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 received 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… that is an precise snub.
Maddy Myers: Silly query: Barbie is a comedy and I all the time really feel just like the Oscars don’t actually do comedies, so the snub isn’t that bizarre to me. Is that wildly off?
Austen Goslin: I feel that nails it just about.
Maddy Myers: Good. I’m very good.
Matt Patches: I feel this explains a few of it however not all of it, and possibly has extra to do with the expanded voting physique. Barbie transcended! America Ferrera received a nom! American Fiction is a comedy that received 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 on the prime that they acquired ballots from 93 international locations this 12 months. The Oscars is Cannes-y now.
Maddy Myers: American Fiction is a comedy… in a means… however NOT in the identical means that Barbie is.
Matt Patches: Oh, after all not. However Barbie additionally has status pedigree — the man who shot Killers of the Flower Moon shot it!
Maddy Myers: I feel if somebody actually dies within the first act of your film then you definately get to qualify for an Oscar nom.
Matt Patches: Barbie desires to die, does that depend?
Maddy Myers: My spouse stated after we concluded American Fiction that it was “the perfect thus far” out of all of the Oscar contenders and I stated “what in regards to the Barbie film?” and he or she simply stared at me.
Matt Patches: Perhaps the take this 12 months is… there wasn’t room for all the great sorts of course in films. And austere “critical” course as soon as once more boxed out the creative. Poor Issues and Barbie are too related in Massive Concepts and the complicated, thought of work in Barbie will not be apparent sufficient (and too pink?). That stated, if Barbie got here out within the Nineteen Forties, Greta would have been nominated. Dance sequences! Battle scenes! Slapstick comedy!
Maddy Myers: I imply, I like how bizarre Barbie was contemplating that it’s about the preferred youngsters’s toy on this planet. And the film is clearly making an attempt to exceed its grasp, nevertheless it’s the Barbie film and there’s solely a lot you are able to do (one thing the Barbie film itself stares on 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 assume.
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 right here.”
Maddy Myers: She’s not who I might have picked, however you’re proper. And doesn’t the massive model of all of it weigh it down too for the typical voter? It could be as shameful as voting for a Marvel Comics adaptation.
Austen Goslin: Weirdly, the perfect analogue to Barbie may be… The Darkish Knight?
Maddy Myers: YES. Austen, precisely.
Austen Goslin: The very best image nom is the ten nominations class doing its job however the remainder feels proper in line. In any other case it’s a pop blockbuster made with spectacular craft and ability by its director, somebody the Academy has already acknowledged however not fairly anointed simply but. Each films received supporting efficiency noms, the place the Academy is most comfy rewarding blockbusters and comedies. In the meantime, every did nicely in technical classes and broke into barely greater classes, with tailored screenplay for Barbie and cinematography for The Darkish Knight. It appears additional becoming that these comparisons line up so nicely in the identical 12 months that Christopher Nolan is the favourite for finest director. Perhaps it additionally implies that Greta Gerwig will make her Inception subsequent.
Matt Patches: OK wonderful I forgive them.
