On Jan. 23, the 2024 Oscar nominations were announced. As per usual with Oscar nominations, there was immediate widespread outrage over certain people or movies getting snubbed. This year, the movie to receive this treatment was “Barbie.” The film received the most nominations of any film this year after “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things,” with eight overall nominations including Best Picture. People noticed that Greta Gerwig was not nominated for Best Director and Margot Robbie was not nominated for Best Actress, causing outrage.
What further exacerbated the outrage was that Ryan Gosling managed to nab an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. The Academy, it seemed, saw a movie centered on feminism then nominated a man and not the two women most responsible for the film. Since then, videos of America Ferrera’s passionate monologue about the double-sided edge to everything women did went viral. The common sentiment was that the Academy had committed another classic sexist mistake.
The main issue is whether the Academy was sexist with its nominations for “Barbie” specifically. With no other context, Gerwig and Robbie’s missing nominations may support that claim. Except it might surprise people that both Gerwig and Robbie did indeed receive nominations this year for “Barbie” — just not in the categories people expected. Robbie, as a producer of the film received a nomination for the Best Picture category and Gerwig has a nomination as a writer for the film’s screenplay in the Adapted Screenplay.
It is also worth noting that the Academy has recognized both Gerwig and Robbie for their capabilities as a director and actress in the past. Gerwig received a Best Director nomination for “Lady Bird” and Robbie received two acting nominations for “I, Tonya” and “Bombshell.” In addition, every film Gerwig has solo directed has received multiple Oscar nominations, including nominations for herself. Their talent has been recognized.
It may still feel wrong to some that Ryan Gosling received a nomination for his himbo Ken and not Robbie and Gerwig, the main women behind the film. The problem with this thesis is that it assumes Gosling took something away from Robbie and Gerwig with his nomination and this is false. All three were competing in different categories and one getting in has no bearing on another not making the cut. Robbie was not competing with men in the Best Actress category, so the argument that her not making it in was sexist feels hollow.
In all of the outrage, more people aren’t giving weight to America Ferrera’s nomination, almost certainly for the delivery of the infamous monologue about the double standards women continuously have to navigate. Her nomination and Gerwig’s nomination for writing it is proof that the message did resonate with Academy voters.
But Gerwig was competing with men in the Director section and it is a category the Academy is notorious for snubbing women in. Her film being in Best Picture but Gerwig herself not making it in for Director is wrong because she is what made the film worth being in Best Picture. That would be a perfectly valid argument to make.
Unfortunately, simple mathematics makes it impossible. There are 10 slots for Best Picture and only five slots for Best Director. By nature, every year five filmmakers whose films are recognized for Best Picture won’t be in contention for Best Director. To make things worse for Gerwig, the Academy rarely nominates directors of big blockbusters. Films like “Barbie,” “Dune,” “Avatar 2,” “Black Panther” and “Top Gun: Maverick” are all recent examples of highly popular films that made it to Best Picture, but with their male directors receiving no nominations. However, generally female directors still have a harder time being recognized, and that should not be dismissed.
Even then, it’s hard to feel like the lack of visibility that female filmmakers face applies to Gerwig, who is currently one of the most popular filmmakers working today irrespective of gender. She has continuously been recognized for her skill as a director. The outrage over her being “disrespected” by the Academy for this snub frankly feels overdramatic, especially when other female filmmakers have not received this same kind of support. Last year, Charlotte Wells’ and Sarah Polley’s films “Aftersun” and “Women Talking” received nominations but both of them missed Best Director nominations. Even this year, Celine Song’s “Past Lives” is one of the ten nominated films and Song did not make the directing cut.
Justine Triet is the sole female Directing nominee this year. If it had been Gerwig who had made the cut and not Triet, there would not have been as much outrage over the Academy only nominating one female director this year. That’s not even mentioning all the countless incredible films directed by women that received no nominations at all this year and others, such as “Priscilla,” “Saint Omer,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and so much more. Criticism of the Academy for its sexist tendencies should not be centered around the popularity of a certain female director.
This outrage about the women of “Barbie” being snubbed feels more of a reflection on the fact that for most typical moviegoers, “Barbie” was the only movie directed by a woman they saw last year. This is a shame because 2023 was a great year for female filmmakers: from crowd-pleasing comedies like “Barbie,” “Bottoms” and “Joyride” to much more serious dramas like “Priscilla,” “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” and “A Thousand and One.” Greta Gerwig is a great director, but she is not the only great female director out there. “Barbie” was the highest-grossing movie of the year and received multiple Oscar nominations, which is a huge accomplishment for any movie — let alone one helmed by a female director.
The idea that “Barbie” isn’t receiving enough love for not receiving two extra nominations on top of its other accolades makes the outrage feel excessive. If the outrage is only about supporting everyone’s favorite toy movie of the year, it already has plenty of love. If it is truly about supporting films made by women, there are plenty of unsung female creatives who could use this kind of love and energy.
