In July, the motion picture “Barbie” covered theaters around the world in pink, becoming the highest grossing domestic film of 2023 and earning many accolades from critics. 

Recently, the nominees for the 2023 Oscar were announced, and the film that covered the world in pink was snubbed by the Academy. 

Although  “Barbie” was nominated for eight Oscars, neither director Greta Gerwig, who became to the first female to direct a film that grossed more than $1 billion, nor the lead actress Margo Robbie, who brilliantly played Barbie, were among the nominees. 

In other words, there were eight nominations and not a single individual nomination for Gerwig or Robbie. Did this film, which was nominated for “Best Picture,” direct itself? Was it not Robbie playing the lead?  

And to rub salt in Gerwig and Robbie’s wounds, Ryan Gosling, who played Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, was nominated for “Best Supporting Actor.”  According to the Academy, his role as Ken in a movie that skewers patriarchal norms ,was more impactful than Robbie’s role as Barbie, or Gerwig’s role as the auteur. 

Robbie was also the person who bought the copyrights of “Barbie” from Mattel in 2018 and hired Greta Gerwig to write and direct the movie. 

For Robbie and Gerwig, the film was about showing young women that Barbie was much more than just the “ideal” of a woman. It emphasized the difficulties women face trying to fit into the standards that society expects us to look pretty and perfect. 

Gloria’s (America Ferrera) monologue in the film about how truly hard it is to fit in society as a woman is still being talked about. Gloria tells female to “never forget that the system is rigged. So find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful.” 

Gerwig and Robbie should have received nominations for their roles. Maybe the Academy missed the irony of snubbing the women while honoring the male’s work. But this is exactly the type of misogyny the film was trying to expose.