‘Which order do I watch Barbenheimer in?’ is the wrong question

Barbenheimer has become a cultural phenomenon. The tongue-in-cheek name social media granted to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s OppenheimerPeople have become more and more involved in the culture of the day they release their films. They create fake posters or real merchandise for the event, as well as memes.

A certifiable tens-of-thousands have bought two tickets back to back for their own. Barbie/Oppenheimer double features. But there’s been a weird sort of angst about the double feature online, with people asking social media outlets — or, according to Google Trends, asking search engines — what the proper Barbenheimer watch order is. Which comes first: the father of atomic weapons or the mom of fashion dolls?

Plenty of the people responding to the “Which order should I watch Barbenheimer in?” question online are exasperated that it’s even a question, but their “obvious answers” depend on their personal tastes. It’s possible that your mileage will also vary. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to navigate this. The important thing about Barbenheimer isn’t the watch order. It’s giving both movies enough space to breathe, and giving yourself a break between them.

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Everyone can easily do basic math. OppenheimerIt is a complicated, heavy film on the history of scientific advancement, the threat to mass destruction, as well as the certainty that somebody will weaponize each new discovery we make about the world we inhabit. Barbie is a cheeky satire that examines the conflicting cultural feelings we have about the world’s most famous doll brand, and what she represents. They go together surprisingly well, it turns out — they both explore culpability, whether one person can make a difference, and the heavy impossibility of fighting back against a rigged system. (They also both have a pretty clear throughline of “Wow, men suck.”)

If you keep this in mind, then you are able to decide whether or not you wish to conclude your Barbenheimer film on a dreary note or on an optimistic one. Similarly, if you desire to wrap up your double feature with a light or heavy note. Some will choose a happy ending with a note of optimism. Others will want to end with the more “serious” movie. Also, Oppenheimer is three hours long — some people might not want to do that one first, because of the risk that they won’t be up for Barbie afterward. The double-feature is an absolute bore .

So there is no “definitive” watch order. There are plenty of reasons to take a break in between films. Go get dinner. You can either talk about the movie you watched first, with your companions or just let it percolate inside you if you were alone.

The impression is that OppenheimerIt’s a mature movie. BarbieThese two movies have a great deal of film. They’re both deliberately packed with discussion topics, and they’re coming from filmmakers who clearly want viewers to think about and absorb their ideas. Oppenheimer is asking big questions about humanity’s capacity for self-destruction, and about the ways the urges to create, to understand, and to destroy are all connected. Barbie asks surprisingly similar questions to those raised by the movie about society’s structure and how humanity is bent on turning it all dystopic and dysfunctional. These are both discussion-worthy movies that weren’t made with the idea of people running out of them and straight into another movie.

And both of them take some digestion for reasons that don’t even relate to their big moral questions. They’re each designed to stun audiences, again in surprisingly similar ways. Gerwig’s movie is a gag-per-second roller coaster, an incredibly dense and fast-moving story peppered with multitasking-in-mind banter layered over visual gags layered over important plot movement.

Nolan’s movie, meanwhile, leaps back and forth in time, layering eras together to find a path through a story where the past, present, and future all affect each other. It’s a huge cast, but their names are very important. A man may have a brief scene within the first thirty minutes, only to reappear two hours later in an important role with minimal explanation. Both of these movies are a lot to take in, in the best way — and they both benefit from a little breathing room afterward.

You can ignore all the scolding from social media and pundits, and choose your own Barbenheimer experience. There is no right or wrong answer here, there’s just whatever’s going to give you the most filmgoing pleasure. You should also give yourself some time between each movie. They’re both better that way, and the larger Barbenheimer experience is, too.