The 2024 Oscar nominations have been released and with them, the reminder that the Academy’s voting pool is older and whiter than the crowd at your local shuffleboard court. Despite their desperate attempts to cloud the flow of information surrounding their little club of wealthy withered fossils, the Los Angeles Times found that only two per cent of voters were under 40 with more than half being over 60 and that more than 90 per cent of them were white.

The idea of potentially career defining awards being decided upon by a group of people so out of touch with modern ideals is infuriating. But them all falling under one demographic doesn’t mean that they let it influence their decisions, right?

As recently as 2016, every single acting nominee was white, and every year women in powerful leading roles get thrown to the wayside. This year was no exception as the message of the film Barbie fell on deaf ears.

Barbie, which made over $1 billion, was nominated for Best Picture, surprising no one. The film was a triumph for feminists everywhere, as it highlighted a story where a woman played far more than an accessory to her partner. But past that, it was just a great movie.

With phenomenal musical numbers, delightfully witty banter, and a scene where Michael Cera takes on several dozen men in hand-to-hand combat, the movie was a smashing success and standing in the spotlight was Margot Robbie, who played the titular role.

Despite the success of the movie, and the quality of the performance, Robbie didn’t get nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Director Greta Gerwig didn’t get nominated for Best Director. If the movie is one of the top films, how can neither the star of the show nor the director that breathed life into the whole piece get a nomination?

To add insult to injury, Ryan Gosling got nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for playing Ken in the movie. The whole point of his character was that he wasn’t as important as Barbie, but I guess he was not important in a very impressive way?

To any about to chime in that America Ferrara was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, that is part of the issue too. It almost screams, “Women being powerful and independent is only acceptable if they do it in a supporting role.” The sheer irony of Ken getting the recognition in a film about female empowerment is laughable and deeply depressing.

In a world where the Academy was made up of a group as diverse as the audience of the movies released every year, I have no doubt that Robbie and Gerwig would be nominated, at the very least.

Honestly, this is the kind of thing that stops me from getting invested in award season. You don’t need to like Barbie, but no one can deny the impact it had and how deserving the team is of recognition.

It is time for a permanent change, so we can finally see powerful women, and a certain Barbie Girl, take the stage they have earned.