If there’s one thing the Oscars are usually sniffy about, it’s a mainstream blockbuster. They may garner nominations but winning is a different matter altogether. But Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, an effervescent comedy about the world’s most famous doll that wraps up a zingy dissection of the patriarchy, women’s lack of power and mortality in a bright bow, is not your standard blockbuster. And that’s exactly why it deserves that best picture Oscar.
Meryl Streep wasn’t being hyperbolic when she credited Barbie for saving the film industry and “all of our jobs” at this year’s Palm Springs film awards. It became 2023’s highest grossing film and the 14th highest-grossing film of all time after cashing in $1.4bn at the worldwide box office. Barbie swept in like a pastel-hued tsunami through an industry that had been sluggish since the pandemic, with cinemas failing to get as many people through the door as they had pre-Covid.
