The Oscar nominations are in, and there’s one thing lacking from the Greatest Director and Greatest Image nominees — or is there? None of us at Polygon fairly anticipated Barbie to make it, nor Greta Gerwig to snag a Greatest Director nom, however… ought to she have? And why not?
We obtained right into a debate about it in our newsroom. Right here’s the way it went down.
Matt Patches: Greta Gerwig lacking out for director in Barbie… this is an precise snub.
Maddy Myers: Silly query: Barbie is a comedy and I all the time really feel like the Oscars don’t actually do comedies, so the snub isn’t that bizarre to me. Is that wildly off?
Austen Goslin: I believe that nails it just about.
Maddy Myers: Good. I’m very good.
Matt Patches: I believe this explains a few of it however not all of it, and perhaps has extra to do with the expanded voting physique. Barbie transcended! America Ferrera obtained a nom! American Fiction is a comedy that obtained tons of noms. The Greta snub is about world embrace of two Euro favorites: Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Curiosity. They stated at the high that they obtained ballots from 93 nations this yr. The Oscars is Cannes-y now.
Maddy Myers: American Fiction is a comedy… in a method… however NOT in the identical method that Barbie is.
Matt Patches: Oh, in fact not. However Barbie additionally has status pedigree — the man who shot Killers of the Flower Moon shot it!
Maddy Myers: I believe if somebody actually dies in the first act of your film then you definitely get to qualify for an Oscar nom.
Matt Patches: Barbie needs to die, does that depend?
Maddy Myers: My spouse stated after we concluded American Fiction that it was “the best so far” out of all the Oscar contenders and I stated “what about the Barbie movie?” and she or he simply stared at me.
Matt Patches: Possibly the take this yr is… there wasn’t room for all the good varieties of course in films. And austere “serious” course as soon as once more boxed out the ingenious. Poor Issues and Barbie are too comparable in Massive Concepts and the advanced, thought-about work in Barbie is not apparent sufficient (and too pink?). That stated, if Barbie got here out in the Forties, Greta would have been nominated. Dance sequences! Battle scenes! Slapstick comedy!
Maddy Myers: I imply, I really like how bizarre Barbie was contemplating that it’s about the hottest kids’s toy in the world. And the film is clearly attempting to exceed its grasp, but it surely’s the Barbie film and there’s solely a lot you are able to do (one thing the Barbie film itself stares at the display screen and says to you). My different problematic take is that Gosling deserved a nom and nobody else did. But when that had occurred, folks most likely would have been mad, I suppose.
Austen Goslin: I don’t suppose the comedy factor is canceled out by America’s nomination. Supporting efficiency is the realm of “we’re tossing the comedy a bone here.”
Maddy Myers: She’s not who I’d have picked, however you’re proper. And doesn’t the large model of all of it weigh it down too for the common voter? It will be as shameful as voting for a Marvel Comics adaptation.
Austen Goslin: Weirdly, the finest analogue to Barbie may be… The Dark Knight?
Maddy Myers: YES. Austen, precisely.
Austen Goslin: The very best image nom is the 10 nominations class doing its job however the relaxation feels proper in line. In any other case it’s a pop blockbuster made with spectacular craft and talent by its director, somebody the Academy has already acknowledged however not fairly anointed simply but. Each films obtained supporting efficiency noms, the place the Academy is most comfy rewarding blockbusters and comedies. In the meantime, every did effectively in technical classes and broke into barely larger classes, with tailored screenplay for Barbie and cinematography for The Dark Knight. It appears additional becoming that these comparisons line up so effectively in the identical yr that Christopher Nolan is the favourite for finest director. Possibly it additionally implies that Greta Gerwig will make her Inception subsequent.
Matt Patches: OK advantageous I forgive them.
