Line #62 Memes/Oppenheimer


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6	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oppenheimermeme2.png]]
7	[[caption-width-right:350:[[UsefulNotes/RobertOppenheimer Oppenheimer]] if he had invented [[SugarWiki/TVTropesWillEnhanceYourLife something fun]] like Website/TVTropes]]
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12	{{Memetic Mutation}}s about 2023's ''Film/{{Oppenheimer}}''.
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15	* '''''"[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbenheimer Barbenheimer]]"''''' (or, alternatively "Barbieheimer") -- The film releasing on the same day as Creator/GretaGerwig's ''Film/{{Barbie\|2023}}'' with its own AllStarCast has led to many memes fusing the two films, fueled by the sheer force of {{Bathos}} from contrasting the very serious nature of Oppenheimer's invention of the nuclear bomb and ensuing moral dilemma against the whimsical and comedic nature of ''Barbie'' (and ''Oppenheimer''[='s=] dark and sometimes DeliberatelyMonochrome look vs the bright and predominantly {{pink\|Means Feminine}} look of ''Barbie''). See also [[Memes/Barbie2023 that film's meme page]].
16	** Not only does the film share a release date with ''Barbie'', but also with the release of ''Film/ShinKamenRider2023'' on Amazon Prime Video outside Japan and the release of ''VideoGame/Pikmin4'', evolving the meme into what's known as [[https://twitter.com/DeltaGod77/status/1678435355245318145?t=5thYfMXJNK_t7HZGI27irw&s=19 "Shin-barminheimer."]]
17	** People joking that choosing between either one is like "choosing between [[UsefulNotes/McDonalds the boys' Happy Meal and girls' Happy Meal]]." Many people have also responded to this by saying that they're [[TakeAThirdOption going to see both films]] as a DoubleFeature instead of choosing between either one.
18	** [[https://img.ifunny.co/images/64ccc5ea3b974a1dcb38626d34179d3312daf0088314bba5216b3e88b59c2f8d_1.jpg "Come on Bobby, let's go party."]]
19	** Jokes based around Creator/CillianMurphy's androgynous facial features, suggesting that Oppenheimer is actually a ButchLesbian who is in a MasculineFeminineGayCouple with Barbie.
20	** During weeks leading up to both films' release, people [[https://twitter.com/tedsbecca/status/1676722159849226240 poked]] [[https://twitter.com/renegadeapostle/status/1681902496145625088 fun]] on how ''Barbie'' went all-in for their marketing and promotions ranging from collaborations, worldwide installations, and merchandise while ''Oppenheimer'' only released photos of Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer, with people calling said photos as the only pieces of marketing that ''Oppenheimer'' gave out given the film's subject matter, the ReclusiveArtist reputation of Cillian Murphy, and his ''massive'' EstrogenBrigade.
21	** And now, [[https://youtu.be/pN2oQJYJJQQ both movies' trailers in the other's style.]]
22	** Barbie/Oppenheimer has also become a fairly popular CrossoverShip, though almost always taken as a joke, with works about it ranging from simple CrackFic to a full-blown existential romance between a normal human and a seemingly otherworldly humanoid being.
23	** As of November 2023, Charles Band of Creator/FullMoonFeatures [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/barbenheimer-low-budget-comedy-film-charles-band-1235636257/ is developing]] [[{{Defictionalization}} an actual film]] inspired by the ''Barbenheimer'' meme, about a scientist doll developing a nuclear weapon.
24	** In December 2023, Variety Magazine launched its annual Actors on Actors interview series, where paired-up actors from (usually) different projects have a mutual discussion about their admiration of each other and discuss their craft. Cillian Murphy, upon being invited to participate, immediately had his agent reach out to see if he could be paired with Margot Robbie. Not only did Variety and Robbie accept, but the accompanying video and photoshoot had Murphy in somber black and Robbie in eye-popping Barbie pink, [[AscendedMeme by their own personal choices]].
