Just before Hollywood legend Al Pacino was to announce the winner of the Best Picture Award at the 96th Academy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel recalled the mix-up at the 2017 ceremony, when La La Land was wrongly announced as the Best Picture winner instead of Moonlight. There was no confusion or surprise on Sunday night, however, as Pacino opened his envelope for Best Picture and said that he “sees” Oppenheimer written on the card inside. Christopher Nolan’s cinematic opus Oppenheimer had been predicted to sweep the Oscars this year, which it did by winning in seven categories, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
The ceremony was the culmination of the frenzy that Oppenheimer had whipped up along with Barbie, much before both films were released on the same day — July 21, 2023. Together, the two films were seen as a cultural phenomenon, contributing the term “Barbenheimer” to the pop culture lexicon. Barbie was a commercial triumph with over $1.4 billion in box office earnings, mostly staying ahead of Oppenheimer in the numbers race. It also scored eight Oscar nominations, although on Sunday, it took home only one trophy — in the original song category, ‘What Was I Made For?’, with music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell.
Right from when the nominations were announced, there was outrage over an apparent “snub” to Barbie, with lead actor Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig being overlooked. The two women had been at the forefront of this feminist fantasy since its promotions began. Unabashedly, they embraced bright pink — from creating rosy landscapes to turning up in bubblegum pink gowns at events — sending out fun vibes and redefining “dopamine dressing”. Rarely has a film owned hyper-femininity the way Barbie did.
Oppenheimer adopts a more serious tone as it tries to capture the conflicts of J Robert Oppenheimer against the backdrop of World War II and raises ethical questions about science in a time of armed conflict. The character-driven drama about the making of the atomic bomb bagged 13 nominations. There were widespread speculations that this visual masterpiece would register the maximum number of wins at the Academy Awards, while cinema-lovers were waiting to watch Nolan, a highly-regarded director, writer and visionary, finally win his first Oscar.
A big-studio auteur, Nolan himself has been cold-shouldered by the Academy several times in the past. In spite of the glowing praise that The Prestige, Inception, Dunkirk, and the Batman trilogy had received, the filmmaker had not taken home an Oscar until Sunday night. Funnily enough, it was one such omission by the Academy that led to a major change in the award category. Following the backlash over Nolan’s blockbuster The Dark Knight being denied a nomination in 2008, the Best Picture category was expanded to include 10 films, instead of five, the following year. Two from the Oppenheimer cast, Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey, Jr — both widely respected as formidable actors — too won their first Oscars this year.
There had been excitement among cinema lovers ever since Oppenheimer was announced nearly three years ago, with an impressive roster of actors in the cast. The excitement grew when it became clear that there would be a showdown at the box office, with Barbie releasing on the same date. After that day in summer last year, however, several other strong contenders emerged. Killers of the Flower Moon and Poor Things received 10 and 11 Academy nominations, respectively, and The Zone of Interest, American Fiction, The Holdovers and Anatomy of a Fall too generated considerable buzz.
Yet, arguably, few of these movies have had the kind of cultural impact that Barbie has had since its “first-look” featuring a smiling Robbie behind the wheels of a pink convertible and wearing a polka-dot headband. Even though the Oscar predictions didn’t sound hopeful about Barbie’s prospects, with no more than two trophies expected, there was a parallel effort to recognise its cultural and commercial impact. Barbie motifs and references were profusely used in the run-up to the Academy Awards. Last week, Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren was declared “a one-of-kind” Role Model Barbie. Wearing a pink gown, she appeared on the Academy’s social media page, clasping in one hand her own miniature figure that was holding an Oscar trophy, and in the other, the Oscar she had won for her role in the 2006 film The Queen. During Sunday night’s ceremony, Ryan Gosling, clad in a pink tuxedo, crooned “I’m Just Ken”. Later, while receiving her second Oscar trophy for Best Actress, Emma Stone said that during Gosling’s performance, the zip down the back of her strapless mint green gown broke, as she too danced to the song. Then there was the scripted banter between Gosling and Emily Blunt, nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category for Oppenheimer. Gosling spoke about finally putting “this Barbenheimer rivalry” behind them, after which Blunt called out his “Ken-splaining”.Though Barbie had to settle with a solo win, the Academy couldn’t ignore the fuschia fever dream it had inspired for months.
There is no denying that Barbie added colour and fun to the Oscar race this year. Moreover, the impact of something as inventive and entertaining as Barbie won’t be determined by its trophy haul alone. Its commercial success and cultural influence should help create more opportunities for women creators and women-centric movies.
alaka.sahani@expressindia.com
