There were plenty of snubs in this morning’s Oscar nominations, just as there are every year. It’s baked into the system, and I was expecting the acting snubs for Leo DiCaprio, Andrew Scott and Greta Lee. They were iffy, on-the-fence, and the wind was blowing in a different direction. But I am still reeling from the snubs for Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig. As I said in the podcast, it was unthinkable that Gerwig’s peers would not recognize what a big swing she took. Creating the physical sets, bringing in real creatives for the art direction, costuming, everything. Co-authoring the script, creating a light, happy movie for girls and women which also had a great message across the board. And to top it all off, Gerwig co-wrote and directed the most financially successful movie of the year, a cash-cow juggernaut.
It absolutely feels like the Oscar voters – including Gerwig’s peers in the directors’ branch – decided to punish her and punish Barbie specifically because the film was so successful and so creative. I like Christopher Nolan as much as the next person and I thought Oppenheimer was a good movie, but it was just… a by-the-books bio-pic with a jumpy timeline. That’s it. Gerwig took a much bigger swing.
It really pisses me off that people ignored what Margot Robbie did as an actress in Barbie too. I think it’s because Margot is so pretty and she already looks so much like a Barbie doll, it was easy for so many people to just assume she didn’t have to work at it or really do much. She gave a completely charming, sweet, funny and moving performance as Barbie, and she did it all while she was executive producing what turned out to be the most financially successful film of the year!! It’s part and parcel of Oscar voters not understanding how difficult it is for actors to do light comedy or be the emotional center of a “silly/light” movie. They think “good acting” is “Leo getting fake-mauled by a bear” or “an actor wearing a sh-tload of face prosthetics.”
The kicker is that Ryan Gosling got nominated! And his stupid “I’m Just Ken” song got nominated too!! It’s utterly asinine.
No nomination for Margot Robbie or Greta Gerwig for the #Oscars but Ryan Gosling gets one. Literally the whole point of the Barbie film 😳 pic.twitter.com/SVpX6diGJb
— Joe (@joeefoster) January 23, 2024
Greta Gerwig made a film that was critically acclaimed, culturally impactful, hilarious, unique, visually exceptional, perfectly cast and acted, left people laughing, crying and thinking AND made a billion dollars at the box office. But no Best Director nom?! #Barbie #Oscars2024 pic.twitter.com/ePfuiDbEfm
— Leigh Lewallen (@leighlew3) January 23, 2024
Photos courtesy of Warner Bros and Avalon Red.
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JULY 09: Director/Writer/EP Greta Gerwig attends the World Premiere of “Barbie” at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall on July 09, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 788399692, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Greta Gerwig, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- Margot Robbie photographed attending the European premiere of Barbie at Cineworld Leicester Square in London, UK on 12 July 2023.,Image: 788738538, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Julie Edwards / Avalon
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- Margot Robbie at the Barbie European Premiere at Cineworld in Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom on 12 July 2023.,Image: 788742848, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley / Avalon
YES to everything you said Kaiser. Especially the part about “punishing” Margot and Greta for Barbie’s success. That’s exactly what it feels like. If Bradley Cooper can get nominated for his ridiculous prosthetic nose in Maestro Margot should have been nominated as well.
It seems more like some people in Hollywood are seriously jealous of Barbie’s success.
100% agree this movie got passed around in Studios. Margot made about 50+ million in profits from her starring and producing role. Which may not be an Oscar but an awesome consolation prize.
Petty, petty jealousy of an industry that were mad they didn’t see the potential in the movie the way Margot and Greta did. And missed out on it or slipped through their hands.
It’s that all the actors and directors and producers want everyone to consider them them to intelectuals and great artists. So they can’t vote for something that is about a toy or a box office hit. No people have to believe that they only watch foreign movies that are black and white. And that everyone but them will understand. And that is why no one cares about awards shows anymore.
This makes me feel like more people are MAGAts is Hollywood than we previously believed. Hating Barbie and Taylor Swift is a huge red flag.
This is all about their being female. Women’s films just direct themselves. Even when we are successful, we get knocked down. I am not surprised at all that the same voters thought to reward the male lead and that stupid Ken song, danced by an 1ll-male chorus. I really enjoyed it, but this is such as obvious snub.
Yep
Smells like jealousy to me
Men are truly the more fragile sex.
