Barbenheimer

Submission 22,617

Part of a series on Barbie vs. Oppenheimer. [View Related Entries]

About

Barbenheimer, also known as Barbie Heimer, is a portmanteau of the words "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" in reference to the 2023 movies Barbie and Oppenheimer, which were released on the same date (July 21st, 2023), causing a slew of Barbie vs. Oppenheimer memes that humorously combined the contrasting aesthetics and themes of both films. In turn, the word "Barbenheimer" spawned on social media and gained its own traction in memes and viral discourse, mostly in reference to the act of doing a double feature of both films. Many Barbenheimer memes and fan art used images that were both pink and black (correlating with the color palettes of both films), as well as images that involved both explosions and girly aesthetics.

Origin

On April 15th, 2022, Twitter^[1] user @NextBestPicture posted a quote retweet reading, "Barbenheimer." The tweet is the first-ever utterance of the portmanteau, and it gained over 350 likes in one year (shown below). It was stated in reference to a then-ongoing phenomenon in Hollywood in which actors were either being cast in Barbie or Oppenheimer at a rapid pace.^[2]

On April 26th, 2022, the Twitter^[3] account @filmupdates predominantly inspired the initial wave of Barbie vs. Oppenheimer memes with a tweet that gained roughly 32,100 likes in one year. In the replies, two Twitter^[4]^[5] users tweeted, "Barbenheimer."

Despite initial usage in 2022, the first-known post to use "Barbenheimer" and go viral was posted by Twitter^[6] user @davidehrlich on January 1st, 2023, who wrote, "7 months and 21 days until Barbenheimer," gaining roughly 4,300 likes in seven months (shown below).

Spread

Going into 2023, viral usage of "Barbenheimer" persisted on Twitter, predominantly surfacing closer to the films' premieres in June 2023. For instance, on June 1st, 2023, Twitter^[7] user @ianamurray used "barbenheimer" in a tweet that received roughly 13,400 likes in one month (shown below, left). On June 26th, 2023, Twitter^[8] user @ethannestor tweeted the Black and Pink Meme Houses with the caption, "Barbenheimer 2023," gaining roughly 17,500 likes in 16 days (shown below, right).

Due to the viral posts, many Twitter T-shirt Bot Accounts started to generate and post Barbenheimer t-shirts in the replies of viral tweets, resulting in some users buying them. For instance, on June 29th, 2023, Twitter^[9] user @falconsnat tweeted a photo of a t-shirt with a pink-colored explosion reading, "I survived Barbenheimer 2023," earning roughly 131,000 likes in 13 days (shown below).

In early July 2023, many Facebook^[10] and Instagram^[11] accounts started to post Barbenheimer fan art that combined images of Margot Robbie in Barbie and Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer, among other characters and actors, similar to the Barbie-Oppenheimer Splitscreen meme. For instance, the Facebook^[10] page Good Films Make Your Life Better reposted Barbenheimer art (originally made by Instagram^[12] user @justralphy), gaining roughly 62,000 reactions in one week (shown below, left).