Oppenheimer just won Best Picture at the 96th Annual Academy Awards (see which soap star received thanks from the big stage). Other trophies went to Best Director Christopher Nolan, Best Actor for Cillian Murphy, Best Supporting Actor for Robert Downey Jr., and Best Editing, Cinematography, and Score. Sure, we’re supposed to think it’s a Big! Important! Movie! about Big! Important! Things! (As opposed to Barbie. Which was just fun. And profitable. And also about big important things. But, you know, of the female persuasion.) Except that, no matter how many scenes they shoot in black and white and how many people make Big! Serious! Faces! Oppenheimer is still, at its heart, a soap opera. Here is why.
Fusion Versus Fission
Quick, tell me how a nuclear bomb is made. What’s the chemical reaction? What’s the physical property in play? And the math. The math is super important. None of it could have happened without some very precise math. Explain it to me.
But while we wait for you to finish up your doctorate, tell me about the love triangle at the center of Oppenheimer. It’s the story of Oppenheimer, Mrs. Oppenheimer and Jean Tatlock. I bet you can tell me all the beats of that story. Who did he really love? What happened to both women? And, of course, when did Oppenheimer first say, “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Yeah. It’s a pure, classic soap opera. (Did you know these Oscar-winning stars appeared on daytime?)
Conflict of Interest
Now that we’ve got that settled, tell me the nuances of Lewis Strauss’ support for the hydrogen bomb versus Oppenheimer’s opposition, or the fact that Strauss had struggled mightily to convince the US government to let in more Jewish refugees during World War II, while Oppenheimer went out of his way not to be associated with Jewish causes, due to his internationalist beliefs.
But while we wait for you to order the official transcripts from the Library of Congress, tell me how Strauss had a petty vendetta against Oppenheimer because he thought Oppenheimer had bad-mouthed him to Einstein. It was a classic misunderstanding since Oppenheimer didn’t mention Strauss to Einstein at all. Yeah. It’s a pure, classic soap opera. And now it’s won an Oscar!
What do you think? Have you seen Oppenheimer? Did you feel the soapy nuances we felt? Sound off in the comments below.
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