Gerber, 22, is the daughter of 90s supermodel Cindy Crawford, and yes, she has inherited every single cell of her mother’s asymmetrically perfect features. She’s now a successful model in her own right but also a keen reader, a book reader, and in the past few years, she’s made it part of her public identity.

Since 2020, she’s worked hard to cultivate the image of a stylish book-worm. She’s made sure the world knows she reads and that we know she’s a thinker. Gone are the days of the bookworm image, of the girl with glasses reading in her pjs in bed. 

In September 2020, Gerber posted a screenshot to her 10 million followers on Instagram of a scene from Richard Benjamin’s 1990 movie Mermaids, starring Cher and Winona Ryder. 

The image shows Cher in a bathtub, reading Grace Metalious’ 1956 novel Peyton Place, looking beautiful, focused and cerebral. Next to her, Winona Ryder, who plays her daughter in the movie, peers up towards the corner of the camera, obviously distracted by some agitated feelings towards her mother, who seems lost in her book. 

Suddenly, I was interested. 

The book Gerber was promoting that week, Chloe Benjamin’s The Immortalists, had nothing to do with the film, but that single post piqued my interest. 

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A few months earlier in March, Gerber had started a virtual bookclub via her Instagram as a way for her to connect with writers, other celebrities and friends during the pandemic. The first book was Sally Rooney’s Normal People – whose fans are the OG of ‘the stylish reader’. In her first live chat, she spoke with Daisy-Edgar Jones and Paul Mascal, stars of the screen adaptation of the novel. 

Her book selections were diverse, and her intentions were noble. In May, she selected Spring Awakening, the late 19th century classic play by German dramatist Frank Wedekind, in order to “raise awareness for the performing arts industry in nyc. theaters are closed for the time being, putting so many actors, writers, and crew members out of work,” as Gerber described in a post on Instagram.

“It’s really important that we keep supporting the community that plays such a large & important role to the city.” 

Over the next few months and years, Gerber would invite the likes of Lena Dunham, Jia Tolentino, Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) and Raven Leilani onto her platform to talk about their books. These women have huge cultural capital and radiate an equal measure of affable coolness, intelligence and obtainable beauty. 

Gerber would continue to post images on Instagram of beautiful women reading, either from photos, or screenshots from movies. It didn’t matter that most of the images had nothing to do with the books themselves. Gerber knew how to get someone like me interested.

I’m a female reader, a book reader, and I aspire to be beautiful. Inevitably, in my own life, I separate these two pursuits. When I read, I’m mostly always in some loose, flimsy outfit, sprawled across my sofa chair in my study, looking more like a sloth on a tree than a presentable woman. The last thing on my mind is trying to appear beautiful. 

But these women, women like Gerber, and her fellow supermodel friends who read, including Dua Lipa, Emily Ratajkowski and Camille Rowe, have harnessed Instagram’s most fundamental currency — hot privilege, and began a movement to aestheticise book reading.

And by book reading, I mean, actual books. Physical, paper items. You won’t see a kindle anywhere here. 

The books on Gerber’s bookclub list are carefully selected to exude a certain sensibility. Think east-coast elites. Think oat-milk drinking hipsters who wear white linen shirts and own more than two pairs of Birkenstocks. Carrying a book, or at least, appearing to consume its content, has become another gesture towards aspirational living. Not only do we need to appear to be taking care of our outward appearances — we need to cultivate the right kind of intellectual and cerebral agendas. 

This week, Gerber, along with her friend Alyssa Reeder, (a New York City-bred writer and editor who writes for Into the Gloss) launched Library Science. 

The site collects all the books she’s had on her bookclub so far; all 34 books, it’s 33 authors, most of them American. Joan Didion appears twice. And of course she does. Her books (along with her cult status among liberal white women) is the basis upon which all the other books instantiate. 

Another late author on the list is Françoise Sagan, who has an equally pertinent status among women who pay very close attention to the fabric of their clothes. 

The majority of authors on Gerber’s list are women and out of the 33 authors, nine are people of colour, or mixed race. Five are late authors. There is one trans author. Most of them went to Ivy league colleges, or were born into privilege and celebrity, as Gerber has. 

Wealth and affluence can provide one with a certain cultural capital – in Gerber’s case, she’s used it to curate a literary milieu. They can be “taste” makers. But what does it mean to have “taste”? More importantly, who adjudicates this metric? Today, it seems that the answer is beautiful people who know how to market themselves. Personally, I believe the gay American writer, Ocean Vuong was the first to aestheticize that very singular, New York City-artist image. Just check out his IG to know what I mean.

