Is the nomination of Ken over Barbie shocking enough to generate controversy? It is, as the reaction on the internet proves. However, is the nomination of Lily Gladstone — the first Native American to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar — any less relevant than Barbie’s exclusion?
It’s not, but the internet thinks it is.
After the announcement of the Oscar nominees a few days ago, everything revolved around Barbie’s absences. We seem to have ignored other equally feminist and inclusive good news in social media conversations.
And while we shouldn’t be counting the representation of women and minorities at the Oscars in dribs and drabs, we should be celebrating and, at the same time, acknowledging that there is a huge void that needs to be filled.
Women in Film wrote on X: “Despite today’s Oscar snubs, don’t forget to congratulate the women that are still making history.”
Thelma has long since been a laureled film editor — despite today's #Oscar snubs, don't forget to congratulate the women that are still making history. https://t.co/YbdcgADqsP
— WIF (@WomenInFilm) January 23, 2024
It’s absurd that in Oscar history this is the first nomination for a Native American actress for the Best Actress award, the second indigenous actress from North America (the first was the Mexican Yalitza Aparicio for Roma). But it’s not just about the nominations, it’s also about the lack of characters with strong stories for minorities.
Gladstone delivered an outstanding performance. The story and script helped her; the power of her acting would not have been the same with less screen presence or with a character named “Native American woman number 2.” But Gladstone, in Killers of the Flower Moon, was at the same level as Leonardo DiCaprio (who was also forgotten in the nominations).
Research by The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, found discrimination toward Native Americans in narrative: of 1600 films analyzed between 2007 and 2022, 65% of Native American characters were inconsequential to the plot and 0.25% of speaking characters were Native American — only 133 speaking roles out of 62,224 were for Native Americans in 16 years.
This is why talking about Gladstone and what she achieved is so significant. This incredible performer, who gave one of the best interpretations of the year, nearly gave up her acting career due to a shortage of work, just before landing this life-changing role alongside Martin Scorsese and DiCaprio. Greater attention should be paid to Gladstone and her roots because the community she represents finally has a voice.
Many of the same people who defend Barbie claim that there is room for both Gladstone and Robbie; there is, but there are only five spots for the Best Actress category. Many incredible performances are left out, not only this year, but every year. There is enough room in the world for everyone, but not at the Oscar’s, unfortunately not everyone can lift the award. This year more than five women did remarkable work, but space is tight in this category.
Barbie was a cultural phenomenon in 2023 that brought the masses to listen to some important messages. Its box office success is now reflected in audience complaints about Oscar nominations. But Barbie wasn’t completely snubbed, the film has eight nominations, which is not insignificant. Despite not being nominated in two of the main ones (best actress for Margot Robbie and best director for Greta Gerwig)c, both are up for awards, Robbie for the production and Gerwig for the adapted screenplay.
The big incongruity this year is that Barbie, a film about women, has a nomination for Ken (Ryan Gosling), but not for Barbie (Margot Robbie). The two performances are on a similar level, but the weight of the story falls on Robbie and the film’s theme makes the situation ironic. Probably without a nomination for Gosling, the audience would have been less perplexed, after all eight nominations including Best Picture is a great achievement. However, we must remember that Gosling and Robbie are in different categories, they are not competing against each other.
In a statement, Gosling said: “There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie.” While the academy seems not to have understood the message of the blockbuster production that transcended the plastic world, Gosling did his homework despite having received criticism (even from his peers in Hollywood) for his appearance, age or for taking a role in which he interprets a plastic doll. Although he should not be apologizing for receiving a nomination, he came out to defend, and also to celebrate, his female co-workers like America Ferrera, who has another nomination of great value for the Latino community, historically ignored in the industry as well.
On the other hand, we have the directors’ category. This is not the first time Gerwig has been snubbed; she was not among the best directors in 2020 with Little Women (Best Picture nominee), but she did receive a nomination for Lady Bird in 2018. Despite Gerwig’s strong career, the numbers are not flattering for women in general: only eight female directors have been nominated for a Best Director Oscar since 1929, including this year’s nomination to Justine Triet for Anatomy of a Fall. Only three women have won the award: Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog (2021), Chloé Zhao for Nomadland (2020) and Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2009). With these figures, it seems unimaginable in 2024 that two women could enter this category at the same time.
Not only are fewer stories being brought to the screen by female directors, but also the high-level group that selects the directing nominees is mostly made up of men. The Los Angeles Times found that, by 2012, nearly 94% of Oscar voters were white and 77% male. By 2022, 81% of voting members were white and 67% male, according to Statista data.
The figures at the Oscars provide an insight into underrepresentation in different sectors around the world, and we can’t take lightly these allegations in the entertainment industry where not everything is banality. But, despite the obligatory need for representation and change, we must remember the lack of space: Margot Robbie herself was left out in 2023, with a more powerful, Oscar-worthy performance in Babylon. Our favorites are not always chosen. When was the last time you saw an extraordinary film in the theater and thought it would be nominated? Were you wrong?
Image credits:
- Greta Gerwig by UKinUSA
- Margot Robbie by Gage Skidmore
- America Ferrera by Dominick D
- Lily Gladstone by Leoman123
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