'Barbenheimer'—can we just admit that we're ready for double features again?
The fun pop culture phenomenon is clearly fulfilling a deeper need.
According to the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), more than 200,000 moviegoers will attend same-day viewings of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” across theaters in North America this weekend.
There are several reasons contributing to this cultural phenomenon. For one thing, viewers are pretty much guaranteed to not get bored. Whether you choose to wash down Christopher Nolan’s darkly captivating biopic with Greta Gerwig’s all-pink meta fever dream, or reverse that order, you’ll go on a cinematic ride.
Plus, the aggressive marketing of both films, the memes that have taken over the internet and the fact that there’s an opportunity for costumes has transformed the twin debut from a movie premiere into a bona fide moment viewers can get creative participating in, adding more to the thrill of it all.
And while Barbenheimer’s popularity might appear to be a lightning in a bottle situation, maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s something we’ve been collectively yearning for for quite a while.
Double features first made their debut in the 1930s to counter the box-office slump of the Depression-era. Theaters attempted to attract financially strapped moviegoers with all kinds of gimmicks like trivia, bingo nights and special giveaways, but ultimately it was two tickets for the price of one that got people into seats.
Should we bring back drive-ins while we're at it?
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Those going to a double feature would start off the night seeing trailers, news, a cartoon or short film, then a big-budget A-film followed by a low-budget B-film. Again, guaranteed variety.
Eventually, double features became too complicated to pull off—it was hard to create a lineup that pleased a wide audience, not to mention there were ever-evolving legal woes with distribution rights—and by the 1960s, they were already part of a bygone era.
That said, there have since been some epic double features that made box office history, such as “Elf” and “Love Actually” during the holiday season of 2003, “10 Things I Hate About You” and “The Matrix” and the ultimate prelude to Barbenheimer: “Dark Knight” and “Mama Mia.”
Mamma Mia and The Dark Knight (July 18th, 2008) pic.twitter.com/8exLLzj4cN
— POP CULTURE (@notgwendalupe) July 14, 2023
This doesn’t take into account all the times you might have snuck into a neighboring theater as a kid to enjoy your own customized double viewing experience.
All this to say: Even in a world (and yes, please imagine this sentence being read by Don LaFontaine) where it’s so much easier to stay at home to stream a film, moments like Barbenheimer, and all the other modern-day double features mentioned, still bring people to the theater.
Why? Because they remind us what makes moviegoing so magical in the first place.
The sensation of being in a packed theater with other friends, new and old, each buzzing with excitement. Feasting on popcorn and those “aha” moments that come from seeing two entirely different stories. Going through a quick costume change to stay within the movie theme. Gathering afterwards to dish on which flick was everyone’s favorite. Being so tired at work the next day but regretting nothing. These are experiences that can’t be duplicated through social media.
It seems clear that people are not tired of theaters but of mediocrity. What we are wanting instead is originality, novelty, an escape from reality and real connection. If an afternoon of period dramas and fantasy comedies can help with this, why not have more of these opportunities?
Men try to read the most disturbing comments women get online back to them.
If you wouldn't say it to their faces, don't type it.
This isn’t comfortable to talk about.
Trigger warning for discussion of sexual assault and violence.
A recent video by Just Not Sports took two prominent female sportswriters and had regular guys* read the awful abuse they receive online aloud.
Sportswriters Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro sat by as men read some of the most vile tweets they receive on a daily basis. See how long you can last watching it.
*(Note: The men reading them did not write these comments; they're just being helpful volunteers to prove a point.)
It starts out kind of jokey but eventually devolves into messages like this:
Awful.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
These types of messages come in response to one thing: The women were doing their jobs.
Those wishes that DiCaro would die by hockey stick and get raped? Those were the result of her simply reporting on the National Hockey League's most disturbing ordeal: the Patrick Kane rape case, in which one of the league's top players was accused of rape.
DiCaro wasn't writing opinion pieces. She was simply reporting things like what the police said, statements from lawyers, and just general everyday work reporters do. In response, she received a deluge of death threats. Her male colleagues didn't receive nearly the same amount of abuse.
It got to the point where she and her employer thought it best to stay home for a day or two for her own physical safety.
The men in the video seemed absolutely shocked that real live human beings would attack someone simply for doing their jobs.
Not saying it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Most found themselves speechless or, at very least, struggling to read the words being presented.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
Think this is all just anecdotal? There's evidence to the contrary.
The Guardian did a study to find out how bad this problem really is.
They did a study of over 70 million comments that have been posted on their site since 2006. They counted how many comments that violated their comment policy were blocked.
The stats were staggering.
From their comprehensive and disturbing article:
If you can’t say it to their face... don’t type it.
All images and GIFs from Just Not Sports/YouTube.
So what can people do about this kind of harassment once they know it exists?
There are no easy answers. But the more people who know this behavior exists, the more people there will be to tell others it's not OK to talk to anyone like that.
Watch the whole video below:
.This article originally appeared on 04.27.16