2023 was an iconic year for cinema, thanks to Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig. However, the entire world was preoccupied with who was going to win at the box office race or which movie had a more relevant audience. Barbie and Oppenheimer unwittingly encouraged the ongoing cinema lovers to participate in the conversation.
Because of this thankfully, Oppenheimer and Barbie didn’t have to do additional marketing. The level of impact these two movies created was no less than humongous.
The two movies, conventionally speaking are very distinct; they are so divergent that if we look at them from a certain angle all we can see is that both the movies are barely on the same side of the poles. Even if they belong to separate genres, one little similarity between the two projects was that they brought people together to celebrate cinema once again.
The Inspiration Behind The 2-Dimensional Look In Barbie:
Usually, a movie like Barbie would have been no match at the box office against a movie based on the Manhattan Project. However, to our surprise a women-centric film, a film made for women did manage to enter the 1-billion-dollar club. As it created history by becoming the highest-grossing movie of 2023 and the 14th highest-grossing movie of all time, Greta Gerwig did something that not everyone would dream of.
One element that stood out in the movie was how they used as minimum CGI as they could, instead of using green screens, ‘the Lady Bird director opted to build the sets and the backdrop which gave a 2- dimensional look, especially during the transportation scene between the Barbie and the real world. Inspiration was surely taken by the creators, let’s face the facts there is no such thing as an original idea in the world we live in.
That being so, Greta tried to give this project a vibe of old ‘Classic Musical Soundstage’ that she took inspiration from movies like The Wizard of Oz, Singing in the Rain, An American in Paris, The Red Shoes, etc.
As we go on and talk about what completed Barbie are the costumes, the iconic costumes which also gave an ode to the 90s fashion, inevitably was a win for Oscar-winning costume designer Jacqueline Durran. From Barbie and Ken’s or the other way around Ken and Barbie’s disco jumpsuits to Ken’s leather jacket, all the minute details laid down by the costume team and of course, Greta Gerwig made the movie not just timeless but unquestionably supreme.
Barbie: wins and Nominationshttps:
At the honorable night of cinema, the 77th BAFTA Awards Barbie was nominated in 5 categories for Best Supporting Actor (Ryan Gosling), Best Actress (Margot Robbie), Best Costume Designer, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Production Design (Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer).
Unfortunately, the team of Barbie was not among the list of people who took home ‘the Golden Mask’ with them. 5 nominations and not a single win, is a little bit of a letdown. But was it the first time? Earlier this year, the movie was snubbed by the Golden Globes where it had 9 nominations and won 2 of them including Best Original Song and Cinematic and Box Office Collection.
A film that celebrates women should be acknowledged by the jury as their decisions sure are garnering responses, one of the most popular ones is from The La La Land actor Ryan Gosling when ‘I Am Just Ken’ won the Critics Choice award for Best Original Song over Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For’!
Barbie receiving no nomination in any major categories at the Oscars 2024 is another piece of news that doesn’t have any major surprise elements in it. Truth be told, we saw it from a mile away.
So, if a movie based on a ‘plastic doll’ that performs magic at the box office and kind of takes a direct jab at how the world works has become something that would not be acknowledged. But it’s alright because just like this article, the awards are also just an opinion of a group of people. But the fact here is that Barbie’s 2023 movie has already made history. A movie worth a Billion dollars. A movie that conquered a billion Hearts!