25	* Considering Creator/ChristopherNolan's love for PracticalEffects over CGI most of the time, jokes that he would use [[UsefulNotes/NuclearWeapons real atomic bomb explosions]] for this film are not uncommon but took off when Nolan announced he somehow recreated the first nuclear weapon detonation ''without using CGI'' for the film.
26	* The film has led to a glut of memes poking fun at Oppenheimer for being willing to invent a weapon of mass destruction seemingly without considering what it might be used for. Some of these jokes invoke DeliberateValuesDissonance by giving the project names like "Project Japslayer Megabomb" or "Japmelter 3000 Megaladon Ultrakill", and [[FailedASpotCheck having Oppenheimer express horror at it being used to kill Japanese people]].
27	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VgSyKl9vg0 "My le bomb..... le killed people!?!?"]] / [[Music/GangnamStyle OPPENHEIMER STYLE]][[labelnote:Explanation]]A quote from a Website/FourChan greentext which [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtbnbfbWIAA3_ab?format=png&name=orig approximated]] what a movie trailer for a schlockey comedy version of ''Oppenheimer'' would look like, among other things referencing "Music/GangnamStyle" (because of the "oppen" part of Oppenheimer's name sounding like part of the chorus of "Gangnam Style") and Webcomic/RageComics to jab at attempts by out-of-touch executives at being "hip." The inherent absurdity of the quote, as well as overlap with the above meme about Oppenheimer seemingly not knowing that bombs kill people, resulted in it becoming a popular subject for parody, rewriting it to fit a number of situations while preserving the Rage Comic-style writing (particularly the heavy use of "le").[[/labelnote]]
28	** [[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuEulLsXoAA7wXk.jpg "I thought we were building a rice cooker."]] [[CrossesTheLineTwice "You're technically right."]] [[labelnote:Explanation]]The original post from which the Oppenheimer Style greentext spawned from, which also found its way in the youtube adaptation of it.[[/labelnote]]
29	* The truly massive AllStarCast of the film has also led to jokes such as [[https://twitter.com/vvitchfilm/status/1509928569547354114 a tweet]] stating that if the film wins the Oscar for Best Picture, everyone in the audience would go onstage. Others have joked that this and the ''Barbie'' film are saving the film industry by employing as many actors as possible.
30	* The reveal of UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein's appearance as a character has led to some:
31	** With Christopher Nolan's propensity for practical effects and ''Discussing Film'''s failure to mention Creator/TomConti as Einstein's actor in a tweet, fans liked to joke that Nolan literally brought Einstein back to life to play himself in the film.
32	** People also began treating Einstein's appearance as something akin to a Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse cameo, as either a SequelHook to a larger SharedUniverse franchise of history's most renowned scientists or a live-action debut of an iconic but non-mainstream character that has science fans hyped.
33	* Ladies and gentlemen...[[https://www.reddit.com/r/moviescirclejerk/comments/142x8cw/whoppenheimer/ the Whoppenheimer]]. [[labelnote:Explanation]]A parody of the Burger King movie promotions showing a form of the Whopper with a PunnyName, with the intent of [[CrossesTheLineTwice crossing the line twice]].[[/labelnote]]
34	* Creator/JoshPeck getting a minor role has, of course, led to several ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'' references--most notably, his imagined comment on the shape of the "Gadget", a.k.a. the Trinity Atomic Bomb.
35	--> "''It's '''spherical!!'''''"
36	* When it was announced that ''Oppenheimer'' received an R rating in part due to sexual content and nudity, it led to many jokes about how Oppenheimer would actually somehow have sex with the atomic bomb and many bomb-related sex puns. It was later revealed that there would be a sex scene with Creator/CillianMurphy and Creator/FlorencePugh (who plays Oppenheimer's mistress Jean Tatlock) containing full nudity from both of them, leading to more jokes about how viewers would be able to see it in all its glory in IMAX 70mm or how Oppenheimer would have sex with Jean while inside the atomic bomb, as well as even more puns.
