Breaking down the chaotic discourse around Barbie Oscars 'snubs'

Unless you've indiscriminately flitted between the real world and Barbie world via pink convertible, you've likely read a wild take on the 2024 Oscar nominations at some point within the last week. Ranging from understandable disappointment over Greta Gerwig's titanic, visionary, groundbreaking cinematic achievement (both in terms of quality and box office might) being left out of the Best Director lineup to, frankly, unhinged analysis that cites Ryan Gosling's Supporting Actor nod as the reason "why we aren’t in the 8th year of Hillary Clinton’s presidency," people have had some thoughts on the Academy's voting.

The latest episode of EW's Awardist podcast (below) attempts to get to the root of the oversimplification of the issues at hand — beginning with the idea that the Academy's branch of directors might be more concerned with the perceived dichotomy between commercial fare and high-brow art versus the identity of the filmmakers it nominates.

Barbie is undoubtedly one of the most important works of cinema to be released within the last year. Helmed by Gerwig and produced by Margot Robbie — its lead actress who also had a hand in shaping the final product of what's, on the surface, an inarguably tough sell as a concept — the film grossed well over $1.4 billion globally throughout its theatrical run, and resonated with general audiences in ways rarely seen in the 2024 pop culture landscape. The problem for the Academy, it appears, is that the film might've become too popular — enough that the directing branch's increasingly international, increasingly high-brow, and increasingly European tastes (thanks to an influx of global artists of all backgrounds and origins welcomed to this voting arm across the last 10 years) might've taken it for granted as a monolithic Hollywood tentpole when casting ballots.

The frustration over Gerwig's omission from Best Director is warranted when praising the merits of her work, but that frustration can't come at the expense of ignoring Past Lives filmmaker Celine Song's absence in the category, or French filmmaker Justine Triet's (Anatomy of a Fall) credibility inside the category — or the strides other recent Best Director nominees and winners including Chloé Zhao (Nomadland), Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), and Emerald Fennell (Promising Young Woman) have made in the bracket over the last three years. Picking and choosing which women to lift up based on the commercial might of their works (in essence, lifting up Barbie solely because it was the most widely seen and, by default, widely beloved movie between the three aforementioned 2024 Best Picture nominees directed by women) is also detrimental to these artists, their craft, and their respective places in the industry.

As the directing branch has proven for decades (take a look at one-off nominees such as David Lynch for Mulholland Drive, etc.) they often go rogue and off the expected path. They like what they like, they vote how they vote — that's not to say discrimination isn't at play. Misogyny and other prejudices are alive and well both in and outside the Academy, but the directing branch has also curiously left out works with substantial momentum that were directed by men in recent years as well: Ben Affleck for Argo (despite Affleck winning the DGA prize that year), Bradley Cooper for Best Picture nominee A Star Is Born, etc. Gerwig's celebrity has, at no fault of her own, aligned her with the A-list elite stars in the industry, and the snootiest voters in the directing branch — particularly specialty auteurs invited to join from around the world — might've felt better voting for a more traditional prestige title than the highest-earning commercial blockbuster of the year.

The same can be said for the kinds of actors the Academy typically lifts up in this era of transforming membership. Take, for example, a quote from EW's interview with an anonymous Oscars voter in 2020, when asked why they thought the branch blocked Hustlers actress Jennifer Lopez — who was nominated for nearly every precursor on the circuit — from receiving her first-ever Academy Award nod.

"We're buying internationalism in the Academy, but international taste will come with that. The snubs of Jennifer Lopez for Hustlers and of Adam Sandler for Uncut Gems are in part high versus low culture. I think some of the new members of the Academy don't have the same affection we have for comedic actors or more mainstream actors stepping outside of that," an anonymous member of the writing branch told EW at the time. "They have a stronger division of high and low culture, so they didn't appreciate those performances the way Americans did [so] I wasn't surprised that J.Lo wasn't on the list, but I would've put her on."

The same mindset can also likely be used to explain the lack of nominations for similarly momentous recent performances that swept the precursors but failed to end up with a nod on nominations morning, such as pop superstar Lady Gaga in House of Gucci and Outlander actress Caitriona Balfe in Belfast. High-brow voters might dismiss these performances — much like they might've done with Robbie's in Barbie — as the work of more populist presences in the industry, unfairly dismissing their craft while seeking elsewhere what they deem to be higher art. That, in itself, is a scary, problematic way of thinking that also needs to be addressed — and one that showcases inherent misogyny for famous women in Hollywood.

But, perhaps Whoopi Goldberg — an Oscar winner, multi-time Oscars host, and former Academy board member — summarized the complexity of the issue in the simplest terms during Wednesday's episode of The View: "There are no snubs. That's what you have to keep in mind: Not everybody gets a prize," she said. "It is subjective."

Listen to the latest Awardist episode above, and catch up with EW's ongoing Oscars coverage in the full podcast feed below.

Check out more from EW's The Awardist, featuring exclusive interviews, analysis, and our podcast diving into all the highlights from the year's best in TV.

Related content:

• Awards season calendar 2024: See key show dates for Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes
• See where 18 Academy Award winners keep their Oscars
• The most shocking snubs and surprises of the 2024 Oscar nominations
• See top 2024 Oscars contenders for Best Picture, Actor, Actress, and more