Initially, I was drawn to Gerber’s ethereal beauty. I love looking at pretty people. But pretty people who read?! Irresistible. Before my private divorce from social media, my favourite Instagram account was @hotdudesreading. The female equivalent is @coolgirlsreadingbooks. Somehow, it feels less of a novelty to see an attractive woman reading than it is to see an attractive man reading. The Internet agrees with me, because the former account has more than a million followers, while the latter has only 48.7K followers. 

As I said before, Instagram runs on hot privilege. And Gerber knows how to milk it. Looking to be well read is now a visual pursuit. It’s aspirational to appear to be well-read. And though her Library Science hasn’t inspired me to amend my break-up with Instagram, I agree with the platform’s philosophy: “We learn the most from the stories that aren’t our own.”

The post The gentle, slow, agonising beautifying of book-reading appeared first on Women's Agenda.

At the half-way mark of his speech, he changed tuned and took a swipe at the Recording Academy’s failure to award his wife Beyoncé, a 32-time Grammy winner, with the most prestigious prize at the Grammys: Album of the Year.

“We want you all to get it right,” he said. “We love you all, at least get it close to right. And obviously it’s subjective, because it’s music, it’s opinion-based, but you know, some things — I don’t want to embarrass this young lady, but she has more Grammys than everyone and never won album of the year,” he said, looking at Beyoncé. 

“So even by your own metrics, that doesn’t work. Think about that. The most Grammys, never won album of the year. That doesn’t work.”

A few audience members cheered. He continued, addressing the wider crowd. 

“Some of you are going to go home tonight and feel like you’ve been robbed. Some of you may be robbed. Some of you don’t belong in the category.”

This last snark garnered the loudest jeers. He responded by saying, “When I get nervous, I tell the truth.”

He ended his speech with some advice, taking hold of his daughter Blue’s hands, who was standing beside him throughout his speech.

“Just in life, you’ve got to keep showing up, forget the Grammys, you’ve got to keep showing up, until they give you all those accolades you feel you deserve. Until they call you chairman, until they call you a genius, until they call you the greatest of all time.”

Users on social media responded to Jay-Z’s speech, with one user writing: “JAY-Z is 100% correct. The fact that Beyoncé has never won Album of the Year for Self-titled, Lemonade, and RENAISSANCE is shameful. The LAST Black woman to win AOTY was Lauryn Hill, and that was over 25 YEARS AGO. The Recording Academy is telling us that no Black woman has created an album worthy of that honor in all this time, and I find that to be very offensive.”

The post garnered over 72K likes. 

Beyoncé has been nominated for Album of the Year four times. In 2010, for I Am… Sasha Fierce, in 2015 for Beyoncé, in 2017 forLemonade and last year, for Renaissance. 

In 2010, she lost to Taylor Swift’s Fearless. In 2015, she lost again to Swift, this time to her fifth album, 1989. In 2017, the year Lemonade was tipped to be the winner, she lost to Adele, who won for her third album 25.

In her acceptance speech, Adele said, “I can’t possibly accept this award. And I’m very humbled and I’m very grateful and gracious. But my artist of my life is Beyoncé. And this album to me, the Lemonade album, is just so monumental.”

Perhaps Jay-Z’s comments were enlivened by the fact that Taylor Swift won her fourth Album of the Year, for Midnights on Sunday night. 

Among the 32 Grammys Beyonce has won, only one award was in a “big four” category: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. In 2010, Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) won Song of the Year. Most of her wins have been in genre categories, including Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best R&B Performance, Best Music Video and Best Rap Song. 

As arguably one of the most iconic and influential experimental and innovative artists of our generation, perhaps Jay-Z had a point when he called out his wife’s lack of recognition in the most coveted award. 

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The show will be hosted by a woman and at least half of its guests will be women. The female-run, independent network will present the show once a month, addressing issues such as the shortage of female teachers, gender discrimination in politics, and the impacts of environmental issues on women. 

According to the Guardian, the show will operate in a similar style to the UK’s BBC Question Time, where a team of reporters will visit venues across the country and invite the public to participate and contribute their opinions.  

Fathi Mohamed Ahmed, the chief editor of Bilan, believes her media company provides a vital alternative to the current media content in Somalia, which “just focus[es] on politics and conflict.”

“There are so many stories to do on Somali society, especially about Somali people, and what is going on here,” she said. “We are going to have all those stories.”

In December, the host Naima Said Salah featured in the show’s pilot episode, discussing menstruation education and health with young women. 

“Women, including me, never had the opportunity to learn about periods as girls; even our own mums don’t discuss it,” Salah said. “People think this is taboo, but it is a fact; it exists and we cannot ignore it.”

The episode was praised for its candid discussions with young women, many who lack access to basic and essential hygiene products, forcing them to use risky forms of protection including tree barks, old clothes, socks and newspapers.

