For those of you who are not tuned into the Oscar nomination discourse, here’s the burning debate: Neither Greta Gerwig nor Margot Robbie received a nomination for their contributions to “Barbie,” their respective “snubbed” categories being Best Director and Best Actress. Though the film did receive eight other nominations, the argument that “Barbie” was snubbed led to a discourse about the “bitter irony” behind a “feminist movie” not being recognized for its female expertise. In other words, the movie was trying to address the fact that women don’t get honored for their hard work, and the movie itself wasn’t honored for its accomplishments in certain categories. While I do find the argument to be valid—it responds to a long and problematic history of women being under-recognized for their craft—this is far from the first instance of such a snub. It seems that all of a sudden, movie fanatics have started to care.

So, why do movie watchers and critics just now seem to give a damn about women not getting their accolades? After discussing this question with friends and family, we all came to a similar conclusion: privilege and race. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the production design of “Barbie” as much as the next person, and its marketing campaign was definitely eye-catching. However, the movie was designed to be easily digestible by a white America. Its feminist message wasn’t too overpowering or radical, but just enough for watchers to go “yassss” and “period.”

The truth is that the Academy has been snubbing high-quality actors and directors for years, especially artists of color. The only two actresses of color to win Best Actress in the history of The Academy Awards have been Michelle Yeoh and Halle Berry. So where is all the outrage when minority identity artists get snubbed? The 2023 film “Past Lives,” an Asian immigration story with a friendship reunion at the forefront, was nominated this year for Best Picture, but neither its female director nor lead received nominations. I would argue that “Past Lives” is just as much a feminist movie as “Barbie” is. “Past Lives” is centered around a South Korean woman (Na Young, played by Greta Lee) who takes charge of her career as a playwright, while also grappling with her current life and the one she left behind. Therefore, the argument that the Academy is being misogynistic for not nominating Barbie’s director and lead is blind to the countless other female narratives that have been disregarded. 

I’m not going to claim that the Oscars are absolved of all sexist behavior, because they definitely have been, and remain, misogynistic and prejudiced. I just want to point out that “Barbie” being nominated eight times means that it is receiving more than enough attention compared to films that did not get nominated in any category. Additionally, the fury associated with the “Barbie” snub prevents us as a society from looking at the sometimes small but important progress we have achieved in the entertainment industry. Case in point, “more female directors received best picture nominations this year than ever before.”

For me, the fact that “Barbie” received a nomination for Best Picture feels like just the right amount of recognition that it needs in this society. 

Zara Skolnik is a member of the class of 2026 and can be reached at zskolnik@wesleyan.edu.