Who runs the world?

Girls, but don't make it like a big thing or expect credit.

2023 was a big year for the ladies. Beyonce and Taylor Swift’s respective tours this summer generated something like 10 billion dollars for the US economy, in arguably the worst recession (the greater depression anyone?) in modern history. Barbie grossed more than a billion worldwide. Fran Drescher, in her role as union president, became the face of the Actor’s strike. We’re alive at the same time as the likes of Simone Biles and Coco Gauff. 2023 had some amazing feminine wins and triumphs.

And then yesterday the Oscar nominations were announced. Women, where?

I don’t care for award shows in general. They are the modern version of a gilded age gala. Excess and overconsumption for the wealthiest pockets to pat one another and their preferred creatives on the back. The only show I watch live is the Tony’s and really, I’m there for the stage performances and planning out my next trip to New York City.

Art is inherently subjective, and that’s part of what is so beautiful. Good art evokes emotions, and which emotions vary by person. This morning my father texted his complaints about a Broadway show I raved over. I told him, jokingly, that he was wrong, but the reality is that each person will connect (or not) with different art in their own way. So, as the kid’s say, award shows are mid at best.

Oppenheimer was very clearly Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus, his King Lear. There were parts I loved, like the use of music and color to transport us through time and space. I did not care for the prop-like way the women in the story were handled, and I also had complaints about the pacing. Regardless, I walked out of the theater knowing it would be nominated for myriad awards. It was a well-made film about yet another white man in a war, and I am not the target audience for that. Should it be the film with the most awards this year? I don’t think so, but I don’t have a vote.

At the same time, I love Barbie. Again, not a perfect film. A bit of a feminist 101 and not the groundbreaking boundary-pushing some hoped for, but for me it was a beautiful and fun love letter to cinema that tried to open eyes on the feminine struggle. It wasn’t necessary for me at this stage in my feminist journey, covering many topics I’ve already personally unpacked. But I know, had I seen this film in my youth, I would have bypassed some personal struggles and pitfalls. Like Gloria’s speech, the Barbie movie is our tool for deprogramming, helping show the limitations in a patriarchal system.

When we look at the Barbenheimer comparisons from the summer, which film is still affecting the zeitgeist and being talked about daily? Outside of award conversations, it’s not the one with the bomb.

As Ryan Gosling said, there is no Ken without Barbie, he’s just Ken (and if that song wins over What was I Made For you can expect a vitriol filled rant). I think his nom is justly deserved, but he was the fun and silly counterpoint to Margot Robbie’s emotional journey. Greta Gerwig celebrated the art of cinema in how she directed this film and that approach is not being celebrated.

The snubs for Gerwig and Robbie are only part of the conversation. Fantasia, who I was lucky enough to see in the original Broadway production of The Color Purple, has been effectively ignored this award season despite a monumental performance. Greta Lee in Past Lives was the emotional backbone of the film, yet her name left of the list. Men were snubbed too, Leonardo DiCaprio’s being the main example thrown around, but Charles Melton gave an amazing and subtle performance in May/December. Where is Andrew Scott’s nomination for All of Us Strangers, a beautiful portrayal of a queer character by a queer actor.

And what sucks even more is how much all of this noise is overshadowing the women who were nominated. Like America Ferrera, who has been dropping heartbreaking speeches since Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Or Lily Gladstone. Lily Fucking Gladstone, the first native person to be nominated. Not woman, person. Why can’t we just have a moment to celebrate all the wins without having to deal with the caveats?

I am not a film critic, nor am I film producer. I don’t have the answers to these problems. But certainly, in the year of our lord 2024, we have hit a point where the art we celebrate should reflect the world at large. Right? Sadly, the Academy has lost the plot. If they ever had it.

Just a thought.