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As we’ve discussed, Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig’s Oscar nomination snubs in Best Actress and Best Director respectively have become the story of the week. The backlash to the snubs was immediate and loud, and we’re now in a “backlash to the backlash” cycle. One explanation for why these particular snubs have gotten so much attention is because the film was so popular and ubiquitous – Barbie made over $1.4 billion at the domestic and international box office. Which means more people have seen Barbie than any other Best Picture nominee. The second most-watched Best Picture nominee is Oppenheimer, and that film got a Best Director nomination and a nom for its lead actor. My take is still: sure, the conversation is kind of white-feminist-y, but this is also blatant sexism and a bunch of dude Oscar voters underestimating and undervaluing just what Robbie and Gerwig did. Anyway, People Mag did an exclusive piece with an unnamed “Oscar voter.”
According to one member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, this year’s exclusion of Margot Robbie in the Best Actress category and Greta Gerwig in Best Director are an example of “the ultimate in patriarchy.”
Robbie was nominated for Best Picture as a producer of the film while Gerwig was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay with her husband Noah Baumbach. For his role as Ken, Ryan Gosling received a Best Supporting Actor nomination, along with America Ferrera, who scored a Best Supporting Actress nod for her work in Barbie. But for some, the absences were glaring in Best Actress and Best Director. “I feel sad that that recognition, which is so deserving, was snubbed because it’s wrong on every level,” the source tells PEOPLE.
The source notes that largely, “each category, each branch nominates from their branch,” except for best picture, which is voted on by all members.
“That’s how the nominations work,” adds the source. “Every branch nominates for their branch and everybody votes for final voting.”
Academy members use preferential ballots weighted towards voters’ No. 1 and No. 2 favorites, but still, the source says given how well the movie did across the ballot, it’s unclear “how the algorithm worked that she [Gerwig] didn’t get enough votes for a directing nod.”
The film’s comedic nature may have also affected the outcome. “Comedies traditionally don’t do well at the Academy,” the source says. “And this is a film that, yes, was a comedy and it grossed over $1 billion. How do you not give credit to the director? How many female directors had films that gross that? This was a phenomenon.”
Although the source notes the headline-making snubs are “a terrible miss,” the nominations did showcase historic diversity, including Killers of the Flower Moon Best Actress hopeful Lily Gladstone, who is the the first Native American actress to be nominated for an Oscar. Emily Blunt, Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, America Ferrera and Cillian Murphy earned the first nominations of their career.
Yeah, I think a lot of Oscar voters realize how sh-tty they look for these two snubs. I also think the fact that these were two very prominent snubs together was particularly telling – if it had just been Robbie left off of Best Actress while Gerwig got a nom in director, people could have made the “fluke” argument and talked about how it was just a weird quirk of the voting system. But the two snubs together… the message is sexism, the message is “we don’t value what Robbie and Gerwig did.”
One of my favorite “backlash to the backlash” arguments is “well who would you have taken off??” Please, Martin Scorsese didn’t deserve a directing nom for four hours of “let’s focus on the white murderers.” KOTFM was poorly paced, poorly told and the script (which Scorsese co-authored) was so bad that it was also “snubbed” for a screenplay nom. While Annette Benning is always a sentimental favorite, she got nominated in Best Actress for a highbrow Lifetime movie.
Hillary Clinton chimed in too.
Greta & Margot,
While it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you.
You’re both so much more than Kenough.#HillaryBarbie
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) January 24, 2024
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 07: Greta Gerwig wearing a FENDI Couture dress, Jimmy Choo shoes, and Pomellato jewelry arrives at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 835209548, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Greta Gerwig, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 07: Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach arrive at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 835210278, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
BEVERLY HILLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – JANUARY 07: Greta Gerwig wearing a FENDI Couture dress, Jimmy Choo shoes, and Pomellato jewelry arrives at the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 7, 2024 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 835210307, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Greta Gerwig, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
SANTA MONICA, CA – JANUARY 14: Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley at the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards on January 14, 2024 at The Barer Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Copyright: xJeffreyxMayerx,Image: 837150694, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
SANTA MONICA, CA – JANUARY 14: Margot Robbie at the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards on January 14, 2024 at The Barer Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Copyright: xJeffreyxMayerx,Image: 837150710, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
SANTA MONICA, CA – JANUARY 14: Margot Robbie at the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards on January 14, 2024 at The Barer Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Copyright: xJeffreyxMayerx,Image: 837150725, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: imago is entitled to issue a simple usage license at the time of provision. Personality and trademark rights as well as copyright laws regarding art-works shown must be observed. Commercial use at your own risk., Model Release: no, Credit line: IMAGO/Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
