As an avid movie watcher and pop-culture enthusiast, I was ecstatic for awards season this year. However, I was shocked when I read the Academy’s complete list of nominees for the 96th annual Academy Awards.
In hindsight, maybe I should’ve seen this coming. After all, female directors and actresses are still underpaid and undervalued on a general basis compared to their male counterparts. Still, the Barbie movie was a booming success in 2023, earning a total of $162 million on its opening weekend. It had the highest-grossing weekend in the U.S. in 2023 and was the biggest opening in history for a female director.
Though Barbie was nominated for Best Picture, the Academy failed to nominate Margot Robbie for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Greta Gerwig for Best Directing. Knowing the Barbie movie’s accomplishments, there’s no excuse for leaving Gerwig and Robbie out of these crucial nominations.
Interestingly enough, Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. I’m not by any means saying this is undeserved. I personally think his performance in the movie was iconic. It’s just… the fact that the actress who played Barbie in the Barbie movie was left out of an Oscar nomination, yet the actor who played Ken (Barbie’s accessory) was included rubbed me the wrong way.
If you watched the Barbie movie, you’d know that underneath the “weird Barbie” jokes and the nods to Mattel’s history, the film is mostly a commentary on the patriarchy and the struggles of being a woman in Western society. We’re often overlooked as mothers at home, working hard in the office, or generally in society just as people.
It’s almost laughable that the Academy saw this movie and made the decisions we see now because it proves the movie right in several ways. The Academy essentially undervalued the women in Barbie by failing to credit them with nominations in a film about how society undervalues women. This outcome is beyond disappointing.
At the Critics’ Choice Awards this year (held on Jan. 14), there were three different Barbie nominations for Best Original Song. This include “What Was I Made For,” “Dance the Night,” and “I’m Just Ken.” “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish beautifully captures the movie’s message, with the lyrics, “Turns out I’m not real, just something you paid for / What was I made for? / When did it end? All the enjoyment / I’m sad again…”
Eilish’s song acknowledges the sadness and confusion that comes when reaching womanhood. Many women realize they might never be seen for their accomplishments like men are, and that it could be more challenging to achieve things just because they are women. However, the song also highlights the hope that one day you might figure yourself out, and that there’s still beauty in life and experiencing womanhood alongside other women.
The song “I’m Just Ken” is sort of a satirical anthem about masculinity and how Ken sees himself compared to the other men in Barbieland. This song ultimately won the award for Best Original Song at the Critics’ Choice Awards. So, just to clarify… the movie about the struggles of womanhood won an award for a song about the satirical nature of the men in the film. Huh? As opposed to the song that contains the movie’s central message (about the struggles of being a woman)? It’s giving similar energy to the Oscar snub. It’s odd.
On the bright side, the Academy nominated America Ferrera for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. One of my favorite scenes from the Barbie movie was Ferrera’s monologue about womanhood. In it, she reassures Barbie that she, indeed, is good enough. Then, she begins her monologue speaking on women’s struggles, where she says, “We have to always be extraordinary, but somehow we’re always doing it wrong.” I have high hopes that she will earn this award.
Ultimately, the Barbie movie has received recognition in many other places and has eight Oscar nominations this year. So that’s something to be excited about! Despite these successes, unfortunately, the film industry has proven that it still has a long way to go.
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