Emma Brown
Reporter
The 2023 awards season is drawing to a close, but recent Oscars nominations have reignited excitement and controversy as some nominations were historic and others forgetful.
One woman’s historical accomplishment in particular has critics and the public abuzz with happiness.
Lily Gladstone, lead actress in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, became the first Native American woman to be nominated for Best Actress. She previously became the first Native American to win a Golden Globe. During her acceptance speech, Gladstone, a member of the Blackfoot Nation, spoke Siksiká, the language of the Blackfeet.
All eyes are on the Academy to choose Gladstone for Best Actress, a decision that is not far-fetched after the heaps of critical acclaim she has received for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart, an Osage woman at the center of the Oklahoma Osage Indian murders. If Gladstone takes home the gold on Oscars night, it will be one more step in the right direction of furthering Indigenous representation.
2023 proved to be a great year for cinema and movie theater visits, with unconventional films reigning supreme. A rated-R biopic, a feminist interpretation of a beloved doll, and a three-and-a-half-hour historical epic lead movie theaters out of an era dominated by superheroes and crossovers.
Oppenheimer, Poor Things, Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie and Maestro swept up the categories this year. Oppenheimer led the way with 13 nominations, an amount that makes it part of an elite dozen films with the most Oscar nominations. After its success at the Golden Globes, it would not be surprising if Christopher Nolan and his team go home with their hands full.
Even though most of the nominations sat well with the public, awards season would not be awards season without some controversy.
Most of the left-behind nominations hit female filmmakers, a group that remains underrepresented after the Academy Awards Ceremony’s 96 years. Justine Triet, director of Best Picture nominee Anatomy of a Fall, is the only female nominated for Best Director this year. One particular female filmmaker has dominated headlines after she was not included in the stellar Best Director lineup.
Her film was a cultural phenomenon, grossed $1.4 billion worldwide and she became the first-ever female director to hit the billion-dollar mark. However, Greta Gerwig was snubbed of a Best Director nomination, a snub that has caused the public, celebrities, and even politicians to cry foul.
Barbie stars Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera voiced their disappointment in Gerwig’s snub, while Hilary Clinton penned a statement on X addressing Gerwig and Margot Robbie on the Academy’s ignorance.
Overall, Barbie was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture. Gerwig is now the only director in Oscars history to have her first three films nominated for Best Picture. Its nominations are no surprise as the movie took pop culture and the box office by storm, but Gerwig’s omission speaks volumes about the Academy’s lack of acknowledging accomplished female filmmakers.
Currently, women only make up a quarter of Academy voters, which might explain why it took 79 years for a woman to win Best Director.
Even Margot Robbie, Barbie herself, did not receive a Best Acting nod, but her Ken counterpart, Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. This decision seems to coincide with Barbie’s thematic messages calling out men’s work overshadowing women’s accomplishments.
Alongside Barbie’s controversy, other critically acclaimed female filmmakers saw very few, if any, Oscar nominations. Celine Song, whose debut film Past Lives was nominated for Best Picture, picked up a Best Original Screenplay nomination but not Best Director. While Elvis (2022) received eight Oscar nominations, Sofia Coppola’s counterpart, Priscilla, did not receive any Oscar nods. Emerald Fennell’s viciously disturbing class-based satire Saltburn missed out on securing any nominations as well.
It will be very interesting to see the winners and the losers come Oscars night. Will Lily Gladstone make history? Will Oppenheimer win big? Could Paul Giamatti beat out Cillian Murphy in the heated race for Best Actor? Could Justine Triet make history as the fourth woman to win Best Director? There’s only a couple of weeks left to find out.
To see who brings home the gold Oscars night, you can watch the 96th Academy Awards Ceremony on Sunday, March 10th at 6pm EST live on ABC.