Fans of “Barbie” are outraged that the movie was “snubbed” in this year’s Oscar nominations. Even though the movie was nominated for eight awards, “Barbie” stans are furious that Greta Gerwig wasn’t nominated for best director or Margot Robbie wasn’t nominated for best actress. The two snubs mark a miscarriage of justice in the eyes of “Barbie” partisans, who have been circulating memes arguing that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has replicated the patriarchal norms that the movie objects to. Ryan Gosling, who was nominated for best supporting actor for his role as Ken, released a statement saying Gerwig and Robbie should’ve been recognized because they “made history.” Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton published a post on social media standing in solidarity with Robbie and Gerwig. She included the hashtag #HillaryBarbie.
This debate means a lot to some people, which speaks to how skillfully Gerwig walked the narrow art-commerce tightrope. But it also overstates what is liberating about “Barbie” and understates what’s oppressive about it.
“Barbie” is witty and extremely fun, and it featured a thorough and compassionate examination of how patriarchy traps not only women but also men with its oppressive value system. Yet it’s misguided to think the film objectively deserved to receive more nominations than it got — or that not being nominated for 10 Oscars can only be explained by obvious misogyny.
The bigger tragedy here may be that “Barbie” is being decorated at all. “Barbie” was an actual two-hour toy commercial backed by Mattel that, by its very nature, could never offer us radical ideas about feminism and power in society.
The academy — which consists of thousands of film industry professionals who generally vote in the categories that they specialize in (directors for directors, actors for actors, etc.) — hardly showed disrespect for a movie that was nominated eight times, including for best…
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