Barbenheimer took the world by storm in July, but only one half of this cultural phenomenon managed to do the same at the Golden Globes on Monday.
Christopher Nolan’s brooding epic Oppenheimer scooped up five trophies – making it the most decorated film of the night. But Greta Gerwig’s hot pink hit Barbie claimed only two wins.
Margot Robbie and the entire Barbie crew scooped only two awards at the Globes. Was the film snubbed, or should we have seen it coming?Credit: AP
And while the best picture awards, separated into best drama and best comedy or musical, seemed made for Barbenheimer, Barbie was beat out by Yorgos Lanthimos’ feminist take on Frankenstein, Poor Things.
Adding insult to injury, Australia’s darling Margot Robbie left empty-handed, having been pipped by Poor Things once again (Emma Stone won the award for best actress in a comedy or musical for her portrayal of the toddler-like Bella Baxter).
It was a relatively disappointing result for the most-nominated production – Barbie received nine nods while Oppenheimer received eight – especially considering its astounding success at the box office and its apparent ability to paint the whole world pink.
So, was it snubbed, or should we have seen this coming? And what could this mean for Barbie’s chances at the Oscars in March?
Should we have expected this?
Barbie wasn’t the only film to miss out at the Globes. Both Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut Maestro and Celine Song’s emotional romantic drama Past Lives left with nothing. But the expectations around Gerwig’s comedy seemed different.
Since its release in July 2023, Barbie has made over $2 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of last year. Fans flocked to cinemas dressed in glittery pink outfits, Sydney’s Icebergs pool was decked out with a Barbie decal and Barbiecore took over most major fashion runways. All of a sudden, it really was a Barbie world.
For this reason, American trade publications including Variety predicted the potential continuation of Barbenheimer fever, reporting both films could claim best picture in their respective genres, and that Barbie could snatch awards for its screenplay and Ryan Gosling’s “Ken-ergy”. Our own masthead also predicted a golden night for the Warner Bros. film.
Greta Gerwig missed out on best comedy/musical, best screenplay and best director at the 81st Golden Globes.Credit: AP
But alas, it only walked away (flat-footed) with prizes for best original song and the box office achievement award – a vaguely conceived new category that left many viewers puzzled over its intention. The “flashier” awards, such as best director, best screenplay, best actor/actress and best picture eluded it.
On the surface, it appears to be a major snub. However, award shows have never purported to honour the most popular films of the year.
The winners are, of course, reflections of the judges and their values, and in the case of the Golden Globes that’s critics and journalists. And it’s safe to say critics did not warm to Barbie quite as much as the average viewer.
This masthead’s review read: “The film is buoyed by jokes, yet heavy with speeches, bright with fantastical dazzle, but dulled by its real-world sequences, which, in comparison with Barbieland, look and feel perfunctory.”
Others expressed similar gripes, such as the Vulture critic, who described it as “defensive” and “emotionally inert”. Though most reviews praised Robbie and Gosling’s performances, as well as the cartoonish set design and Gerwig’s self-aware script (written alongside her husband, Noah Baumbach), most reached the same conclusion: it was ultimately a film produced to serve a brand: Mattel.
Considering journalists and critics vote on the awards, Barbie’s underperformance might not be that surprising. And though the Globes have long been considered the slightly less serious sister of the Oscars, one look at the nominations and winners this year (many of which are arthouse features, such as Poor Things or Anatomy of a Fall) indicates it wishes to adopt a more critical and less mainstream approach.
Have other films suffered a similar fate?
Some of the most successful films in history have faced similar losses at major award shows, meaning Barbie is, at least, in good company.
Steven Spielberg’s The Colour Purple (1985) was nominated for five Globes, but only took home one for Whoopi Goldberg’s performance as Celie Johnson. It lost to Sydney Pollack’s Out of Africa, which has largely been consigned to history.
Leonardo DiCaprio and Daniel Day Lewis in 2002’s Gangs of New York.
The Godfather Part III (1990) faced disappointment at the Globes in 1991, claiming zero prizes from seven nods. A few years later, another crime hit, Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York (2002), ended the night with just one win – best director – out of five nominations, including best picture which controversially went to Roman Polanski’s The Pianist.
Other films have struggled to rake in awards later in the season, such as crime-thriller The Shawshank Redemption (1994), which won no Oscars despite being nominated for seven. More recently, Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) completely missed out on its five nominations.
What could this mean for Barbie at the Oscars?
Short of finding an oracle, it’s practically impossible to determine how a particular film will perform at an awards show. At times, the Globes have provided a relatively handy snapshot of films that will snatch Academy Awards, but at other times, it has gone in an entirely different direction.
American Hustle won three Globes, but no Oscars.
For example, Scorsese’s crime thriller The Departed (2006) only won one Globe (best director) out of six nominations, but won four of its five nominated awards at the Oscars. Similarly, Mel Gibson’s war epic Braveheart (1995) won only best director at the Globes in 1996, but scooped five Oscars a few months later.
Some Oscar contenders weren’t even featured at the Globes. The western True Grit (2010) was nominated 10 times at the Oscars, but didn’t get a single Golden Globe nomination. In the end, it didn’t win any Oscars either.
It can, of course, also go in the other direction. The Colour Purple won a Globe, but was completely snubbed at the Oscars despite its 11 nods. David O. Russell’s American Hustle (2013) won three Globes, including best comedy or musical, but its 10 Academy Award nominations came to nothing.
This is all to say that the Oscars could either be Barbie’s redemption or just further disappointment. Could Robbie still become “Oscar-winner Barbie”? And could Gosling prove that Ken really is capable of more than “just beach”?
They will probably face similar competition as the Globes, notably Stone in Poor Things, Lily Gladstone in Killers of the Flower Moon (who also won a Globe), Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer and Robert DeNiro in Killers of the Flower Moon.
Beating them will be no easy feat, as all elements of Barbie continue to grapple with that which ultimately brought it down at the Globes: how do you convince critics of the authenticity of your performance when you’re portraying plastic?
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2024-01-09 05:23:34Z
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