There’s no Ken without Barbie. And strangely, both Barbie and her filmmaker are missing from the Oscar 2024 nominations list. The 96th Academy Awards announced nominees on Tuesday across 23 categories, and while Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera from Barbie were nominated for the best supporting actor categories, Margot Robbie — who actually enacted Barbie — and Greta Gerwig — who directed the highest-grossing film of last year — were missing.
It takes no connoisseur in filmmaking to decipher that many hearts were broken to see the missing names. Yes, Barbie was indeed nominated under the Best Film Category, but the popular sentiment is that the film’s director and protagonist deserved inclusion as nominees, regardless of the outcome.
Robbie plays a phenomenal role as Barbie, who comes to face with the current reality and is struck by a brutal realisation of what it means to be a woman in a man’s world. The film did a fantastic job of explaining the most complex topics through a mind-bogglingly simple route.
Gosling was disappointed to see Robbie and Gerwig’s absence from the nominees list. He said, “But 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…To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.“
“Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history. Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees”, he added.
Naturally, people on the Internet have been reacting to this. Here’s what they are saying –
I am genuinely feeling depressed over the Barbie Oscar nomination snubs, especially Greta’s, like what do women have to do in this world to be simply recognized pic.twitter.com/wCg78Iselx
— Em 🦬 (@EmmieAward19) January 23, 2024
"There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie" – Ryan Gosling pic.twitter.com/YnQ1HHsv6a
— ໊ (@addictionmargot) January 23, 2024
ryan getting a nomination but margot didn’t just proves the entire plot of barbie pic.twitter.com/fqtX9yuqsw
— ellie (@phobicgay) January 23, 2024
i love ryan but why did a MAN get nominated for the oscars for playing in a movie about how harsh the world is on WOMEN, and margot, who played an exceptional role as barbie and represented womanhood and all the struggles women have to face, didn’t??? pic.twitter.com/bVd5TlJUMV
— bella ☆ CLOSED FOREVER (@blockbellaout) January 23, 2024
a movie about women, made by a women & a man won an Oscar for it?… i’m done. https://t.co/bGaGKpeBRs pic.twitter.com/39ixrHzb7M
— 𝕥𝕒𝕪𝕪 ♡ (@iloveannamama) January 24, 2024
i love ryan but why did a MAN get nominated for the oscars for playing in a movie about how harsh the world is on WOMEN, and margot, who played an exceptional role as barbie and represented womanhood and all the struggles women have to face, didn’t??? pic.twitter.com/bVd5TlJUMV
— bella ☆ CLOSED FOREVER (@blockbellaout) January 23, 2024
This discourse is not in the slightest bit against Gosling. Truth be told, he’s one of the few men we wholeheartedly admire. And we wish to see him lift the trophy alongside Ferrera in their respective categories. They deserve it. However, two artists who created a movie delving into deep-rooted issues surrounding women in our world do not get the due credit for their work, whilst everyone else does – something doesn’t fit right.
Regardless of everything else, Barbie deserves to be celebrated, as does every artist who contributed to making the film what it was. PS – Gosling is effing awesome.