Their work for this type of movie isnt taken seriously and they’re women. How tf would that happen. Oscars think they are above this type. Oscars are not representative of reality. It needs to be wiped out and replaced by true world. This is alos how tom cruise must feel because he does great great movie that are obly
Recognize by the box office and never by these old dry white sticks. Thank god some people work by passion and not for the statuette
I completely agree with you, this is outrageous! Margot Robbie gave everything she had, which is a whole fucking lot, and was brilliant as Barbie. Ditto Greta Gerwig. Is Margot getting punished because she’s too beautiful, too blonde, too convincing as a Barbie doll? I just fundamentally do not understand what happened here, and I’m really angry.
It’s the same part of the industry who looked at this movie’s success and said “That’s it! More toy-based movies!!” instead of “more wildly original films directed at a female audience.” It’s absolutely disgusting. I’ve been enjoying awards season and was looking forward to the Oscars BECAUSE of Barbie, but I doubt I’ll even watch now. If anything could change this myopic, sexist system, you would think it would be a $1.4 billion box office.
Then again, this is an industry whose silence (at best) and enablement (at worst) protected Harvey Weinstein for decades as he abused women so really how surprising is an Oscar snub.
Not to take away from anyone else’s nominations or wins, but it’s almost like the Oscars telecast needs an “Imma let you finish” moment with the host or something before all the awards get started, where someone civilly reads them the riot act about why Barbie, incl. Margot and Greta, should’ve been more recognized. Makes me wonder if it will win Best Picture and in all the other categories where it was nominated. The reactions today to the Barbie snubs are epic, including from Ryan Gosling!
The other point in the telecast where that may work is when the Academy people do their schpiel(?)
WTF.
The Oscars are a joke.
Yeah, it really highlights just how much of a joke it is. Makes all the noms and awards seem meaningless. It diminishes everything. Awards only have as much meaning as we give them. And it’s hard to give them any meaning whatsoever when it looks like this.
I was soooo pissed when I saw that! What more do they need? How many hoops do women need to jump through to be taken seriously?
That movie required a real artistic mind with a vision (I say that as a person who possesses neither of those traits)
Congratulations to America Ferrara but Gosling (who did a fantastic job, of course) should not be recognized when his acting partner gets ignored. The duo functioned perfectly. How many dismissive « it’s just a girls movie » among the voters?…
Very disappointed but it would mean that I had expectations….
I’m with you, this feels like pure misogyny. Everything about the movie was creative and well outside of the box thinking.
100 percent agree with all of this. (Except Oppenheimer, which to me was a pretentious and wayyyy too long snoozefest.)
I couldn’t make it through Oppenheimer. Granted I have the attention span of a flea, but I was so bored. This is another moment when the Oscars proved they are a joke.
I thought Oppenheimer was excellent and at the end of the day, a much better movie than Barbie. It deserves its nominations.
I never thought Barbie would win BUT I did think it would at least get nominated. Misogyny is deep in Hollywood and they love ignoring excellence and box office sales from female driven movies. They want to keep using the same old tired trope of the only people who go to the movies are males ages 18-49 so ALL movies must be geared to interest them.
The success of movies likes Girl’s trips, Bridesmaids, Barbie etc shows that if you build it a female audience will come. But they refuse to build it. Perhaps if the movie industry keeps dying on the vine they’ll change their business model.
I don’t think any of the Barbie performances were Oscar-worthy. However, I’m not surprised that Gosling gets recognized with a nomination but not Robbie, and I blame the writers. In a movie that’s supposed to be about women and girls, Ken is the character with the most developed arc. He’s the one who changes and develops, and finds meaningful resolution. I was surprised the writers didn’t pick up on how they really centered his character.
While I disagree with many about the quality of the gender message, the other snubs are obvious examples of sexism. I thought it was an “meh” movie with amazing sets, but the “meh” movies with men at the helm get nominated all the time.
Either Margot or Greta talked about how Mattel was very nervous about how Barbie was portrayed. They had to fight for a lot of the things that made it into the film. Some things they didn’t get to do.
They had no real issues what they did with Ken. They were given much more creative freedom there. I think that shows up in the final film.
ConcernedFae,
That’s interesting to hear, and it may have hurt the overall message by causing them to center Ken in a Barbie film.
