I quote the most important part of the article below:
"Put differently, a majority of men are not naturally predisposed towards Oppenheimer, but are championing the film perhaps because it helps them perform masculinity. Unless consciously addressed, such gender construction processes are self-reinforcing. .... Reportedly, around two-thirds of the Indian theatre-going audiences are male. (This is indicative of perhaps why Oppenheimer is doing better than Barbie in India, bucking the larger, global trends). Film industries continue to imagine a paying cis-heterosexual male as the default audience of the films they produce. Therefore, most of the fare is geared toward their sensibilities and expectations. The continued underrepresentation of women and non-binary people among audiences should be read as an index of their exclusion from the larger spaces of culture and leisure."
I have to say that I agree with the authors 100%. I actually saw both Oppenheimer and Barbie in the hall, rather than the pirated version. The Oppenheimer crowd was mostly male and many were engineering/science bros who were discussing the scientific aspects of the bomb, rather than its ethical implications. Then they were moaning about the censorship of Florence Pugh's nudity. So a pretty male and toxic environment overall. In contrast, the Barbie audience had mostly women. They were laughing at the right scenes and appreciating the movie's calling out of patriarchy.
I quote the most important part of the article below:
"Put differently, a majority of men are not naturally predisposed towards Oppenheimer, but are championing the film perhaps because it helps them perform masculinity. Unless consciously addressed, such gender construction processes are self-reinforcing. .... Reportedly, around two-thirds of the Indian theatre-going audiences are male. (This is indicative of perhaps why Oppenheimer is doing better than Barbie in India, bucking the larger, global trends). Film industries continue to imagine a paying cis-heterosexual male as the default audience of the films they produce. Therefore, most of the fare is geared toward their sensibilities and expectations. The continued underrepresentation of women and non-binary people among audiences should be read as an index of their exclusion from the larger spaces of culture and leisure."
I have to say that I agree with the authors 100%. I actually saw both Oppenheimer and Barbie in the hall, rather than the pirated version. The Oppenheimer crowd was mostly male and many were engineering/science bros who were discussing the scientific aspects of the bomb, rather than its ethical implications. Then they were moaning about the censorship of Florence Pugh's nudity. So a pretty male and toxic environment overall. In contrast, the Barbie audience had mostly women. They were laughing at the right scenes and appreciating the movie's calling out of patriarchy.