Warning: spoilers for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film.

Barbie is filled with references to quite a lot of Barbie dolls, each well-known and obscure variations of the well-known doll, however one particularly has caught the eye of viewers: the Proust Barbie, and right here’s its true story and connection to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Directed by Greta Gerwig, Barbie took the well-known Mattel doll and despatched her on a journey of self-discovery, although not with out some very actual commentary on numerous real-life points, reminiscent of patriarchy, gender inequality, and capitalism.

Barbie sees Stereotypical Barbie (Margot Robbie) undergo an existential disaster when her good life begins to vary. After in search of steerage from Bizarre Barbie (Kate McKinnon), Barbie, together with Stereotypical Ken (Ryan Gosling), journey to the true world to search out the kid taking part in along with her and repair the portal between her world and the true one. All through her journey, Barbie presents quite a lot of dolls and drops references to many others, a few of them fairly obscure and forgotten, however a selected one has made viewers query how far Mattel has gone with its Barbie dolls: the Proust Barbie, however not like the remainder, this isn’t an actual model of the Barbie doll.

Associated: Barbie Film Ending Defined

Mattel Has By no means Made A Proust Barbie Regardless of Film Reference

Barbie and Ken’s arrival in the true world places Mattel executives on excessive alert and so they order their seize. Ken makes his means again to Barbieland by himself after exploring extra of the true world and studying about patriarchy, whereas Barbie is discovered by Mattel’s brokers and brought to the corporate’s headquarters. There she meets Mattel’s CEO (Will Ferrell), who’s ready for her with an enormous Barbie field. Barbie will get within the field and mentions that the scent is a Proustian reminiscence, with the CEO mentioning how badly the Proust Barbie offered. Whereas Barbie options discontinued, controversial, and obscure Barbies and Kens, Mattel by no means made a Proust Barbie.

Greta Gerwig spoke about this particular scene in Barbie with AP Information, sharing why she added a reference to French novelist Marcel Proust. Gerwig defined that in Swann’s Manner, the primary quantity of the novel In Search of Misplaced Time (first translated as Remembrance of Issues Previous), the Narrator is thrown again into his childhood by way of the style of a madeleine dipped in tea. Stereotypical Barbie had an identical expertise of involuntary reminiscence when she entered the field, which Gerwig seized to make a joke in regards to the many failed Barbie dolls which have been made through the years.

Proust Barbie Provides The Film A Secret Oppenheimer Connection

Within the above-mentioned interview, AP Information shared with Gerwig that Marcel Proust was J. Robert Oppenheimer’s favourite, with Gerwig playfully saying that Oppenheimer “would have liked Proust Barbie”. Proust has now turn into an sudden connection between Barbie and Nolan’s Oppenheimer, two of the largest motion pictures of the summer season (and certainly of 2023 as an entire), which had been already linked as they share the identical launch date. “Barbenheimer” has turn into a popular culture phenomenon, however one which has significantly benefited cinema because it has introduced again the thrill and curiosity of watching motion pictures in theaters. Again to Proust Barbie, what she could be like is as much as the creativeness of the viewers, and it’s positively one of many cleverest and most attention-grabbing references in Barbie.

Supply: AP Information.