Why Barbie's Oscar Snub Is Not As Bad As You Think

When the Oscar nominations were announced a few weeks ago, there was a general uproar from fans of the film: not nominating Greta Gerwig's already iconic piece of cinema was surprising at best and outright "sick" at worst, according to users on X. 

Arguments ensued about whether the snub was deserved since it could be said that the concept of the Barbie film was most likely designed as a marketing ploy to sell dolls.

When the film project was first announced in 2009, feminism wasn't nearly as present in the zeitgeist as it is now, but Barbie, like many projects with high-marketing potential, entered the so-called 'development hell.'

After ten years of bouncing from actress to actress, the titular role went to Margot Robbie, and Greta Gerwig was bound to become the director a year later. So it's a cash grab and was never meant to be a feminist film in the first place, right?

Yes and no. Yes, in that the basic plot structure of Barbie is not necessarily a reflection of the deep-feminist theory that some may have expected, and it certainly didn't hurt Mattel's sales once it premiered. 

Yet, Barbie did something remarkable. In a world where most current events earn groans during movie premieres-we all remember the Fortnite references in the last watchable MCU-Movie, Endgame, right?- and even serious matters such as COVID-19 have an unspoken ban in almost every film script, people didn't just go to see Barbie, they dressed up. Flocks of people made the effort to go to the movie theatre and paid for tickets, something that fewer and fewer films have been able to achieve. 

Barbie explained the basic idea of feminism without requiring a degree in gender studies to understand the underlying message: women have rich inner lives (and we usually don't see it on screen). 

So, is this Oscar snub a failure to acknowledge the impressive feats Barbie has accomplished? Yes. Yes, it is, but it also does Barbie an unintentional favour. 

Of course, Greta Gerwig knows how to portray women's rich inner lives and the complexities of feminism, as seen in her hit Little Women, indicating that she most likely chose to keep this concept accessible for all audiences in Barbie. Gerwig's choice not to alienate the wider audience and find the middle ground without compromising the message was interesting and necessary. 

Unfortunately, people still get annoyed with women much faster than with men; see any teen-girl musician of the day dragged to all hell if they are too present in pop culture (from The Beatles to Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, there is a pattern).

So, if Barbie's feminism had to be toned down to cement its place in film history, so did its success because there is a fate worse than snubs in the film world: over-saturation. Just like Disney revived Star Wars just to kill its once unshakeable legacy with franchising, Barbie would likely lose some of its legacy appeal by winning it all. 

Instead, it lives on as a film with an undeniable impact on the "current movie" landscape. People still argue about its point. People from all sides of the political spectrum argue whether it should have been made at all. It was somehow not enough and yet too much; it got too much praise or far not enough recognition; it was this, it was that, and frankly, many arguments are valid, but in its purpose, it made us all talk about it.