The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Tuesday the nominations for the 96th Academy Awards, which will air March 10. Greta Gerwig's absence from the Best Director category caused an uproar on the Internet Barbie was a true cultural phenomenon and enjoyed enormous commercial success. Was the director “snubbed”?
• Also read: They injected Botox into her trapezius to look like Barbie
• Also read: Can Barbie, this doll with an unrealistic physique, really be a feminist?
Another notable absence: Margot Robbie, who plays Barbie, in the nominations for the best actress statuette.
Even Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera, nominated in the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories, lamented the absence of the director and actress.
“There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie film without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two main people behind this historic, globally acclaimed film,” replied the actor.
Note that Barbie received eight Oscar nominations, including for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
“Don’t care about scandal”
Even if Barbie is a “strong offer, in the times, original, surprising and contradictory to the current trends in Hollywood”, the absence of Gerwig and Robbie is not a reason for scandal, says cinema professor and director of the UQAM media school, Pierre Barrette.
“They probably deserve to be there, but there are a lot of really good films this year. In particular, there is a Scorsese who doesn't get stung and an Oppenheimer who received exceptional reviews,” he says.
Still, he says he's “surprised” that Gerwig isn't on the list of top directors, given her track record and all the noise surrounding Barbie.
Without accusing the academy of anti-feminism, the professor recalled that it is still a “very conservative” institution and that its older members vote.
“It took a change in the last few years for a small change to happen. The change has begun and we can see it clearly, but the fact remains that things move slowly in this institution, as in all others,” he emphasizes.
An expression of Hollywood's sexist bias?
For Anne Martine Parent, a specialist in the representation of women in popular culture, the fact that Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie are not on the nomination list could be a reflection of Hollywood's sexist bias.
She emphasizes that “this is nothing new in history [des Oscars] let women be snubbed.”
In nearly 100 years, nine women have received this nomination in the Best Director category and only three have won the statuette. A work with a male protagonist is also twice as likely to win the Best Film award.
The literature professor at the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi thus underlines the irony of the fact that women are at the center of Barbieland and that the interpreter of Ken – who in the film tries to establish a patriarchal world called Kendom – is the one who receives a nomination , and not its counterpart.
“The fact [que Greta Gerwig et Margot Robbie] “Anyone who is not named proves that we are far from the Barbie world,” adds Anne Martine Parent. It almost seems like we want to save Kendom!”
• Also read: “Barbie” has grossed more than $1 billion at the global box office, a first for a female director
How do Oscar nominations work?
Studios must first register their productions and meet certain requirements, such as screening the film in Los Angeles.
The Academy members, who are professionals in their field, then make a pre-selection and then vote for their favorites.
• Also read: The film “Barbie”, a new factor of disruption
A second round of voting will then take place to determine the nominees, who will be announced at an official ceremony.
Finally, all Academy members are asked to vote for the winners from among the nominees in each category.