Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, the Barbenheimer double feature, and Beyoncé’s Renaissance Tour; together, they make up the inescapable trifecta of pop culture events that defined this past summer.
Movie theaters rejoiced as July dwindled away, because in its final week the long-awaited double feature Barbie and Oppenheimer – cheekily coined “Barbenheimer” – opened to the general public. Collectively, the two films brought in $235 million opening weekend. This unlikely pairing saw success, perhaps for their opposing themes. Oppenheimer tells the intricate and gruesome story of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s race to create an atomic bomb. When asked her thoughts on Oppenheimer, Whitman senior Sophia Goldberg laughed and said, “I focused so hard but I didn’t understand a single thing!” By contrast, Barbie was a movie covered in pink, focusing on Barbie and her kinda-sorta boyfriend Ken who tags along on her journey to the human world and her quest for understanding. This movie is filled with musical numbers like Ryan Reynolds’ “I’m Just Ken” and iconic phrases like “I’m Kenough.” As of Oct. 5, Barbie ($1.4 B) was the highest grossing movie of 2023 – followed not far behind by Oppenheimer ($942 M).
Not a fan of BARBENHEIMER?? Two other leading ladies staked their claim on the pop culture summer.
Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour was nothing short of earth shattering. When Swift visited Seattle’s Lumen Field, the seismic activity of her fans generated levels equivalent to that of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake. She has reached levels of fame and success unparalleled by almost everyone – except maybe Queen Beyoncè herself. Beyoncè’s Renaissance Tour, like The Eras Tour, has been shattering records left and right. Economists estimate the tour has generated around 4.5 billion for the US economy. Both tours act as an excellent masterclass in performance, showcasing the genius of their respective artist.
