The most anticipated film award nominations were announced on Jan. 24, which had many heads turning toward the Academy and wondering why they snubbed so many wonderful actors and directors. 2023 was an incredible year for film, with so many entertainment companies producing incredible movies. After Barbie came out in July, many people expected Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig to earn Oscar nominations, and while Barbie did get a nomination for Best Picture, alongside many other superb movies, people are upset with the fact that Robbie and Gerwig didn’t receive nominations for Best Actress and Best Director, respectively
There have been many takes on Barbie since its release on July 21, 2023, some good and some bad, but with the Oscar nominations now out, Barbie has received more backlash than when it first came out. When I first saw the list of Best Actress nominees, I was surprised that Robbie didn’t receive a nomination, but then I saw the Best Actor nominees and was in complete shock that Ryan Gosling received a nomination for his role as Ken in the same film. Most of the tweets I saw on “Film Twitter” were condemning these nominations and non-nominations, but as the day progressed, I started to see more and more people annoyed at the people mad about Robbie’s and Gerwig’s lack of nominations in their respective categories.
People started to point out that everyone’s anger over Robbie not receiving a nomination overshadowed Lily Gladstone’s nomination for her role of Mollie Burkhart in Killers of the Flower Moon and America Ferrera’s role of Gloria in Barbie. Gladstone is the first Indigenous woman in Oscars history to be nominated in the Best Actress category, making some people upset that she isn’t receiving more praise on social media, but instead, many are sharing their outrage about Robbie, who has been nominated for Best Actress in the past, therefore overshadowing the historic accomplishments made by Gladstone. Besides the obvious Barbie snubs that have taken over social media, I feel that Zac Efron, for his role in The Iron Claw; Cailee Spaeny, for her role in Priscilla; Olivia Rodrigo, for her original song “Can’t Catch Me Now” for The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes; Greta Lee, for her role in Past Lives were all Oscar-worthy and deserve to be recognized. I’m not upset that Robbie didn’t receive a nomination, but, instead, appalled that Gosling did, but not Robbie. The entire point of Barbie was female empowerment, so the idea that the actor who played Ken got a nomination over the actress who played Barbie doesn’t make sense regarding the plot and point of the movie. It’s amazing that America Ferrera received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but I felt as though Robbie’s performance was just as deserving (even if they are in different categories).
Other criticisms I have seen for the snubs by the Academy was Gerwig’s non-nomination. Gerwig made this movie for all girls everywhere and was deserving of a nomination, but people were mad that Justine Triet’s nomination for Anatomy of a Fall was being overshadowed, with many people on X (formerly Twitter) saying that Triet deserved it more than Gerwig, but those people fail to realize that there can be more than one woman nominated for Best Director. The category has five nominations: four male directors and one female director. Gerwig and Triet weren’t fighting for the singular female nomination spot like some people on X imply, because all the spots could have been women if the Academy nominated them.
I think film criticism is important and essential for keeping institutions like the Academy in check, but the discourse that essential women didn’t get a nomination isn’t as necessary as we think. If the discourse was turned into more educational thoughts, it would be different, but most people are just claiming white feminism was the reason people are angry. Granted, there were some off responses to Gerwig and Robbie being snubbed, like Hillary Clinton, who took to X to write a statement referring to her lack of a win in the presidential election in 2016 even though she won the popular vote. Clinton wrote “Greta & Margot, While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you. You’re both so much more than Kenough. #HillaryBarbie.” People came out saying that it’s ridiculous for Clinton to make a statement on feminism when she hasn’t spoken out on the genocide Gaza is facing and how Palestinian women are losing reproductive rights. Discourse like this is important because it highlights what we can be more focused on, instead of just saying “Margot Robbie’s performance wasn’t that great anyway and Greta Gerwig has better movies.”
It’s incredibly important to note the women who did get nominated for Best Actress, like Lily Gladstone, but it’s also okay to be upset that a woman who had an incredible performance didn’t get nominated, but her male co-star did. Same for Justine Triet and Greta Gerwig. All the performances in the categories are deserving, but we can also acknowledge those who have been snubbed.