Why the Barbie movie doesn’t deserve an Oscar

Barbie dominated pop culture and the box office but being the most popular film doesn’t make it deserving of the top gong.

OPINION

It’s a Barbie world and we’re just living in it.

At least that’s what the awards season campaign machine would have you believe, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who hand out the Oscars aren’t falling for it.

For all its virtue signalling, Barbie is fluffy fare at best. At worst, it tars you with the brush of misogyny if you don’t defend its man-bashing ultra feminism.

Barbie’s many admirers lost their minds over the perceived Oscar snubs by it not scoring noms for Best Actress Margot Robbie and Best Director Greta Gerwig. Maybe the awards telecast should institute a trigger warning. When did a boffo billion dollar box office performance merit prestigious accolades outside of the accounting department? Franchises from the Marvel Universe, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Avatar and Jurassic Park may have saved cinema financially, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to Oscar gold. Nor should it.

In 2009, the Academy changed the rules to include more Best Picture nominees from five to 10. It would not only honour more fine works, but draw more eyeballs (and consequently higher ratings) to the TV broadcast.

Barbie’s many admirers lost their minds over the perceived Oscar snubs by it not scoring noms for Best Actress Margot Robbie and Best Director Greta Gerwig. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association

This year, for much the same reason, their colleagues at The Golden Globe Awards decided to create a prize named The Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award. It was obvious that Barbie would be victorious. Then Robbie fans were sent swooning when she showed up in a pink Giorgio Armani Prive Barbie-inspired gown accessorised with $3+million US in pink and white diamonds.

But it’s called an awards “race” for a reason. It’s not a kid’s mini football league where everybody gets a trophy just for participating. It’s the Oscars! There are only a certain number of slots available in every category and the never-more-diverse panel of Academy members determine who should fill them. As a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards, I was glad that Oppenheimer took home the Best Picture gong and Barbie received six wins, including Best Comedy.

Margot Robbie won the prestigious AACTA Trailblazer Award at this year’s ceremony. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images for AFI

Still, it wasn’t enough for the cult of Barbie fanatics who see the film as a beacon of truth about the Patriarchy and its oppression of females wrapped up in a bubblegum package of froth and fun. But you don’t empower one gender by tearing down another. I found it a sad look at the way women view men … and themselves.

It’s a reasonable argument to make that, if Ryan Gosling could be nominated for Best Supporting Actor for playing Ken, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were robbed for not getting the same acknowledgments as Best Actress and Best Director, respectively.

It's a Barbie World and we're just living in it. Picture: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Warner Bros.

It’s worth noting that Robbie could take home an Oscar as Barbie’s executive producer if it wins Best Picture and Gerwig is up for Best Writing, so they were not left out in the cold altogether. No one seems to be pointing out that Leonardo DiCaprio was not nominated for either an Oscar or SAG Award for his acting work in Killers of the Flower Moon.

Had it not been for the box office receipts and merchandising revenue, it’s hard to believe the real life Mattel executives (amusingly led onscreen by Will Ferrell) would have allowed themselves to be so mercilessly skewered with a feeble attempt to offset it by a hit-you-over-the-head message from Rhea Perlman’s fantasy portrayal of Barbie doll creator Ruth Handler. Insert the Eye Roll emoji.

Barbie is already laughing all the way to the bank. There will be plenty more statues to adorn the mantles of its production, music and design teams. Let’s sit back and enjoy the competition, celebrating the fact that we have so many great films and performances from 2023. Are you caught up on seeing all the nominated motion pictures or do you just want to snuggle up on the sofa and watch Barbie again for the third or fourth time?

Nelson Aspen is an award-winning journalist and author. He lives in NYC.