When planning our Oscars coverage at GLAMOUR last week, we all agreed that there would no doubt sadly be occasion for publishing an angry op-ed on how Barbie – the biggest grossing film of 2023, a cultural phenomenon and a feminist masterpiece – wouldn’t win the big gongs. We all predicted that come Oscars night on Sunday 10th March, the Academy would once again prove that it was still as sexist as it had ever been and the biggest night in film would, yet again, play out to be a devastatingly disappointing one for female filmmakers.
But what we didn’t see coming, as was revealed yesterday in the Oscar nominations, was that the women responsible for Barbie would not even be nominated for their phenomenal work. Yup, no nominations for Best Director for Greta Gerwig or Best Actress for Margot Robbie (who was also a producer on the film). This is that angry op-ed. It has blown my mind. And I am not alone. The internet, industry and even Ken himself, Ryan Gosling (who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor) have reacted with dismay, disbelief and disgust.
It's Barbie's world and we're just living in it.
Ryan released an unprecedented statement: “There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally-celebrated film. No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”
Some statistics to put all this into context:
- Barbie grossed $1.44billion, was the highest-grossing film globally of 2023 and the 14th highest-grossing film of all time. It was the most successful release of Warner Bros of all time.
- The director, Greta Gerwig, made history when Barbie scored $356m (£276m) on its opening weekend around the world, making it the biggest global debut ever for a film directed by a woman. Greta Gerwig also made history as the first solo female director with a $1billion movie.
- In the nearly 100 years of the Oscars history, only three women have won for directing: Chloe Zhao for Nomadland, Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker and Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog.
- A recent report from USC Annenberg in America, revealed that among the top 100 films of 2023, women at the helm represented just 12.1%.
- And representation of women in the industry is on the decline, with Forbes reporting that in 2021, 12% of directors working on the 100 top-grossing films were women, down from 16% in 2020.
Yes, Barbie did secure nominations for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress (America Ferrera), Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Costume Design, Best Original Song (for both I'm Just Ken and What Was I Made For?) and Best Production Design.
Margot and Greta – the two most integral women of Barbie – being snubbed can only, in my opinion be down to rank sexism, plus a whiff of snobbery.
I feel deeply passionate about Barbie (as you can probably tell). The fact that this brave and boundary-breaking, feminist film with female empowerment at its heart has reached billions of people on the planet is deeply significant for the progression of women’s rights. Yes, many people feel icky about the fact that it was funded by Mattel and it could, as some have argued, be seen as an unprecedented stroke of marketing and commercial genius on the toymakers behalf, but it is so, so much more than that. Its messaging about what it means to be a woman in today’s society, what it has meant to be a woman throughout history and its blatant attempts to topple the patriarchy and disrupt gender stereotyping has never been seen as the main plotline of a mainstream, box office smash hit film in cinema’s history.
Millions of young girls – and boys – now have an understanding of what the patriarchy is and how we can all hope and strive to live in a world where women are respected and treated as having opportunities that are equal to men.
It's everything.
I know men whose eyes have been opened since watching Barbie and who are heralding it as one of the best films they've ever seen. Indeed, according to a survey conducted by Resume Builder in the States after the film came out, 53% of respondents said that Barbie improved their opinion of women in the workplace, 74% of conservative men said the film improved their view of women in leadership roles and 2 in 3 said that the film made them more aware of patriarchy in the workplace. It has genuine societal impact.
In terms of representation, the film was also brilliant and beautiful with race, body type and gender representation at the forefront. Frustrating, yes, that due to the doll’s history, Margot Robbie’s ‘stereotypical Barbie’ with her blonde hair, blue eyes and ludicrously proportioned body was the lead role and perhaps Greta and her husband Noah Baumbach, who wrote the screenplay, could have played around with diverse lead roles and storylines more. But we had Issa Rae’s magnificent turn as President Barbie, Hari Nef as Doctor Barbie, Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie, Rita Ayru as Journalist Barbie, nevermind the second supporting Ken, Simu Liu, and Ncuti Gatwa as yet another Ken giving splendid performances.
In contrast, what does Oppenheimer - which is widely expected to pick up the big gongs on the night, as it did at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards - teach us? That men can create a weapon that is capable of destroying the planet? That male ego and deception coupled with destructive, underhand politics is what makes the world go round? That women in the sphere of powerful men get overlooked, sidelined and end up, as Emily Blunt’s brilliant portrayal of Oppenheimer’s wife, Katherine did, miserable alcoholics?
Of course, Barbie still may scoop the board at the Oscars in the eight categories in which it is nominated, but for Greta and Margot to not even stand a chance to compete is maddening and regressive and I’ll say it again, outright sexist. Which is also, of course, deeply ironic given all that Barbie represents. It's literally the whole point of the movie.
I hope that the swell of outrage generated by this decision might finally cause the dinosaurs of the Academy to sit up and pay attention - because god knows Greta and Margot tried bloody hard enough to do just that.
