Article by Marcus Siu

“It’s definitely not a good look that the Academy members left out Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie for directing and starring in a movie that’s largely about how impressive women are often marginalized,” says Dave Karger, Turner Classic Movies host and author of 50 Oscar Nights.

That quote was taken from an article from People Magazine. Karger, along with many others were very surprised about the recent Barbie “snubs” after the Academy Award nominations were announced; mainly the exclusion of director, Greta Gerwig not receiving a Best Director nomination and its star, Margot Robbie, not getting a Best Actress nomination, playing the title role in “Barbie”.

Even co-star Ryan Gosling who played Ken spoke out, as one of the two supporting actors who received nominations in the supporting categories for the movie, “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement,” he said about the pair. Gosling added that he was “extremely honored to be nominated”, the three time Oscar nominee concluded, “there is no Ken without Barbie. And there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.”

Though, I certainly agree Gerwig is worthy of a nomination in the Best Director category, it’s very difficult to argue that any of the other five were less deserving, as the Academy has gotten to be very “global”. In fact, out of the five nominated, only one of them is American; ten time Oscar nominated, Martin Scorsese for “Killers of the Flower Moon”. The other four are European.

One can certainly make an argument in saying that all of the following American directors were “snubbed”: Alexander Payne for “The Holdovers”, Bradley Cooper for “Maestro”, Cord Jefferson for “American Fiction”, first timer, Celine Song for “Past Lives”, and Ava duVernay for “Origins”.

However, just like the Olympics, we are not just competing exclusively in domestic waters anymore. The Academy has become very global in the last ten years ever since the #OscarsSoWhite movement that promoted diversity. International films and filmmakers are becoming more recognized more than ever.

There are 587 directors in the Academy Branch. If you look over the nominated directors over the years and the films they have been nominated for, they tend to be more dramatic and less comedic, with scripts whose characters inspire and move them and keeping their audiences at the edge of their seats.

“Barbie” doesn’t quite fit in that category. 

Despite being a pop culture phenomenon that swept the box office by storm, taking in nearly 1.5 billion dollars globally, making it the highest grossing film of 2023, and the 14th of all time, “Barbie” is still bravura filmmaking from Greta Gerwig’s creative vision sending a “positive” message to all girls and women alike around the world. It’s a modern day women’s lib movie. It’s also the kind of movie that the public needs and wants to see.

The only other box office smash of recent times in comparison that comes to mind with having such a huge inspirational social impact like “Barbie” was Marvel’s “Black Panther” which empowered both black men and women alike. That film made 1.4 billion dollars globally and is in the Top 20 all-time list, but even director, Ryan Coogler wasn’t up for a nomination either.

In response to Margot Robbie not getting the nomination for Best Actress,..it’s not “snubbery” at all.

The Actor’s branch tend to nominate actors who takes risks and challenges with scripts that require a full range of human emotions that plastic doll characters cannot possibly possess. The Actor’s branch know Robbie can act in biopics, such as Tonya Harding (I, Tonya) or even a caricature of one, such as Kayla Pospisil (Bombshell) in which she received Academy Award nominations for, but they don’t generally recognize actors who don’t need to transform themselves much. What is the challenge in that?

Margot Robbie personifies “Barbie”. She looks and sounds like “Barbie”, so you don’t need to be a brain surgeon to have cast her in the title role, since she is “Barbie” in real life. She was made for “Barbie”…or should I say “Barbie” was made for her.

Which is why, Ryan Gosling got the nomination. He overshadowed Robbie in just about every scene they were in together. Before the movie was in production, everyone questioned and even doubted the casting of Gosling to portray Ken. It just seemed like a bad choice. No one questioned the casting of Margot Robbie. When the movie was finally released those doubts were thrown out the window. Pure casting genius.

If you still want to play the “snub” game, you don’t have to look far at all to notice the other incredible performances who were left out of this year’s race. For the Best Actress category, it wasn’t just Margot Robbie who didn’t make the cut, but Greta Lee (Past Lives), Fantasia Barrino (The Color Purple), Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman (May December). 

If there are any snubs in Hollywood, it would be for actors who have the portray “bad people”. For example, Leonard diCaprio, in another unforgettable role plays “the white man” who plots to kill his Native American wife, Molly (Lily Gladstone), in “Killer’s of the Flower Moon”.

Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman from “May December” didn’t get nominations either. Is it because Moore plays a pedaphile and Portman, who plays an actress in the movie, wants to portray her in her own movie?

Still, with Barbie’s astounding eight Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Gerwig and Robbie deservedly still got Oscar nominations, since they were both producers of the film, so they weren’t totally snubbed by the Academy as a whole…and they certainly were not snubbed by the movie going public who made it the most popular movie of 2023.

As far as the word “snub”. It’s just a four-letter word and should be used sparingly. 90% of the time, I feel it is used inappapropriately, especially when it comes to the Oscar season.

If I had to choose the “perfect snub”, I would have to choose Paul Giamatti’s snub for Best Actor for his performance in the 2003 film “Sideways”. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including two for Best Supporting Actor and Actress, screenplay, and Director, Alexander Payne.

Perhaps the Academy thought he was playing himself? Perhaps he will get payback for “The Holdovers”.