Barbie literally turned from a plastic toy into a human. The whole movie was about Barbie’s coming of age, Barbie leaving her home and coming to understand how the world works. Ken’s actions weren’t really about him getting from point A to point B, but were a catalyst for the Barbies to grow. I feel like we didn’t even watch the same movie. Regardless, character arc =/= performance.
to me, Ken could be viewed as better, more developed character only by the public that didn’t want to see anything more in the movie and wasn’t really interested in seeing Barbie as anything else than a plastic toy.
@B Barbie was nominated for best picture and best adapted screenplay. Gosling as reported got nominated for best supporting actor as did Ferrera for best supporting actress.
Gerwig didn’t get a nom for director but I feel like nom for adapted screenplay is pretty close, to me the only big snub is Robbie who was the embodiment of her role.
Part of the issue with this line – “It’s part and parcel of Oscar voters not understanding how difficult it is for actors to do light comedy or be the emotional center of a “silly/light” movie” –
is that Gosling DID get nominated. He was fantastic in that movie, don’t get me wrong, but it was certainly a more comedic role than we usually see get nominated for Oscars.
So he can be rewarded for light comedy and being in silly/light movies but Margot Robbie, who did the majority of the heavy lifting in that movie, cannot?
I’m not even one of those people who thinks Barbie was the greatest thing to happen to feminism in decades or whatever – I liked it, enjoyed it, but that was about it – but Margot Robbie NAILED that role and its a huge issue that she was snubbed IMO. (she was great as producer as well and I know the BP nomination reflects that for her, but its not the same.)
I think it was Lucille Ball who once said that it’s very difficult for a beautiful woman to be recognized for comedy talent. There’s always been some sort of cultural bias that causes cognitive dissonance when we see a beautiful woman doing comedy. That may be part of the explanation since Margot Robbie is certainly a beautiful woman. This is effed up, of course, but it’s all I can think of that makes any sense.
That’s the only thing that makes sense to me too, and it makes me want to vomit.
The patriarchy is alive and well. I’m seething.
My first thoughts exactly…. dang patriarchy
I swear to God, it’s like they just proved the entire damn point of the movie, in one fell swoop.
The people who most needed to watch Barbie did not watch Barbie.
Highway robbery.
Oscars just proving the whole point of Barbie. F them.
barbie is overrated but margot carried that movie at least she got a producer nom.
shocked that they nominated America Ferrera she did nothing in barbie besides overacting but to be fair the script did not gave her much to do. should have been penelope cruz.
love the leading actress line-up but margot should have been in over annette bening.
As I wrote in the other thread, the Academy likes women in the mold of Emma Stone’s character in “Poor Things” — as creations of men, childlike and sexual. They like women to be victims, not victors.
Barbie discovering that her plastic existence is meaningless and then finding joy and purpose — with help along the way from other women — isn’t something the misogynists in the Academy would appreciate, or even understand.
So much this, Quitecontrary! I truly loathe Poor Things and seem to be the only one.
I haven’t seen it yet but this sudden trend of “stick Mark Ruffalo in there and make him put on a terrible British accent” is enough for me to not be interested.
Agree! Now I haven’t seen “Poor Things” and I probably won’t b/c the premise sounds disgusting and misogynist.
Love Barbie! And the last scene…chef’s kiss.
Just reading a synopsis is enough to make me nauseous.
I disagree regarding Poor Things. I am not the most articulate when describing a movie. However the way QUITECONTRARY described Barbie’s character growth is similar in how Emma Stones character gains agency over her life. Her character does start out as a “creation”. But every sexual decision and exploration is consensual. Also, her main character growth moments were developed through female, trans, and black characters. Both Barbie and Poor things are very good “Feminist Films”.
I don’t disagree with your thoughts on Barbie but…have you seen Poor Things? To describe Emma Stone’s character as a “victim, not a victor” is…not quite true. And if we’re going to get really nitpicky, while the Barbie doll itself was created by a woman, its physicality was (and is in the movie) 1000% percent a reflection of male desires and unrealistic standards they hold women to. It wouldn’t have become a cultural phenomena to even 1/100 of the extent that it has if it were otherwise. That’s the conundrum I’ve been struggling with regarding Barbie. I adored the movie and thought Margot was great, but couldn’t shake the reminder that this entire enterprise is still the product of male desire, to the detriment of women. The “breaking the fourth wall” moment in the movie tried to address that conundrum, but ultimately fell flat IMO.
Barbie was designed as an adult woman so that little girls had more than baby dolls to play with.
As for Poor Things, I hated its outdated premise that women can only liberate themselves through sex and lots of it.
