don’t know how to solve? Shikata ga nai. What does Japan think about the internment of Japanese and Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor in the U.S.? Or the two atomic bombings? Sensou dakara, shikata ga nai. (“It was wartime, so it can’t be helped.”) I’ve never heard a nuanced opinion on any war-related subject from a Japanese person, likely because these aren’t topics discussed with Americans.
So to read so many detailed responses representing how Japanese people feel about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki against the backdrop of the Barbie scandal has been very interesting to me.
What Did Japanese Twitter Users Say About Barbenheimer Memes?
The official Barbie account is getting flamed for tweeting an image of Barbie using the atomic bomb mushroom cloud as a wig… These bombs killed 140,000 people in Hiroshima and 70,000 in Nagasaki. Many suffered from the aftereffects, and many children were orphaned.
This is not an Internet gag.
If we allow this kind of humor, even something as serious as the A-bombs that were dropped on civilians will be trivialized. (Tweet link.)
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9. The majority in the U.S. is of the opinion that the atomic bombings were necessary. Things like the Barbie fiasco have happened before and will happen again. We need to protest (boycott) loudly every time this happens.
At the same time, we must not forget that Japan was also an aggressor in the war. (Tweet link.)
It feels like the Barbie film was happy with making a mockery of an event that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. I think this clearly crosses a line that should not be crossed, especially in these days when the importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance is very clear. What was the point of having various heads of state attend the Hiroshima G7 summit? #NoBarbenheimer (Tweet link.)
Related to the recent “Barbie” firestorm, I don’t think the official account knew that the month of August and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were related. It may seem surprising, but just as the Japanese don’t know when International Holocaust Memorial Day is, foreigners don’t necessarily know when the atomic bombs were dropped. (Tweet link.)
What’s Peter’s Take on the Barbenheimer Issue?
This has been an interesting situation. I hope it will encourage us all to have more empathy for people on the other side of a historical issue going forward.
The Barbenheimer situation feels similar to the time Sony dressed members of the Keyakizaka46 idol group in military uniforms that were a bit too similar to Nazi uniforms from WWII. From the context of Japan, especially a Japan that’s been fortunate to experience 75+ years of peace, these uniforms are kakko ii (cool, good style) and aren’t necessarily connected to history. Of course, this isn’t the case for much of the world, and Sony had to issue an apology.
Thanks for reading this blog post exploring Japan’s reaction to the “Barbenheimer” memes made on social media. What’s your take on this subject? Tell us below!
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