If you are on the internet in any capacity, then you have undoubtedly heard that Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were not nominated for Oscars in their respective categories for “Barbie”. This snub may not be that significant if it weren’t for Ryan Gosling’s nomination for his character Ken in the movie. At first glance, you might not think much of this. After all, year after year women and minorities are often very underrepresented at award shows such as the Oscars. However, in 2024 we should expect better and for a movie about feminism and the struggles that women face in our society, one would anticipate better from these academies.
Overall, the whole situation is simply the definition of irony. The fact that the actor who played Ken, the character whose arc was focused on finding his own purpose separate from “Barbie” and letting “Barbie” shine, was nominated but not “Barbie” herself. Frankly it does not make sense. You could argue that the “Barbie” movie in general was not substantial enough to be nominated for any Oscars. However, this argument is fallible as “Barbie” was nominated for eight other awards, including best picture. I am no film bro, but if a movie is nominated for best picture, it seems to only make sense that the director and lead, the two people at the center of the film, would be nominated in their respective categories, and yet they aren’t. It is funny how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences missed the mark so poorly. In choosing their nominees, the Academy essentially reinforced the standard that “Barbie” was trying to work against. Women and men are not equal, as depicted in “Barbie,” and as very clearly shown in the nominations for the Oscars.
In line with the themes discussed in “Barbie,” the Academy has made it very clear that women do in fact have to work harder than men to achieve the same level of success.“Barbie” was the most successful movie of the year, grossing over $1 billion at the box office. While this metric is not always indicative of a film’s success at the Oscars, here it is important. As mentioned previously, the film received eight other nominations, proving it is worthy, to some degree, of recognition by prestigious organizations. Why then, is the director, the person in charge of making the movie what it was, not nominated. To have the film nominated for best picture and to then not nominate the director makes very little sense. Even looking away from “Barbie” and at films in general over this past year, the best director nominations still fell short of expectations when it came to recognizing women. Only one woman was nominated in the best director category. The category failed to recognize three other women who all directed films that landed in the top 10 according to Rotten Tomatoes while some of the other male directors’ films fell far outside this list. It seems that no matter how well a film performs with audiences, at the box office, or critically, it is still at a disadvantage if it was directed by a woman. Again, this only further supports the ideas presented in “Barbie” regarding disadvantages women have felt for centuries.
However, it is important to note that it is not all bad. While we can be upset “Barbie” was not recognized to the degree it should have been, other films and people were given the credit they deserve. Lily Gladstone becomes the first Native American woman to ever be nominated in the category for best actress, an achievement she earned for her work in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” This is a massive achievement and should be recognized and celebrated the same if not more than the controversy surrounding “Barbie.”Even within “Barbie”there are things to celebrate. America Ferrera was nominated for best actress in a supporting role, a nomination that is very overdue in many people’s eyes for her extensive work over the years. I think it is also important to note that two things can be true at the same time, which the internet often makes us forget. We can be upset about Gerwig not being nominated while also being excited for women like Gladstone and Ferrera. As a society. we will never get anywhere if we do not critique things, but we also must acknowledge the progress we have made.
In remembering that multiple things can be true at the same time, I think it goes without saying that bigger problems exist in the world than Robbie not getting nominated. Was it really necessary for Hillary Clinton to make a tweet about this? Probably not. Politicians especially should focus on many other issues that actually have repercussions, whereas Robbie and Gerwig will continue to have amazing careers. While it may not be necessary for public officials to make a fuss about this, I still think that it is an important conversation to have. It is important to call out sexism when we see it, this is the only way it can ever be solved. Even though this is not the end of the world, talking about it and therefore discussing gender and racial disparities in the film industry allows things to change and for people to reflect on how they see similar patterns in their own lives.
The “Barbie”movie called out a lot of the social pressures women face on a day-to-day basis. A lot of women left the movie theater feeling seen and understood because while the feelings portrayed in the movie may not have been revolutionary, the discussion around them on such a massive scale was. Sexism and misogyny have never been highlighted and dissected in such a way in popular media before. It brought a lot of these issues to light for many men who were willing to listen. However, despite its seemingly massive impact on our culture, roughly six months later, it seems like it really did very little to even change things in the film industry. Higher expectations are still placed on women simply because that is how our society functions. This begs the question, did people in the Academy really even watch “Barbie”?