37	* Toho Studios announced the release of ''Film/GodzillaMinusOne'' a week and a half before the release of ''Oppenheimer''. The Big G's new film will be set in post-war Japan and deal heavily with nuclear weaponry. The "''Oppenheimer'' is a ''Godzilla'' prequel" jokes wrote themselves.
38	** A matched pair of edited posters for both movies (''Oppenheimer''[='=]s retitled ''Fuck Around'' and ''Godzilla''[='=]s retitled ''Find Out'') have been making the rounds.
39	** Ditto with a joke about ''Oppenheimer'' having a [[TheStinger post-credits scene]] of Godzilla rising from the ocean.
40	* The [[https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMDBmYTZjNjUtN2M1MS00MTQ2LTk2ODgtNzc2M2QyZGE5NTVjXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzAwMjU2MTY@._V1_.jpg main theatrical poster]], which features a behatted Oppenheimer intensely standing before his destructive creation, has been the basis for at least three kinds of jokes:
41	** The first is about how the poster looks more like a DarkerAndEdgier live action reboot of ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget''. It probably doesn't help that the WorkingTitle for the movie was already ''Gadget'' (the name of the bomb detonated during the Trinity test).
42	** The second is that it looks like a RightBehindMe scenario where Oppenheimer denounces the bomb as he expresses regret in creating it only to nervously say "I-it's right behind me isn't it?"
43	** The third is that it looks like [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure his Stand]].
44	* Creator/GaryOldman playing UsefulNotes/HarrySTruman in this movie along with UsefulNotes/WinstonChurchill in ''Film/DarkestHour'' has led to jokes about how he must play UsefulNotes/JosefStalin next to recreate the Potsdam Conference all by himself.
45	* Oppenheimer if he invented something fun like [x] [[labelnote:Explanation]]A common caption attached to an edited picture of Oppenheimer grinning happily, noting how he wouldn't have had to wrestle with the guilt of having invented the atomic bomb if he just invented a toy or a game or something instead.[[/labelnote]]
46	* In ''Film/{{Eternals}}'', Phastos [[ETGaveUsWifi gave humans the technology that led to the bomb's creation]]. This has led to fans jokingly wondering why he didn't get a cameo or saying how much he hates Oppenheimer.
47	* Some memes add a "[[TheStinger post-credits scene]]" to the film with [[Film/TheWolverine Wolverine withstanding the blast of Fat Man in Nagasaki]] on August 9, 1945.
48	* "Sex! I'm wanting more! Tell the world: stop the war!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]Soon after the film was released, American [=YouTuber=] and comedian Kyle Gordon released "Music/PlanetOfTheBass," a parody of 1990's Eurodance songs with [[WordSaladLyrics purposefully nonsensical lyrics]]. This particular line from the song is often jokingly attributed to the real Oppenheimer or to his portrayal in the film (similar to [[Memes/Morbius2022 "It's morbin' time!"]]), as it neatly encapsulates both his sexual escapades and hand-wringing over the use of nuclear weapons.[[/labelnote]]
49	* "Zoopers!" [[labelnote:Explanation]]A Creator/HannaBarbera-style [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxLSFgFpPsw cartoon parody of the film]] created by WebVideo/SolidJJ in which Oppenheimer [[ForcedMeme insists on using]] a [[Franchise/ScoobyDoo Velma Dinkley-esque]] exclamation of surprise has lead to an uptick in ironic usage by fans on Twitter.[[/labelnote]]
50	* The real Robert Oppenheimer was ''very'' thin (to the point of being underweight for basically his entire adult life), and while Cillian Murphy didn't drop all the way down to the physicist's dangerously low weight of roughly 120 pounds, he did [[DyeingForYourArt restrict his eating very severely while filming]] to give himself a similarly gaunt look. This, along with his 1940s-style baggy trousers, makes Murphy's waist look startlingly narrow at many points in the film (particularly when he's climbing the Trinity test tower), which in turn spawned several jokes about the desirability of an "Oppenheimer waist" (or, less politely, referring to his waist as "slutty"). One female viewer even commented that Murphy's waist in the tower-climbing scene gave her more anxiety about her own figure than anything in ''{{Film/Barbie\|2023}}'', despite the highly publicized fears from MoralGuardians in the lead-up to ''Barbie'''s release that it would renew the body image problems some women experienced from the social influence of Barbie dolls.
