LOS ANGELES, Jan 25, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - The announcement of Oscar nominations
always generates a bit of buzz, with fans weighing in on which movies and
which actors deserved recognition and didn't get it.

But few snubs have provoked as much online outrage as those delivered to
summer blockbuster "Barbie", a deft satire on the difficulties women face in
being recognized for their talents, whose female director and female lead did
not make the shortlist.

Especially as the male actor playing Ken did.

"Nominating Ken but not Barbie is literally the plot of the movie," novelist
Brad Meltzer wrote on social media.

Greta Gerwig's fizzing audience-pleaser, which took over $1 billion at the
box office with its effortless melding of social commentary and bubblegum pop
culture, had been seen as a lock for many of the biggest categories when the
Oscars nominations were announced on Tuesday.

Both Gerwig as director and star Margot Robbie had already garnered a suite
of nominations in earlier awards and were expected to feature in the line-up
for Hollywood's top prizes.

But while the film notched an impressive eight nods, including the coveted
Best Picture, Gerwig and Robbie were left off the lists for director and
leading actress.

Ryan Gosling, who earned a supporting actor nomination for his efforts as
Ken, was among the first to speak out.

"No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their
talent, grit and genius," he said.

"To say that I'm disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective
categories would be an understatement."

Fellow Ken actor Simu Liu lauded the way the two women had fought to make
"Barbie" the movie it was.

"Together they started a movement, touched the world and reinvigorated the
cinema. They deserve everything. They ARE everything," he wrote on social
media.

And it wasn't just those involved in the movie who were annoyed.

"Let me see if I understand this: the Academy nominated 'Barbie' for Best
Picture (eight nominations total) - a film about women being sidelined and
rendered invisible in patriarchal structures - but not the woman who directed
the film," wrote Charlotte Clymer on X, the platform formerly known as
Twitter.

As the outrage spread on Wednesday, one-time US presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton weighed in.

Clinton lost the 2016 election to Donald Trump because of the mathematics of
the electoral college system, despite having a significant majority of the
popular vote.

"Greta & Margot, While it can sting to win the box office but not take home
the gold, your millions of fans love you. You're both so much more than
Kenough. #HillaryBarbie," she wrote on X.