Christ, ‘Barbie’ Did Not Do Well At The Golden Globes
Barbie entered the Golden Globes with nine nominations. It left with just two awards. Yikes.
Undoubtedly the biggest movie of 2023, Barbie grossed $1.44 billion at the global box office. It was the highest grossing film of 2023 and the 14th highest-grossing film of all time. It’s also the highest-grossing film in Warner Bros history and the highest-grossing movie by a female director. Box office aside, the movie turned the world into the colour pink, had three viral songs (‘What Was I Made For’, ‘I’m Just Ken’, and ‘Dance the Night’), and pushed people back into physical cinemas. Despite all this, the Golden Globes didn’t feel that Barbie deserved any more accolades.
Barbie was a juggernaut going into the 81st Golden Globes. Everyone, including myself, assumed that it was going to sweep every category it was nominated for. But cracks in the shiny plastic (get it?) armour started to appear the moment Ryan Gosling lost best supporting actor to Robert Downey Jr. It was a shock to the system given how beloved Ken was. Even though I wanted Charles Melton to win, Ken is perhaps one of the most famous supporting characters of all time. When Robert did win the Golden Globe, Punkee Editor Katie Stow said, “I don’t even remember Robert being in Oppenheimer”. That must have been a tough blow to Robert. Of course, it’s probably best that Ryan didn’t win because if he ended up the sole winner from Barbie it would have gone against the whole point of the movie.
Barbie went on to lose best picture to Poor Things and best screenplay to Anatomy of a Fall. Margot Robbie lost best actress to Emma Stone and Greta Gerwig lost best director to Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer. I was actually disappointed that Greta lost to Nolan. Lady Bird is one of my favourite movies of all time and it would’ve been nice to see some Greta love. Despite that, I’m not mad that it lost some of the categories. There were really incredible films up against what felt like a mammoth movie. I’m glad that smaller movies like Poor Things and Anatomy of a Fall were able to shine through the pink glitter.
It was hard to ignore that in almost every category where the two movies faced off, Oppenheimer won. Socially speaking, I’d argue that Barbie was a far more popular movie. Most of the commentary around Oppenheimer was to do with it coming out the same day as Barbie. But perhaps it’s just another example of big blockbuster movies with massive commercial success not translating to awards.
The two awards that Barbie did manage to snag were best original song and the newly created Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award. What’s funny is that those two awards don’t really have anything to do with the creation or art of Barbie itself. Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For’ came on at the end of the movie and box office achievement just feels like a popularity vote. Did the Globes voters even watch the movie? Or did they just see the memes?
Biggest movie of the year aside, it shouldn’t be totally shocking that Barbie lost as many awards as it did. Big box office hits don’t always mean it’s the best movie in terms of artistic direction or creation. Marvel movies normally dominate the box office but seldom pick up major awards for acting or direction. Black Panther didn’t win any of the three awards it was nominated for at the 2019 Golden Globes. It did, however, win three of the seven Academy Awards it was nominated for. Those were for best costume design, original score, and production design. Massive commercial movies like Barbie and Black Panther seem to be classed in a lower category to other movies. While I agree that the biggest movie doesn’t mean it’s the best, I feel like Black Panther and Barbie were both box office smashes with strong social commentary. It took until 2023 for Angela Bassett to become the first actor to ever win a major individual award for a Marvel movie. Perhaps Barbie will be getting the same treatment.
Although Oppenheimer won the first round of the awards battle, the season has only just begun. Barbie will win an Oscar. I can feel it in my bones.
Ky is a proud Kamilaroi and Dharug person and writer at Junkee. Follow them on Instagram or on X.
Image credit: Getty