The Oscar nominations are in, and something is missing from the nominations for Best Director and Best Picture – or is there? None of us at Polygon expected this Barbie to make it, nor for Greta Gerwig to snag a Best Director nomination, but… should she have done that? And why not?
We had a debate about it in our newsroom. This is how it went down.
Matte patches: Greta Gerwig is missing as director Barbie…that’s a real snub.
Maddy Myers: Stupid question: Barbie is a comedy and I always feel like the Oscars aren’t really that Do Comedies, so the snub isn’t that strange to me. Is that completely wrong?
Austen Goslin: I think that pretty much sums it up.
Maddy Myers: Pretty. I am very smart.
Matt stains: I think that explains some of it, but not all of it, and perhaps has more to do with the expanded voting body. Barbie
Maddy Myers: American fiction is a comedy… in a way… but NOT in the same sense Barbie Is.
Matt stains: Oh, of course not. But Barbie also has prestige pedigree – the guy who shot Flower Moon Killer shot!
Maddy Myers: I think if someone literally dies in the first act of your film, then you can qualify for an Oscar nomination.
Matt stains: Barbie wants to die, does that count?
Maddy Myers: My wife said after we finished American fiction that it was “the best one yet” of all the Oscar nominees and I said, “What about that one?” Barbie movie?” and she just stared at me.
Matt stains: Maybe the attitude this year is that there wasn’t room for all good director types in films. And the strict, “serious” direction has once again put an end to the inventors. Poor things And Barbie are too similar in Big Ideas and the complex, thoughtful work in Barbie
Maddy Myers: I mean, I love how strange Barbie was of the opinion that it was the most popular children’s toy in the world. And the film obviously tries to push its limits, but that’s it Barbie Movie and there’s only so much you can do (something that Barbie Film itself stares at the screen and says to you). My other problematic view is that Gosling deserves a nomination and no one else deserves a nomination. But if that had happened, people probably would have been angry, I guess.
Austen Goslin: I don’t think America’s nomination kills the comedy thing. The supporting performance is in the realm of “We’re giving the comedy a bone here.”
Maddy Myers: She’s not the one I would have chosen, but you’re right. And doesn’t the big picture also put a strain on the average voter? It would be as shameful as voting for a Marvel Comics adaptation.
Austen Goslin: Oddly enough, the best analogue of Barbie could be… The Dark Knight?
Maddy Myers: YES. Austen, exactly.
Austen Goslin: The Best Picture category is nominated in the 10 nominations category, but the rest seems to be just about right. Otherwise, it is a pop blockbuster directed with impressive craft and skill by its director, a director already recognized by the Academy but not yet fully praised. Both films received supporting actor nominations, where the Academy prefers to reward blockbusters and comedies. Meanwhile, everyone did well in the technical categories and broke down into slightly larger categories, with an adapted script for Barbie and cinematography for The Dark Knight. It seems particularly fitting that these comparisons fall so well in the same year in which Christopher Nolan is the favorite for Best Director. Maybe it also means that Greta Gerwig is making them do it beginning next.
Matt stains: Okay, fine, I forgive them.
