Barbie Doesn't Deserve An Oscar
Unless it goes to Ryan Gosling
Before raging out on me or telling that I’m a patriarchy supporter, let’s just all take a step back and realize that what we’re taking about is a movie. Movies are made to entertain us first and foremost, they are not supposed to be thought provoking in the same way a film is. They are enjoyed best in theaters, on airplanes or in the background while hooking up. You don’t really need to pay too close attention to them, and therefore they merit way less critical scrutiny. Poor Things, which was rightfully nominated for 12 Oscars, is a great example of a film that holds up under a magnifying glass. It is a gorgeously shot, perfectly acted piece of cinema that explores all the themes that Barbie does, except it treats its audience like adults. Its story is compelling, its costumes and sets support that, and it’s irreverent in all the places that Barbie decides to be averse to risk.
This is Barbie:
This is Poor Things:
Regardless of how mid Barbie is, it was still nominated for Best Picture, alongside like nine actual films that should beat it out. It even received seven other awards, but yet, people are still angry. The anger arises from it being shut out for Best Director (Greta Gerwig) and Best Actress In A Lead Role (Margot Robbie as the titular character). Now I agree that neither of them deserve an Oscar. The directing had no real character to it and was carried by the look of the film. Margot Robbie was perfect as Barbie in the same way Henry Cavill was perfect as Superman. These are kind of uninteresting, frictionless characters that you don’t really feel for in any way because they don’t struggle, and therefore the performances convey nothing. However, if we want to follow the logic of the Oscars, it makes pretty much no sense that this occurred. How could something win Best Picture, yet you think the director isn’t worthy? And how are you going to call Barbie “Oscar worthy” yet not nominate the woman who played Barbie, and did the best she could? Even feminist icon and two-time almost president Hillary Clinton was pissed!
What is truthfully baffling to me overall is that America Ferrera was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. As a symbolic gesture I don’t hate it, she’s a great actress and it would be cool for someone of Honduran descent to win. However, this is an award show that gives people trophies for exceptional performances, not on some symbolic grounds. This isn’t the Grammys where they give Nas a Grammy for a shitty album because they feel bad for shutting out Illmatic. Think Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, Viola Davis in Fences, or Natalie Portman in Black Swan. These are all characters that not only have a shareable monologue, but the entire film would be nothing without their specific presence. The Oscars is typically very good with their choices, but sometimes they drop the ball. Not only was America Ferrera’s speech ten years too late, but she could’ve been replaced with literally anyone and the movie wouldn’t have changed a bit. Maybe there wasn’t enough good supporting actress perfoamcnes this year, and too many great lead actresses? I don’t know. But that brings me to my main point.
I don’t think this Barbie is Oscar worthy, that much is clear. There are however, two awards that I would be pleased to see it win. Number one is production design. I think that especially in the first act, third act and in the Mattel office scene, the sets were really well done. They looked plastic and pristine, but uncanny in this strange way. The physics of the film were often accurate to how little girls would play with the dolls (i.e. the characters would bounce off of fake water and mime drink out of fake milk cartons), and all of this worked really well in my opinion. Again, Gerwig’s directing was totally carried by the impressive work of the designers and stunt people. It was something I’ve never seen in a film before, I thought that was awesome, and I said as much in my review last year.
The second and most obvious nomination that kind of deserves it, is Ryan Gosling as Ken. And maybe a third would be the song “I’m Just Ken”. Now, there are a lot of great films this year and a lot of supporting actors that probably deserve it over him. I haven’t seen a single one of these movies, so I don’t know. However, I think Gosling has a strong case for winning. He was not only hysterical with the material he was given, but he also accurately improved a lot of Ken’s mannerisms and one-liners. He ironically carries what is supposed to be a film about female empowerment, and men taking all the credit for women’s accomplishments. He turned a supporting role into a lead role.
If the film wants to be meta, and have this whole third act where they men take over Barbieland etc. etc., then we all must admit that Gosling absolutely crushed his role. By the end of the film, he is this charismatic, bizarre villain whose interests are all like Minecraft ChatGPT generative fills of what men like. He knows all about The Godfather, he loves horses and mini fridges, and drives a sick car. This whole segment of the film was the only part that actually added any depth or friction to the plot, and regardless of how goofy it all was, Gosling sold it really well and his performance was iconic. Maybe his best ever. And on top of that, the song “I’m Just Ken” and the entire choreographed fight scene that it plays over was masterful. If you think Ferrera’s speech was standout, then what was this epic, multi-phased ‘80s psych-rock oddysey with plunger arrows, frisbees and beach balls flying through the air? What scene demonstrates how fun it is to play with dolls and have a wild imagination than this? I mean just watch and tell me this is not a blast.
Gosling and the writers managed to make this extremely stupid, dildo of a character into a true powerhouse. And that, along with the set designers who boosted the performance, deserve high praise. This was as close as this came to transcending into The Barbie Film.