Margot Robbie has finally addressed the backlash to the Oscars on behalf of Barbie after she was snubbed, noting that the film still received eight nominations.
The Oscars faced accusations ranging from sexism, misogyny, and not taking women’s cinema seriously after Robbie wasn’t nominated for Best Actress and Greta Gerwig wasn’t nominated for Best Director.
Fans’ ire was only heightened when Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor.
However, Robbie has a pretty measured response to all the drama, reminding people that the film was still nominated for a bunch of other awards — so claiming it was snubbed is perhaps a stretch.
“There’s no way to feel sad when you know you’re this blessed,” Robbie said about not being nominated for Best Actress.
“Obviously, I think Greta should be nominated as a director. What she did is a once-in-a-career, once-in-a-lifetime thing. What she pulled off, it really is. But it’s been an incredible year for all the films.”
Barbie was nominated for eight Oscars: best picture, adapted screenplay, supporting actor for Ryan Gosling, supporting actress for America Ferrera, costume design, production design and two noms for original song.
The accusations of sexism despite Ferrera’s nomination — she is the first Oscar nominee of Honduran descent ever — has also caused much chatter, but in the opposite direction. Is Ferrera’s nomination less worthy of celebrating? Why are we pretending that no woman was nominated for this film? Is it only a feminist win if the women nominated are white?
The 2024 Oscars also saw Lily Gladstone become the first Native American woman nominated for Best Actress, just three weeks after she won a Golden Globe for the same award. For women of colour, the awards night was actually groundbreaking. So, there’s a lot to unpack regarding the white feminist nature of the outrage around Barbie.
Robbie, for her part, said that at the end of the day the film’s impact was undeniable — regardless of any accolades.
“We set out to do something that would shift culture, affect culture, just make some sort of impact,” she said.
“And it’s already done that and some, way more than we ever dreamed it would. And that is truly the biggest reward that could come out of all of this.
“People’s reactions to the movie have been the biggest reward of this entire experience,” she continued.
“Whether it’s seeing what people are writing online, or even just seeing how much pink I can see in this room right now…I’ve never been a part of something like this. Not like this. I’ve done comic book stuff and that gets a big reaction, but this felt very different. It still feels very different. And I can’t think of a time when a movie’s had this effect on culture. And it’s amazing to be in the eye of the storm.”
Margot Robbie, everyone. Elegant as always.
