The executive committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) Writers Branch decided that Barbie would be eligible to vote for best-adapted screenplay instead of best original screenplay, Variety reported on Thursday. The Oscar nominations voting period begins on January 11 and ends on January 23. While movies were campaigning for Oscar nominations, Barbie advocated for Best Original Screenplay rather than Best Adapted Screenplay. Gerwig, 40, wrote the script for the film about the iconic doll with her writing partner and husband Noah Baumbach.
On social media, Barbie fans expressed their displeasure with AMPAS’s decision, as well as their reasonings for the decision.
Even though the Academy thinks Barbie is an adaptation, the Writers Guild of America disagrees. The WGA designated the 2023 blockbuster as an original in their own ruling. An original screenplay is “not based on assigned material,” according to the WGA, whereas an adapted screenplay is “assigned material written outside of the Guild’s jurisdiction,” like novels, comic books, graphic novels, plays, articles, or other literary material.
The AMPAS designation, of course, has made ’40-Year Old Virgin’ Judd Apatow super mad. “To say that the writers were working off pre-existing material is insulting to them,” tweeted the director of “This Is 40” and “Knocked Up” on Saturday on X/Twitter. “There was a transparent box. There was no prior material or story.“
But is Barbie original or adapted? Let’s review current definitions. What makes an adapted script different from an original one? As we all know, an adaptation is based on previously written material, while an original work creates a completely new story.
With their deconstruction version of “Barbie”, writers Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have achieved a level of originality, which seemed to give them a clear shot at writing an original screenplay. However, a book, film, or well-known intellectual property can frequently be adapted as a tribute to the craft of transformation.
Movies such as “Moonlight” (2016) were rewritten to fit the revised screenplay. Co-writer Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play, “Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue,” was never published. Stephen Gaghan’s 2005 film “Syriana,” which was based on Robert Baer’s memoir “See No Evil,” was reclassified as an original work because it differed significantly from the source. That being said, the Academy retained Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” (2007), which is adapted from Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel “Oil,” and Todd Phillips/Scott Silver’s Joker (2019), for the Caped Crusader’s “not a comic book movie” solo story.
Regarding “Barbie,” the AMPAS’s secrets on the matter don’t serve anything for Barbie, bad or good. Does the decision stem from the toy’s existence? The comic and sticker books that date to the 1970s? Is it because, before Gerwig’s commercial success, there were over 40 Barbie movies, the majority of which were kid-targeted direct-to-video releases? The AMPAS isn’t the type to let creatives know why their decisions are made; which is frustrating for aspiring filmmakers wanting to know the Oscar presenters’ formula.
In making Barbie the perennial favorite of an original screenplay, the future effects could include existing franchise lore, which fans are being wiped entirely in favor of Hollywood-approved storylines and characters; not just in major IP-related media, but independent stories, as well, looking for funding or passing the AMPAS rigid standards for Oscar entry. The worry of the 1980s of toy companies and big-budget movie makers controlling the market and the minds of what values are being represented to children—this would be one more way to erase the magic that made the original idea of a young woman who lived an idyllic life with a man who loved her endure generations.
On Sunday, ‘Barbie’ was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Original Screenplay and Greta Gerwick as Best Director; both, along with ‘Oppenheimer,’ lost to ‘Anatomy Of A Fall’. And, of course, the internet said things.
What do you think? Should Barbie be considered an “original” screenplay for the Oscars or just another piece of the 50+ year old lore? Leave a comment!
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