So...You Know That We Write Articles About Movies Because They're Clickbait, Right?

And articles about how other articles are clickbait are also clickbait

Hey: Would you like a metric assload of theorizing about the societal implications of the Barbie movie? Before you answer: Here is a metric assload of theorizing about the societal implications of the Barbie movie, courtesy of the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, Politico, The Guardian, the New York Post, and the New York Times again. The LA Times has given Barbie a masthead-level quick-link, putting it on equal footing with the Women’s World Cup, which involves actual, non-fiction women confronting a not-made-up conflict.

Any column inches not devoted to Barbie are being given to Oppenheimer; the war in Ukraine makes the Wordle at best. The Financial Times and The New Yorker leaned more towards Oppenheimer, because those are Serious Publications read by Serious People, and a movie about a Serious Man in a Serious Fedora is sure-fire column fodder. And, of course, both movies are everywhere on social media, with content providers pushing links to countless Substack articles, YouTube videos, Tik Toks, memes, Viewmaster slides, Kinetoscopes, and bawdy wood carvings based on the two movies.