2024 Oscar Nominees Are Here (And So Is the Patriarchy)

by Shanee Edwards on January 24, 2024

Sometimes life imitates art in the most disappointing ways. For the biggest movie of the year (and all time), earning over $1.3 billion worldwide, Barbie was a fairy tale about the pitfalls and persistence of patriarchy. The same story could be told about the 2024 Oscar nominees. The patriarchy is bluntly represented by Ken (played by Ryan Gosling in the film), who was nominated for Best Actor, leaving Margot Robbie's Barbie and Greta Gerwig as the director out of the Mojo Dojo Casa House (the Dolby Theatre, in this case).

I suspect that not even Gerwig could have predicted this day.

Does it really matter that the female lead actress and director of a movie about a Barbie doll got snubbed? Yes, it does.

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Why the Barbie Oscar Snubs Matter

After two-plus years of a pandemic and a streamer service takeover, Barbie got people back into the movie theaters, some even going to seeing the film for a second time or as a double feature with Oppenheimer, creating a cultural event called Barbenheimer. For the Academy to snub Robbie and Gerwig in their respective categories is reinforcing the perception that Hollywood is the snake that doesn’t know better than to eat its own tail.

As storytellers, it’s important to recognize female-driven stories that could only have been created, or birthed so-to-speak, by women–especially if these stories are making such an important contribution to the film as an industry. But what makes the Academy's snub of Barbie disappointing is the message it delivers about female-driven stories.

The good news is that Barbie did receive eight nominations, but trailed Oppenheimer's 13 nominations, Poor Things with 11, and Killers of the Flower Moon with 10 noms. Lily Gladstone made history as the first Native-American to receives the Oscar nominated for Best Actress.

'Killers of the Flower Moon'

The 2024 Oscar Nominations

Best Picture

American Fiction
Anatomy of a Fall
Barbie
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Past Lives
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper (Maestro)
Colman Domingo (Rustin)
Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers)
Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer)
Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction)

Actress in a Leading Role

Annette Bening (Nyad)
Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall)
Carey Mulligan (Maestro)
Emma Stone (Poor Things)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Sterling K. Brown (American Fiction)
Robert De Niro (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Robert Downey Jr. (Oppenheimer)
Ryan Gosling (Barbie)
Mark Ruffalo (Poor Things)

Actress in a Supporting Role

Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer)
Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple)
America Ferrera (Barbie)
Jodie Foster (Nyad)
Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers)

Directing

Justine Triet (Anatomy of a Fall)
Martin Scorsese (Killers of the Flower Moon)
Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)
Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things)
Jonathan Glazer (The Zone of Interest)

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

American Fiction
Barbie
Oppenheimer
Poor Things
The Zone of Interest

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Maestro
May December
Past Lives

International Feature Films

Io Capitano
Perfect Days
Society of the Snow
The Teachers’ Lounge
The Zone of Interest

Animated Feature Film

The Boy and the Heron
Elemental
Nimona
Robot Dreams
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Documentary Feature Film

Bobi Wine: The People’s President
The Eternal Memory
Four Daughters
To Kill a Tiger
20 Days in Mariupol

Live Action Short Film

The Actor
Invincible
Knight of Fortune
Red, White and Blue
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Documentary Short Film

The ABCs of Book Banning
The Barber of Little Rock
The Island In Between
The Last Repair Shop
Nǎi Nai and Wài Pó

Animated Short Film

Letter to a Pig
Ninety-Five Senses
Our Uniform
Pachyderme
War Is Over!

Film Editing

Anatomy of a Fall
The Holdovers
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Cinematography

El Conde
Killers of the Flower Moon
Maestro
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Production Design

Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Costume Design

Barbie
Killers of the Flower Moon
Napoleon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Music (Original Score)

American Fiction
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Killers of the Flower Moon
Oppenheimer
Poor Things

Music (Original Song)

“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
“I’m Just Ken” from Barbie
“It Never Went Away” from American Symphony
“Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon
“What Was I Made For?” from Barbie