I don’t agree with your take on Poor Things. It starts out as you say, but the film is an indictment of the misogynist origins that are attempting to cage the protagonist. She starts off molded but then casts that aside for her own ideas.
What ideas? Because Bella seems to have no real interior life.
As the Vulture review pointed out, “Poor Things comes across as a pretentious 14-year-old boy’s idea of female becoming, if that boy had a Criterion Channel subscription. It’s bargain-basement humor with explicit sex that dares the audience to get turned on by the born-yesterday trope given flesh. Bella is a closed circuit.”
“…the Academy likes women in the mold of Emma Stone’s character in “Poor Things” — as creations of men, childlike and sexual. ” Good point, QuiteContrary.
Barbie in this movie was absolutely NOT sexual—Ken wanted to kiss her , to date her, but Barbie had no interest in sex or a sexual relationship at all. I seriously hope that that played no part in why only Ryan Gosling and the BP nods were given here.
These new Oscars of the last 10 years or so, after they moved the date forward, have just been terrible. Far worse than they were before. It’s all about the campaign and the hype. Eligible films are deliberately not getting a wide release so their lack of audience appeal won’t be as obvious.
Don’t know that I would have watched Nyad. I don’t have Netflix, but I do like Foster and Bening. Must admit that it is now going on my irrational snub list.
The Academy is not a progressive institution and Hollywood is still run primarily by men.
Hollywood will always support men and punish women for anything. Nothing changed!!
It’s probably the best Director lineup in YEARS, but Greta really deserved a nomination. They should expand this category to 7 or so. And I know I’m the minority, but I really didn’t find any of the acting in Barbie worthy of nominations. However if someone deserved a nom it was Margot.
The NYT writeup about the noms said that Justine Triet was nominated “instead” of Gerwig, because somehow in the year 2024, we can still only have ONE woman nominated for Best Director at a time.
Replying to myself to say that Past Lives is also nominated and directed by a woman; I’d missed its nomination. But I think my point about using “instead” still stands; it implies that Triet can only be there if Gerwig isn’t.
That is disgusting.
Theres only 5 slots to nominate people out of all the movies released the past year, and thousand of roles to choose from, i really didnt think Margot performance was top 5 out of everyone this year? Who would you take out and why? (I guess maybe Carey Mulligan, cause Maestro was bad, but she still is owed a oscar for PYW haha)
Barbie was a movement and huge popculture moment, box office cash cow, but that doesnt allways mean it had the best performances out of everyone. America and Ryan got nominated and Barbie got 8 nominations in total.
Greta for director would have been nice, im personally more sad about Celine Song and Emerald Fennel, but i knew they were a long shot 🙁
I thought Barbie was interesting and ok…but not Oscar worthy. I will see myself out now…..
The Directors wing of the Academy is the worst. Has been for years, and it will continue to be. I’m not shocked that Greta wasn’t nominated, I’m shocked that Justine Triet was. I fully expected a nominee list that was 100% white men.
Justine Triet is a woman. She was nominated instead of Gerwig. At least, that’s what a commenter above said. And honestly, seen both films, and I can’t stand Gerwig (personally) so I’m okay with this.
Yes, I know Justine is a woman. That was my point. I didn’t expect her to be nominated at all. The AMPAS directors are notorious for ignoring women and people of color, even if their films end up getting nominated for Best Picture. It’s more of a surprise that Triet is there and Gerwig is not.
In Hollywood I guess it’s still 1940 and broads are cute and all that but come on, boys..we ain’t givin em rewards for playing with dolls.
F×ck Hwood. They don’t deserve us. Same crap.
Don’t forget, they also put Barbie in the adapted screenplay category. As if there was source material for Gerwig and Baumbach to work with. What a joke. F the Oscars. An old white man’s popularity contest, as usual.
I had a bad feeling in the summer that Ryan would get nominated but Margot wouldn’t & that irony. Never occurred to me Greta could be left out! Also the story is really about women taking back/over public policy making and to have thread that needle to broad audiences is incredible. Stunning! Yet here we are. It’s like looking at the presidential race. Depressing.
V ironic considering the theme of the movie.
I really, really hope that Greta and Margot roll around in their millions and die laughing at the irony of getting snubbed for Barbie, of all movies. It’s such bullsh*t, and yet, so perfect.
Not really, a bit much with ‘punishing them’.
I glad it did well at the BO, but it wasn’t groundbreaking. Greta’s other work is definitely better.
