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Director Greta Gerwig (r.) with leading actress Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling (l.)

Photo: Jaap Buitendijk / AP

As producers of “Barbie,” Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie are responsible for the most successful film of 2023.

This success is also reflected in the Oscar nominations – at least in part.

The film about the Mattel doll brought to life is nominated in a total of eight categories, including “Best Film”.

But since the announcement on Tuesday, hardly anyone in the industry is talking about the nominations.

What's more annoying is that Gerwig and Robbie were left out in their respective categories.

The pink “Barbie” world does not exist in the films listed under “Best Director” and “Best Actress”.

Since then, voices have been accumulating online that see this as a blatant injustice.

"It's crazy that Barbie should be 'Oscar-worthy' but not the women who made the film," says author Zoë Rose Bryant, summing up her anger.

One user on X only called for “justice” for Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig.

Another wrote: "I feel a very deep feminine anger right now." More than 100,000 people liked the comment.

Above all, the fact that Greta Gerwig comes away empty-handed while “Barbie” can also hope for an Oscar for “Best Film” is met with criticism.

The director was considered a sure contender for the nomination, having previously won awards at the Critics Choice Awards, the Golden Globes and the Directors Guild of America Awards.

Many US media outlets are now looking for reasons why Gerwig and Robbie were overlooked.

The news site "Vulture" headlines: "Hollywood is still one big Mojo Dojo Casa House" .

A reference to the film in which Ken converts the “Barbie dream house” into a bachelor pad that corresponds to all male clichés.

The US magazine “Rolling Stone” also blames the patriarchy.

In a commentary for the magazine, Esther Zuckerman sees an Oscar trend and describes the non-nominations as “classic bullshit” from the Academy.

"The problem with the Oscars is that diversity always feels like a compromise," writes Zuckerman.

The fact that Gerwig didn't receive an Oscar nomination for best director for the second time makes it seem "as if this part of Hollywood was condescendingly telling her to sit down and be satisfied with her success."

Gerwig's films "Lady Bird" and "Little Women" were also nominated for best film a few years ago, but her achievements as a director were only honored with a nomination in one case.

While the women responsible for the film will not receive an individual award, Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera were nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.

The song “I’m Just Ken,” sung by Gosling, is also in the running for an award for “Best Song.”

In a statement, Gosling reacted to his sponsors' non-nomination: "There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie film without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie." To say that he was "disappointed" would be an understatement the actor.

Gosling's colleague America Ferrera also has mixed feelings about her nomination.

"I was incredibly disappointed that they weren't nominated," Ferrera told the US magazine Variety.

“Greta has done pretty much everything a director can do to deserve it,” and it is “unbelievable” what Margot Robbie would have achieved as an actress.

On social media, many users draw parallels to the plot of the film, which deals with a world characterized by sexism and patriarchal structures.

“Barbie” provides its fans with the perfect template for their outrage.

"Nominating Ken but not Barbie is literally the plot of the movie," writes writer Brad Meltzer.

"This story could have come straight from the 'Barbie' movie," comments one TikTok user.

Even Barbie herself is disappointed

Even Barbara Handler, whose mother once invented “Barbie” and named it after her daughter, is sorry that Gerwig and Robbie were not nominated.

Handler told tabloid TMZ that the two “deserved” the recognition.

The comparison to “Barbenheimer” competitor “Oppenheimer” is also inevitable: director Christopher Nolan and leading actor Cilian Murphy were both nominated in their respective Oscar categories.

“Imagine the uproar if one or both of these men had been rejected,” author Zoë Rose Bryant wrote on X .

Is it really just about sexism?

In an article for the New York Times, author Kyle Buchanan looked for other possible reasons why Gerwig was not nominated.

Among other things, he mentions the increasing internationalization of the award ceremony; Justine Triet, a French filmmaker, is nominated for "Best Director" - the only woman.

A factor could also be the composition of the Academy's directing department.

Of the 587 members, just a quarter are women.

In addition, the members tended to reject “mainstream” films, writes Buchanan.