“It is the best day ever. So was yesterday, and so is tomorrow, and every day from now until forever,” Margot Robbie’s character said in “Barbie” — a sentiment that many fans of the newly released film did not share after the 2024 Oscar nominations were announced on Jan. 23.
“Barbie,” a record-breaking debut, became the subject of online controversy over the past week. While the film received eight Academy Award nominations, many Instagram and TikTok users expressed disappointment and claimed the film was snubbed from the Oscars.
Both director Greta Gerwig and Robbie were overlooked for the Best Director and Best Leading Actress categories, but co-star Ryan Gosling received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Social media users quickly commented on the film’s female leads being overlooked.
On the contrary to fans, Robbie said that she felt “ecstatic” and “blessed” to have “Barbie” receiving so much recognition at the Oscars. At the same time, she said Gerwig deserved to be nominated for her directing.
“What she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Robbie said. “What she pulled off, it really is. But it’s been an incredible year for all the films.”
“Barbie” is nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for America Ferrera; Best Supporting Actor for Gosling; Costume Design, Production Design and Best Adapted Screenplay for Gerwig and Noah Baumbach.
Gosling, who faced some hate upon receiving a nomination, shared Robbie’s sentiment.
“I am extremely honored to be nominated by my colleagues alongside such remarkable artists in a year of so many great films,” he said in a statement. “There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.”
Taking a closer look, it is also notable that one-third of this year’s Oscars nominees are women. The question arises if the quarrel is truly about feminism or about upset fanatics who believe two widely loved celebrities were snubbed for not sweeping the nominations.
Some critics said that the online controversy was overblown and ignored the women of color who were nominated.
“So many White feminists are ignoring that America Ferrara, a woman of color, has also received an Oscar nomination for Barbie,” one user tweeted. “Sure, it would have been great if Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were nominated but this whole discourse is the very epitome of White feminism.”
As a reviewer for The Ticker stated in September, “Barbie is more than a movie; it’s a trigger, an emotional tornado that has come to reveal the weaknesses frequently concealed beneath facades of social acceptance.”
