12 Comments

Point taken, Matt. I appreciate your follow-up, but I recommend amending the original post's title by removing the word "scandal.' I just don't see the "scandal" here and it is a very operative word in this context.

I am in complete agreement with your comments on the shallowness and callousness of the "Barbeneheimer" meme. I am a former US Navy officer and am vehemently against nuclear weapons and any trivialization of their use.

I remain a fan of your work and I hope you don't take my criticism of this post's title personally.

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Of the two July 21st releases, I didn’t think “Barbie” would be the more controversial in Japan. I was wondering if “Oppenheimer” was getting a release in Japan and how the movie would sell there. Not sure if you’ve seen it yet or not, Matt, but it handles Oppenheimer’s disgust in the aftermath and his regret of using it on civilian population well. I’m glad it also steers away from actually showing Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which I feel would cheapen the movie experience. Interested to see what Japanese audiences think of “Oppenheimer” once it’s available somehow there.

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This was an informative post. Since leaving social media for the most part, I hadn't heard about a backlash to the Barbenheimer phenomenon in Japan, but it does make sense, and I can see why the lack of critical thought from the movie's corporate backers would be met with anger.

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I’ve read your book, and listened to your podcast, and I guess I’m reading your Substack, and I do it for the observations, not the analysis. Your analysis always seems really verklempt (your discussion about population decline was... “lightly informed.” Maybe even read one article before you sound off on it).

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Thanks for reading! I'm not sure WHAT you're reading, as none of this seems to have anything do with this this post, but I'll take it!

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I was remembering some comments from eppie 4 of Pure Tokyoscope.

As far as this piece, I think you’re saying it’s bad for someone to include an atomic explosion in a Godzilla movie? They should have included 2 tiny little women singing to a moth to show the sobriety one needs to approach violence in a film?

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I would never ding a Godzilla flick for lack of seriousness, but lack of imagination is a fatal flaw. And that's what dropping a nuclear weapon on Godzilla is: unimaginative. It's also part of a pattern in Hollywood cinema, in which nukes are nothing more than convenient narrative devices.

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Ah I see you’re upset that Oppenheimer is about the invention of a convenient narrative device.

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LOL!

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(For the record I’m actually really looking forward to the film.)

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I always enjoy your writing and posts, but I have to disagree with you on this. I have lived in Japan for 35 years. My first eight years were in Nagasaki where my ex-wife, son, and grandson still live. Each August 9, we acknowledged the bombing and the reasons for it.

There is not a negative backlash to the Oppenheimer film by anyone that I know in the city. There is no need to exploit the feelings of Nagasaki citizens or your overseas audience in this way.

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I thank you for reading, but I think you are misreading my post. I don't describe any backlash directed at Oppenheimer as a film. (I quote: "The anger isn’t directed at the historical personage, the film, or even the fans who launched the Barbenheimer campaign.") Rather, it is backlash against the companies using nuclear imagery for the purpose of ginning up interest in an unrelated summer movie, in this case Barbie. I do think there is general resistance to portraying Oppenheimer as a tragic hero here. But that is a different thing than backlash. One can have an interest in the film while simultaneously objecting to the way in which Americans seem to be taking such glee in imagery of nuclear apocalypse.

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