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Newcastle Herald
Newcastle Herald

That time when the Academy put Barbie in the corner

Ryan Gosling addressed the issue just hours after the Academy's announcement.

There is something about Ken getting an Oscar nomination while Barbie gets snubbed that makes you wonder if the Academy missed the entire point of the film.

Did they watch the same Barbie film as everybody else?

Did they watch the film that critiques the patriarchy, has an unapologetically pink colour palette and an unforgettable monologue about how hard it can be to be a woman in a world geared towards favouring men?

Because, if that were the case, why is it that the male lead is the one with the Oscar nomination, and not the female lead?

Or the female director?

This is not to say that Ryan Gosling did not do an incredible job with Ken and does not deserve the Best Supporting Actor nod.

Or that people are not ecstatic that America Ferrara - who plays Gloria, the human lens through which we view the Barbie world - received her first Oscar nod as Best Supporting Actress.

But that does not mean that Margot Robbie's performance as Barbie, and Greta Gerwig's directorial role were not cosmically snubbed.

So much so that, in a world that is used to the Academy leaving key people out of their nominations, these two particular snubs are still setting the world (or rather, the internet) on fire.

Even Gosling addressed the issue - mere hours after the announcement.

"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," Gosling said in a statement.

"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."

There was an incredible hill both Robbie - as an actor and producer - and Gerwig - as a director and co-screenwriter - had to climb to make Barbie.

This was a project that had tried to get off the ground multiple times, with various versions - including ones where Amy Schumer and Anne Hathaway played the title role - continuously falling before even reaching the first hurdle.

And, for what it's worth, both Schumer and Hathaway have praised Robbie's version.

It's hard not to.

Robbie manages to perfectly embody a doll that somehow feels simultaneously relatable and far from relatable, while making it look effortless.

Not to mention then creating a screenplay that managed to discuss the complexities and uphold the criticisms alongside the praise that this at-times controversial doll has attracted over the decades.

Oh, and they managed to make more than $US1.4 billion ($2.1 billion) in the process.

And yet, despite all of this - despite the money and the impact and the overall achievement - these two women were left without nominations.

Is it that hard for the Academy to admit that a film can be successful commercially, hold a female gaze and critically acclaimed at the same time?

When you look at who makes up the Academy - a group of overwhelmingly white men who are mainly over the age of 60 - perhaps it's not so hard to see why they continually dismiss "girl movies".

This comes just six years after the #MeToo era when the Oscars committed to including films with a female gaze in their considerations.

But, as always, actions speak louder than words, and it's clear that it was all a flimsy public relations move with no backbone.

Sure, you could argue that the film industry is slow-moving.

But how do you explain excluding a perfect candidate such as this one if not gender bias?

It's not about Barbie winning the awards.

It's about women, women-led projects, and women-focused content being included and held up to the same standard as their male counterparts.

Amy Martin is a Canberra Times journalist 

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