The Oscar nominations are in, and there’s something missing from the Best Director and Best Picture nominees — or is there? None of us at Polygon quite expected Barbie to make it, nor Greta Gerwig to snag a Best Director nom, but... should she have? And why not?
We got into a debate about it in our newsroom. Here’s how it went down.
Matt Patches: Greta Gerwig missing out for director in Barbie... this is an actual snub.
Maddy Myers: Stupid question: Barbie is a comedy and I always feel like the Oscars don’t really do comedies, so the snub isn’t that weird to me. Is that wildly off?
Austen Goslin: I think that nails it pretty much.
Maddy Myers: Nice. I’m very smart.
Matt Patches: I think this explains some of it but not all of it, and maybe has more to do with the expanded voting body. Barbie transcended! America Ferrera got a nom! American Fiction is a comedy that got tons of noms. The Greta snub is about global embrace of two Euro favorites:........