What I think is that there are lots of pretty, blonde, talented actresses out there who could have dressed up in pink and do the job just fine. No one else would have done it like Margot, though. She was born to play this role.
I used to think Hollywood was all about the money. Wrong. It’s telling women, ” know your place, step out of that mold and get punished “.
The Academy just proved the point of the whole movie. Tbh I had to laugh when I found out because it’s so cynically comical I could cry. Like of course they snubbed the two women that made this movie happen (and did it exceptionally well while wearing multiple hats) and nominated the man. I’m glad America got her nomination because she absolutely deserves it.
‘ Creating the physical sets, bringing in real creatives for the art direction, costuming, everything. ’ as someone who literally makes big budget films I will say that this is generic procedure for every Film and tv series out there. There’s nothing at all exceptional about what was done for Barbie that wasn’t done for any other big budget studio film. I think Barbie as a brand is iconic and tied to strong feelings of nostalgia for a lot of people and that’s why a lot of people believe it needs all the accolades. I personally haven’t seen it but I’ve seen the behind the scenes and while they did a great job on the creative direction, my peers say the film itself was quite boring.
Not at all boring! I have never laughed louder or cried more in a movie theater. And none the laughing or crying had to do with nostalgia because it was completely new material.
There were some fun moments of nostalgia that garnered a smile though.
Oh, is that what your peers say? Please do thank them for their helpful input. Glad you weighed in on this movie that you didn’t see.
Maybe it’s because the jokes were too intelligent for them to understand.
The free market has spoken. The Academy of yesteryear never imagined itself in conflict with he the free market, but here were are. Suckas.
Just a reminder only 30 years ago women could not wear pants on the Senate floor. We keep pushing forward.
This just proves that the Oscars are a joke. As a director and as a writer GG can get any project green lit now. MR can get any project produced with herself as the lead. They made so much money on Barbie globally, they’re set up for even more success now.
I think everyone underestimated how difficult Barbie was to pull off. It could have so easily gone off the rails and turned into a cheesy maudlin mess. But Greta managed to create a fun movie with a serious message thru a doll. It worked. It’s hard to please ppl these days and Barbie delivered. To not honor the director is ridiculous. I for one won’t be watching the awards. The old white dud of an Academy is seriously out of touch. They could have had another Barbenheimer match up and they said nah. It also reeks of petty jealousy. Women with minor successes is ok but a major succes that upstages the dudes? Nope, can’t have that.
I saw the movie 5 times in the theater. It was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. My 80 year old mother loved it and my teenage daughter loved it. So creative, so inspiring. Because of these horrible snubs, women should boycott the Oscars.
Unpopular opinion, I know, but chiming in nonetheless. I realize I’m particular about movies, and that generally I don’t fall in lock step with what’s popular. As a feminist with a degree in gender studies, I’m thrilled that the film is a success. On the other hand, I didn’t care for it. I thought my Gen X status might have a bearing on that but it’s simply my taste in movies. I didn’t connect with Barbie, it left me cold. So I don’t think that it being left off for best film is a surprise. Plus, I don’t believe the Oscars should necessarily align with what was popular and profitable anyway. If that were the case, then what’s all the campaigning for?
Same here anonymous. My mother who a college student in mid 70’s, and was in the thick of bra burning-no shaving-my body movement, was also left cold and bewildered by the hype of this movie.
I loved the Variety magazine Actors on Actors interview/conversation between Margot and Cillian where she talked about how she got into character as Barbie because she’s a doll, not a human. Cillian understood why it was difficult, which is why he wanted to ask about her process with the character, and other actors should get it, too, even if non-actors might think, oh, she looks like Barbie, so it’s easy. Margot did a really beautiful thing, bringing this iconic doll to life and portraying her journey to becoming human.
I think that the ONLY fair thing would be for the whole cast and crew to boycott Oscars. I was honestly disappointed by the Gosling (especially) and Ferrara’s reactions: like, those two women created that movie, let’s be honest. how can you thank those old coots in the Oscar commission or whatever it’s called for nominating you and send a powerful enough message that this kind of misogyny won’t be tolerated? you can’t. and with that, Gosling’s allyship (sorry, I’m not native english speaker so I don’t know the correct word) falls flat when it really matters.
Yes, to all of this. Ugh, now I’m going to go write a scathing diatribe to myself on behalf of Fantasia Barino. I know, 5 other women got nominated. Blah, blah fricken blah.