When the 2024 Oscar nominations were announced this morning, snubs from the two most prominent women involved in “Barbie” (director Greta Gerwig and lead actress Margot Robbie) became scandal news.
The highest-grossing film of 2023, surpassing $1 billion worldwide, is based on the imagined life and times of the iconic Mattel doll. A cultural phenomenon on its own terms, “Barbie,” along with “Oppenheimer,” became one half of an unusually thoughtful summer hit duo released on the same day in July (“Barbenheimer”)—nothing to sneeze at.
It turns out that the Internet has strong opinions about today's announcement.
“Let me see if I understand this: The Academy nominated 'Barbie' for Best Picture (eight nominations in total) – a film about women marginalized and made invisible in patriarchal structures – but not the woman who directed the film. Okay then,” reads a viral X post by writer Charlotte Clymer.
The film wasn't completely ruled out: it was nominated for best picture, while Gerwig earned a nomination with Noah Baumbach for adapted screenplay, Ryan Gosling for supporting actor, and America Ferrera for supporting actress. But the fact that Gosling was cast by his blonde Ken, who discovers the idea of patriarchy and then attempts to dominate Barbieland, before Robbie's character destroys gender-based oppression, was too much for some. “I’m actually doing the patriarchy very well,” writer Jodi Lipper wrote in an Instagram story, quoting Ken from the film.
(In a statement released today, Mr. Gosling wrote: “To say I am disappointed that they were not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”)
In fact, because “Barbie” functions as a commentary on sexism and a meta-commentary on its own place in feminist discourse, the film itself was the first place some of her fans went to express their outrage over the slights. .
“Nominating Ken but not Barbie is literally the plot of the movie,” novelist Brad Meltzer wrote in a thread, above a gif of Ms. Robbie, as Barbie, dancing and saying: “Do you ever think about dying ?
“No, but seriously… this could have been a story straight out of the Barbie movie,” reads the caption of a popular TikTok post from this morning.
Particularly galling to some were the awards won by Ms. Gerwig and Ms. Robbie’s male counterparts on “Barbenheimer,” Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy, for their work on “Oppenheimer.”.”
“Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were as crucial to Barbie's critical and commercial success as Nolan and Cillian Murphy were to Oppenheimer's. Imagine the uproar if one or both men had been snubbed! It's amazing how Barbie is 'Oscar-worthy', but not the women who made it,” wrote writer Zoë Rose Bryant in X.
The snub comes after Golden Globes host Jo Koy sparked complaints during his monologue by comparing the source material of “Oppenheimer” (“a 721-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning book”) to that of “Barbie.” ”. (“a plastic doll with big tits”).
For now, those hoping the “Barbie” director and star will be recognized for her work will have to hope that the musical version of the film the pair teased earlier this month comes to fruition. There are always the Tonys.
