If only Barbie had worked a little as a sex worker. He or she barely survived and became the next victim of a mass murder plot. Or she was accused of pushing Ken out of the upper window of the Dream House.
Certainly, millions of “Barbie” fans today wish they could push someone (perhaps a member of the film academy or two) out of a very high window.
How on earth is it possible that the 2024 Oscar nominations list does not include Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, who, respectively, directed and starred in a film that defied all critical expectations and made movies fun again?
More to the point, how did voters justify giving “Barbie,” with its very clear message that women have to dance backwards in heels to get half the validation their male peers get, a best picture nomination and ignoring to the two women who made that film possible?
That Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera earned nominations for their supporting roles was a cause for joy. But apparently no one at the academy was listening when Gloria de Ferrera delivered her now-famous monologue about why it feels impossible to be a woman. Gerwig was nominated, along with her husband, Noah Baumbach, for adapted screenplay, but the irony of being snubbed (again) for directing the film that featured that scene is stunning.
First Hollywood tells us, repeatedly, that female directors can't win at the box office, and then when one does, while earning critical acclaim, well, apparently it had nothing to do with the quality of the directing.
Did too many people (particularly women) like “Barbie” for it to be considered “important” enough to academy voters? Didn't Robbie's Barbie suffer enough? Did Gerwig just make it look too easy?
Was it too pink?
It was a great year for movies and all the nominees did a tremendous job, but no director or actor faced the same degree of difficulty as Robbie and Gerwig.
Not to take away from anyone's accomplishments, but stories that focus on death and/or mass murder, which occupy the lion's share of directorial ranks, have a certain level of tension and drama built into them, and the The film academy has a modern history of valuing, at least at awards time, tense, dramatic movies over anything bright and shiny.
Even when bright and brilliant is also deeply moving and brilliant. As Barbie herself discovered, some people find it hard to believe that something fun and cute can also be pretty smart and important.
Although the increasing diversity of voters has forced a welcome movement away from biopics of famous men, a certain snobbery remains in the tone: a certain level of “real-life” bravery is almost necessary to be considered “better.” , even for sentimental favorites like “CODA” or groundbreaking winners like “Moonlight” and “Parasite.”
It's almost impossible to imagine the original “Mary Poppins” sweeping the Oscars today.
Which is absurd; Excellence comes in all shapes and color palettes, and the Oscars pay homage to reality. achievement in the cinema, who thought that a big Hollywood movie about a doll, and that most modern children reject after the age of 6, would make audiences of all ages laugh, cry and cheer, sometimes all together? time?
Who thought “Barbie” would become one of the most successful female empowerment films in history?
Perhaps it was the PG-13 rating that turned off voters. It's hard not to contrast the limited nominations for “Barbie” with the overwhelming amount of academic love shown by “Poor Things,” another fantastic story of a “made” woman finding her way in the world, although it sticks more closely to traditional awards shows. Oscar approved. lines.
The themes of “What was I created for?” are remarkably similar, but “Poor People” is, in many ways, the male gaze on a plate: what exactly are we to make of the vision of a brain-brained adult woman? Does a child discover the joy of orgasm? Or her literal childlike appreciation for sex? Or her questionable, though more mature, decision that sex work is the obvious and pleasurable answer to her need for sex and money.
Perhaps one or two sex scenes would have convinced academy voters that “Barbie” was an equally moving and creative story of female empowerment that required the same high level of direction and acting.
Traditionally, films that do well at the box office often fall short at the Oscars. Just ask Christopher Nolan, now alongside “Oppenheimer” in a pile of nominations. It was the outcry over the omission of his “Dark Knight” from the best picture category that prompted the academy's decision to expand the field from five to 10 nominees. So we can only hope that Gerwig's next project will be a biopic of Madame Curie or Lizzie Borden.
And that Robbie looks really glamorous in her next movie, as did Charlize Theron for her Oscar-winning role as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in “Monster.”
In terms of the race and the telecast (which, to be fair, are not what voters should be considering), these snubs cast a clear pall over the process. Few thought Gerwig could win in a category that includes Nolan and Martin Scorsese, but it sure would have been nice to see her campaigning. Honestly, he probably should have leaned more into the narrative of “making this movie was so difficult, everything seemed so impossible” instead of emphasizing, with endless generosity, how satisfying the experience was. The same goes for Robbie, who also produced the film through his production company, LuckyChap Entertainment.
Obviously, being snubbed at the Oscars isn't the worst thing that can happen to a person; As I write this, more than 100 of my colleagues at The Times are receiving layoff notices. In another example of striking irony, LA Times Studios, which has been deeply affected by recent cuts, received its first Oscar nomination for the short documentary “The Last Repair Shop.”
But the Oscars remain one of the most visible barometers of worth and success in Hollywood, so who's on the list and who's not, and how people react, means something. Many people believed that Gerwig and Robbie were the favorites. As history has shown time and time again, assuming that a woman will be the favorite for anything (even acting) is never a good idea because, to be successful, women have to defy all kinds of expectations and at the same time time to complete them all.