51	** During the movie's release, a new meme has been spawned: ''Oppenheimer'' ended up being the movie to [[https://twitter.com/WrittenByHanna/status/1682848211919069184 set unrealistic beauty standards]] instead of ''Barbie'', with audiences looking into using jade rollers or gua sha after seeing the movie in order to achieve Cillian Murphy's jawline, with people jokingly referring to the movie as "Buccal fat removal propaganda".
52	** This ended up spreading back to the real J. Robert Oppenheimer, with one tweet that jokingly called Murphy's waist in the film "serious historical revisionism"[[labelnote:Explanation]]parodying the real Oppenheimer's grandson Charles using that term to object to the depiction of his possibly imagined attempted poisoning of Patrick Blackett as fact[[/labelnote]] being "retracted" after the user found a photo of the real Oppenheimer looking similarly narrow: [[https://twitter.com/Showgirls_1995/status/1687218775697788929?s=20 "I was completely wrong, his slutty little waist was completely historically accurate. The real Oppenheimer’s waist may have been even sluttier, as a matter of fact."]]
53	* [[https://twitter.com/Senn_Spud/status/1556843411918901249?s=20 "Bobby Oppenheimer, get your country ass over here. My momma says you been in the city, inventing a bomb as big as a damn bus."]][[labelnote:Explanation]]A tweet by Will Sennett that eventually spawned a much longer video in the same vein, based around the incongruous recasting of Oppenheimer as a country boy returning to his hometown to reunite with unimpressed but good-natured hayseed friends.[[/labelnote]]
54	** This spawned a secondary meme where the original tweet was used to joke about [[https://twitter.com/AnythingBagel/status/1667906416911298561?s=20 baseball player Tyler Glasnow's uncanny resemblance to Cillian Murphy]].
55	** Due to long predating the movie, the "country ass" tweet became an unavoidable association for some Twitter users, leading to one to praise it by commenting [[https://twitter.com/BossMoz/status/1683052716606779393?s=20 "The biggest testament I can give to how engrossing Oppenheimer was is that for three hours, I didn't ONCE think about Bobby Oppenheimer's country ass."]]
56	* Lewis Strauss has become a Twitter meme in himself, usually as a way for the user to ironically acknowledge their own probably baseless paranoia that someone else is talking about them behind their back or to suggest a [[BestServedCold willingness to enact elaborate revenge over a slight]].
57	* Oppenheimer’s [[ThePornomancer remarkable sexual history]] is another popular Twitter meme subject, with a few variations:
58	** Jokes about his startling number of one night stands, often with married women, while he himself was also married, including the frequent suggestion that Los Alamos was really just a way to get other men to bring their wives along to a concentrated location so Oppenheimer could tryst with the wives in question.
59	** Expressing surprise that anyone as frail and in generally poor health as Oppenheimer was had the stamina to have so many affairs.
60	** Joking that Oppenheimer is very justified as a love interest in any SelfInsertFic, because of his aforementioned promiscuous infidelity making it unusually easy to imagine him having an affair with the author’s self-insert.
61	* The Oppenbronzer.[[labelnote:Explanation]]The makeup department used bronzer to emphasize Cillian Murphy’s cheekbones even further and make his skin look more weathered to create more of a resemblance to the real Oppenheimer, and many regular makeup users on Twitter began joking about its prominence once word got out that that was the product used for that effect. Entertainment journalist Hunter Harris even published an “interview” with the bronzer (with no explanation given as to how a makeup product could give an interview).[[/labelnote]]
62	* The final scene of the film, more specifically, [[https://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screen-Shot-2023-05-08-at-4.07.48-PM-copy.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200%2C675 this still image of Oppenheimer's look of paralyzed guilt and dismay]], has been used as shorthand for anyone who feels [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone extreme guilt as a result of a chain of unanticipated events they started that have spiralled out of control]], albeit much more benign ones than what's in the movie. Examples include users captioning the picture or using it as a reaction to starting memes they didn't intend (or watching the meme used by others they didn’t intend to use it), [[YouKeepUsingThatWord people who coined oft-misused terms]], attributing the expression to Creator/ChristopherNolan himself [[labelnote:Explanation]]usually reflecting on the impact and wild popularity of Film/TheDarkKnight leading to a saturation of superhero movies[[/labelnote]], and other figures of pop culture.
