Dual Oppenheimer nominations salt in the wounds after Barbie snub

The Barbie snub casts a harsh spotlight on the storeyed history of sexism at awards shows. Have your say.

There are always Oscar snubs, but this one is striking the media as particularly egregious. Barbie became a cultural phenomenon, grossed $1.4 billion at the global box office, and brought moviegoers back to the cinema for the first time in years.

Yet its director Greta Gerwig wasn’t nominated.

Additionally, Barbie star Margot Robbie was snubbed for Best Actress, while Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera were nominated for supporting roles.

“Let me see if I understand this: the Academy nominated ‘Barbie’ for Best Picture (eight nominations total) – a film about women being sidelined and rendered invisible in patriarchal structures – but not the woman who directed the film. Okay then,” read a viral X post by the writer Charlotte Clymer.

Barbie director Greta Gerwig and star Margot Robbie were snubbed in this year’s Oscar nominations. Picture: Hanna Lassen/Getty Images

This latest snub casts a harsh spotlight on the storeyed history of sexism at awards shows, with the additional heat of irony.

The Barbie movie functions as both a commentary on modern sexism and as a meditation on the iconic Mattel doll’s place in feminist discourse. Gosling being recognised for his Ken, who discovers the idea of patriarchy and then attempts to dominate Barbieland, before Robbie’s character destroys gender-based oppression, was too much for some to take.

“We’re actually doing patriarchy very well,” writer Jodi Lipper wrote in an Instagram story, quoting a Ken line from the film.

Gosling agreed, releasing a statement on Wednesday that said: “To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”

Ryan Gosling. Picture: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

America Ferrera. Picture: Presley Ann/Getty Images

Ferrera, who plays Mattel worker Gloria in the film, and is up for a best supporting actress Oscar, was also “incredibly disappointed”.

“Greta has done just about everything that a director could do to deserve it,” she said.

In the nearly 100 years the Oscars have existed, 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. Only eight have been nominated full stop.

“After Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie made a film about patriarchy that generated a billion dollars for Hollywood, the man in the film got nominated for a major award and I’m honestly not sure what I expected,” wrote columnist Brandon Friedman.

For some, the salt in the wound was the dual nominations of Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan and lead Cillian Murphy.

Originally published as Dual Oppenheimer nominations salt in the wounds after Barbie snub