The Oscars Are Confused About “Barbie”

It was the biggest hit of the summer. Then it was the biggest hit of the year. It was a blockbuster so gigantic—crowd-pleasing, artful, a triumph for its young director—that it changed what the movie business thought it knew about making money. But it was more than a movie: it was a pop-cultural phenomenon, the mother of a million marketing tie-ins, and its runaway success seemed to say something about the troubled America from which it sprang. When Oscar season came, it was nominated for Best Picture—but its director was snubbed. The movie was “Jaws,” from 1975. You can still watch the pipsqueak Steven Spielberg ogling the television on the morning of the nominations and gawking in disbelief as his presumed Best Director spot goes to Federico Fellini, for “Amarcord.” “I didn’t get it!” he cries, his face pressed into his fists.