Roe v. Wade — the 50-year landmark legislation protecting the federal right to abortion access — was overturned in 2022. Despite the Supreme Court setting American female rights back to 1970, the following year proved itself by fostering success for many female creatives.
Inspired by the beloved Mattel doll, “Barbie” aimed to educate on the female experience. The film attacks issues such as objectification, beauty standards, mother-daughter relationships and the patriarchy while simultaneously celebrating female identity in a pink, entertaining and digestible PG-13 medium.
"Barbie” was both written and directed by Greta Gerwig; she is known for her previous work in feminist films “Lady Bird” and “Little Women.” The film included music from widely recognized female musicians like Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa and Nicki Minaj and had a diverse cast of actors, such as Hari Nef and Issa Rae, which were representative of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities.
The Warner Bro.’s film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling received massive amounts of media attention from the time it was announced. Apparel retailers such as Gap and Forever 21 took upon the movie’s premature popularity for brand partnerships. However, the collaborations extended from more than just fashion. “Barbiecore” offers ranged from insurance to video game consoles. Even before the movie’s late July release, 2023 was deemed to be the “Summer of Barbie,” which was rejoiced and embraced by generations of women and the doll’s fans.
The film’s opening weekend happened to be the opening weekend for Universal Picture’s “Oppenheimer,” the story behind the atomic bomb. Because of the films’ vastly different narratives, they both received more attention, tokening the weekend as “Barbenheimer.”
The film earned over $1 billion in early August, making it the first solo female directed film to do so, and became the highest-grossing live-action comedy film of all time domestically.
Almost six months later, “Barbie” was up for nine Golden Globe nominations. For many of the film's nominations, “Barbie” was ironically competing with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” The 81st edition of the award show, which honors the best in film and television, was held on Sunday, Jan. 7.
The show was hosted by Jo Koy, and if you too (among thousands) are also unaware of who that is, I’ll save you the Google search – he’s a standup comedian. Koy has had several different specials released by both Comedy Central and Netflix. Like other male comedians have recently, Koy proved himself incapable of making jokes that aren’t at the expense of women.
“‘Oppenheimer’ is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize winning novel about the Manhattan Project,” said Koy on Sunday night. “Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies.”
I actually wish I was making this up.
Not only did Koy objectify women while speaking on a film that's sole purpose was to portray the female experience, but this professional comedian also stooped to a third-grade recess level of a joke. Attempting to mend his poorly received monologue, Koy made the joke about his attraction to Gosling’s character “Ken,” made inappropriate comments towards Margot Robbie and blamed his writers while telling the audience to “shut up.”
“Barbie” won the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement Award, which it was competing with “Oppenheimer” for, along with Best Original Song for Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”
Pop star and Time’s 2023 Person of the Year Taylor Swift was also at the Golden Globes Sunday night. Her concert film “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” was also nominated for the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award. Of course, Koy also made jokes at Swift’s expense, all of which were unrelated to the artist’s success, instead referencing Swift’s attendance at her boyfriend’s — Kansas City Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce — football games.
“The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift,” said Koy.
What more is there to say?
The Golden Globes is meant to celebrate the talents, dedication and labor of everything that goes into the best of film and television, which are perhaps the most widely accepted and enjoyed art forms in the 21st century. For an award show intended to recognize the most distinguished art of our generation, why would it ever be appropriate to comment on the artist’s body – doll or human? Especially when the movie depicts the unwarranted female experience of being objectified. Is it impossible for women to be recognized for their achievements without the mention of their male counterparts?
After the year of strikes from both the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Writers Guild of America, the celebration and appreciation of incredible film and television work should be the primary purpose of the award ceremony.
The truth is it requires so much more work for actresses, writers and directors who identify as female to tell stories that don’t depict them as weak, unintelligent, or as a supporting character to the stronger, more dominant masculine lead. Women must work harder just to be taken seriously in Hollywood altogether. To even make one misogynistic remark totally disregards everything women have done to make industry changes and achieve what they have.
Out of the top 100 grossing films of 2022, only 28% of producers, 18% of editors, 17% of writers, 11% of directors, 8% of cinematographers and 9% of composers were women.
Regardless of sexist commentary, this year's Golden Globes was a big year for women.
Thank you, Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Emma Stone, Lily Gladstone, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Sarah Snook, Ayo Edebiri, Elizabeth Debicki, Ali Wong and every cast and crew member who identify as female who made 2023 the year for women in entertainment.
CORRECTION: "Lady Bird" was misspelled in a previous version of this article.
