Story by Lillian Syren, Culture Columnist
The first few months of the New Year are always incredibly exciting as far as culturally significant events go: The Emmys, The Oscars, The Golden Globes, The Grammys, and eventually a little bit later, the Met Gala. Both the music and cinema productions from 2023 promised very interesting results and competition, but in that review, it seems as though the meaning of the very movies can get very easily overlooked. In the case of one of the biggest misunderstandings in not only the cinematic but also the feminist world, Barbie was recognized in a very quiet and minimal way, and devastatingly, some people with the biggest platforms put out a horrible misinterpretation.
Earlier this year, Jo Koy hosted the Golden Globes, one of the most memorable thus far, and not in a flattering way. His opening speech, full of “jokes” begging for validation and cheap laughs, incredibly distasteful commentary, and blatant disrespect for the directors and their films left a horrible impression on the audience and viewers watching at home. He starts with a summary of the two leading movies of the year, saying that “Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is based on a doll with big boobies.” The camera instantly panned to reactions from the audience after that joke, and it showed nothing more than grimaces from too many people, and worst of all, a disappointed look from Barbie’s director, Greta Gerwig. The buffoonery didn’t stop there! Jo Koy went on to say “The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor!” His speech was an absolute embarrassment and mockery of the brilliance of Greta Gerwig’s creation with every misogynistic and ignorant jab. The distasteful jokes kept going on throughout the entirety of his brutal speech, and it showcased the very message of the movie: how poisonous and powerful the ignorance of the patriarchy is and how difficult it is to be a woman in a man’s world. To reduce the movie to a “plastic doll with big boobies” was belittling and nowhere near as funny as Jo Koy wanted it to be. There were so many light-hearted, tasteful jokes that could have been made about the movie, like how no one dressed up as Barbie for Halloween for fear of everyone else doing the same thing. The banter did not require constant slamming in comparison to Oppenheimer or gauche remarks about the plot. Beyond the Golden Globes, another shocking announcement came out: the Oscar Nominations and the very few that Barbie received. This certainly isn’t to say that just because someone was in a very culturally significant movie, they must have an Oscar, however, if the movie was so culturally significant, it’s most likely because the acting and directing were phenomenal. The nominations couldn’t be more tongue in cheek: Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie were totally snubbed for any sort of recognition for their work, and Ryan Gosling got a nomination for doing Beach. Even he recognized the glorification of Ken was getting absurd—when “I’m Just Ken” won Best Song at the 29th Annual Critics Choice award, he froze in an intense side-eye and disbelief. If Ken only has to do beach to get an Oscar Nomination and win best song of the year, how much more does Barbie have to do?
The Saint 