63	* Similarly to the above, using images of Oppenheimer being interrogated by Roger Robb at his security clearance renewal hearing has become a way of poking fun at feeling like one's embarrassing behavior or association with a group of people one doesn't want to be associated with is being dredged up (such as former Franchise/HarryPotter fans insisting they always preferred Literature/{{Percy Jackson\|AndTheOlympians}}). Some versions of the meme use an ordinary image of Robb looking suspicious (often, but not always, accompanied by an image of Oppenheimer looking vaguely uncomfortable on the stand), but more intense ones use the washed-out, distorted images from when Oppenheimer is so overwhelmed by being faced with the reminder of his lack of interest in preventing the bomb being dropped on Japanese civilians that he starts to vividly hallucinate the effects of the bomb in the interrogation room itself.
64	** Then, of course, there are the memes of Robb [[SeriousBusiness interrogating Oppenheimer about his involvement in creating Godzilla]] and other such inane questions.
65	* Einstein's bitter prediction to Oppenheimer (based on his own rejection and re-embrace by the scientific community) that one day the same people who disgraced Oppenheimer will want to reward him for his work, but only to make themselves feel better, has grown popular as a shorthand for recognizing similar disposal/re-embrace patterns in other fields (such as [[https://x.com/fiendformojitos/status/1697633680468959555?s=46&t=Ya28dCuMrNVqvQWWTs8NJA this tweet]] suggesting Creator/GeorgeLucas is the Einstein to Creator/RianJohnson's Oppenheimer).
66	* [[https://x.com/mannfacts/status/1683918393236152333?s=46&t=Ya28dCuMrNVqvQWWTs8NJA "I just know [General Groves] was demolishing chips and salsa at Los Alamos"]], a fairly simple joke about Groves as portrayed by Matt Damon looking like [[ShapedLikeItself a man who would really enjoy chips and salsa]], became a more general meme associated with the film (such as one Twitter user [[https://x.com/boyohwow/status/1700296435219005730?s=46&t=Ya28dCuMrNVqvQWWTs8NJA picking chips and salsa as a snack to accompany reading the screenplay]], or even suggesting that Creator/PaulNewman's Groves from ''Film/FatManAndLittleBoy'' would demolish [[https://x.com/oppietwt/status/1699629691617874002?s=46&t=Ya28dCuMrNVqvQWWTs8NJA Newman's Own brand chips and salsa]] instead).
67	* Related to the Barbenheimer MasculineFeminineGayCouple example above, there's a general meme about Oppenheimer (both as portrayed by Cillian Murphy and in RealLife) being a ButchLesbian (sometimes ''while'' still being acknowledged as a cisgender man). For bonus points, some iterations focus on his resemblance to Creator/AlisonBechdel.
68	* As with "Time" from ''{{Film/Inception}}'' and "No Time for Caution" from ''{{Film/Interstellar}}'', the track [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JZ-o3iAJv4&ab_channel=LudwigG%C3%B6ransson-Topic "Can You Hear the Music"]] has become a meme on [=TikTok=] and [=YouTube=]. It's used to demonstrate destruction and regret, usually [[MundaneMadeAwesome caused by something relatively mundane and minor]].
69	* Lewis Strauss's encounter with a dour Albert Einstein has been compared to, of all things, [[https://twitter.com/gummy_fang/status/1736823335835545911 a scene]] in ''Series/{{Euphoria}}'' involving Cassie and Nate for it's similar setup.

Context Memes / Oppenheimer