“One young woman in the audience shared her own experience,”  Salah, a senior reporter at Bilan, said. “She remembered the exact time and day when her period started because she had no idea what was happening. She thought she was dying. It was only after she told her older sister, that she understood.” 

Somalia is the most dangerous country for journalists in Africa. More than 50 journalists have been killed in the past twelve years. In the Global Impunity Index by The Committee to Protect Journalists – a list that calculates the number of unsolved journalist murders as a percentage of a country’s population, Somalia ranks last. 

The country was ranked by the UN as the fourth-lowest for gender equality globally. Women and girls in Somalia face harrowing challenges, with maternal and infant mortality rates among some of the highest in the world, and early marriage being one of the most pervasive. 

Director of the Mogadishu schools network, Cabdulqaadir Maxamed Xasan, posted his reaction to the new show on Bilan, saying he was pleased that the show is offering “more knowledge and experience” on education issues to the public. 

“Given the scarcity of female teachers in the education sector, young girls often struggle during their periods to adapt to changing circumstances. This discussion underscored the importance of community support during this critical time, particularly at the onset of adolescence.”

The show will officially launch on International Women’s Day, on 8 March this year. 

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On Wednesday’s episode of The View, Goldberg responded to her fellow host Sunny Hostin’s mention of “the snubs” by saying, “There are no snubs, and that’s what you have to keep in mind…not everybody gets a prize. The movies you love may not be loved by the people who are voting.”

The 68-year old former Hollywood actor, herself an Oscar winner in 1990 for her supporting role in Ghost, continued: “Here’s the deal: Everybody doesn’t win!”

“And it’s not the elites — it’s the entire family of the Academy who vote for Best Picture nominations. We all vote for Best Picture, everybody.” 

“So there are 7 to ten Oscar nominations that happen, and you don’t get everything that you want to get.”

The rest of the panelists commented on Ryan Gosling’s Best Supporting Actor nomination, with one questioning, “Did they miss the whole moral of the story of Barbie? Of course we celebrate just Ken and not the woman who is the lead it in and the icon in it?” 

“But actually, I think this could give Greta an idea for a sequel. Barbie goes to Hollywood and is snubbed by the elites who chose Ken over her. So just throwing that out there for an idea.”

Meanwhile, high-profile celebrities and public figures have continued to weigh in on the controversy. 

Former Secretary of State and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton posted a message to Robbie and Gerwig on Instagram.

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

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During an interview with the Today show on Wednesday, last year’s Best Actress winner Michelle Yeoh said the snubs also left her scratching her head.

“You do think, ‘How do you get nominated for best picture but not best director and not best actress?’” she said. “It happens and I’m sorry it happened to them because it’s obviously one of the most successful and beloved movies.”

“It’s just, for us, it’s not enough nominations to go around. The only take is [that] it’s so competitive out there and there is no guarantee because you’re not the only voter, you know? It’s widespread. Thank God the movie got nominated for best picture.” 

“Joy and disappointment… seems to go hand in hand.”

The post ‘Not everybody gets a prize’: Whoopi Goldberg defends Oscars after Barbie snub appeared first on Women's Agenda.

The surprises continue as Jessie Tu notes here. More recently, this year’s Oscar’s nominations have overlooked Barbie with Greta Gerwig missing out on the Best Director category, and Margot Robbie also being snubbed for the coveted Best Actress Award.

It seems that critics and punters alike construct Barbie and Poor Things as rival films. Indeed they both foreground female sexuality and carry the message of female empowerment. However, as we have suggested previously as a model of feminist cinema, Barbie was a resounding flop.

The Mattel endorsed Barbie film fell flat when the final scene saw Barbie paying a visit to the gynaecologist, the inference being that she was to have a vagina implanted into her body. Far from being a humorous move, it reduced female sexuality to being a purely biological phenomenon. It suggests that Barbie — and by extension, all women — are only complete by having a reproductive capability. This brings to the fore the heteronormative nature of narratives that tend to construct female characters as deficient.

The difference between Barbie and Poor Things can in part be discerned through their respective beginnings and endings: Gerwig’s film concludes with Barbie’s vaginal implant whilst Lanthimos’ filmbegins with its heroine’s brain transplant. This contrast underscores each film’s focus: while Barbie hones in on the cosmetic world of sexy sculpted bodies, Poor Things explores the cerebral dimension of both sexuality and identity. In this way, Poor Things provides a far more complex and intelligent meditation upon women’s liberation, examining both the sensual and psychological dimension of our minds and bodies.

Importantly, Lanthimos’ film is indebted to Alasdair Gray’s 1992 book of the same name, a tome that pays homage to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). As such, Poor Things is a rather weighty work of fiction that invokes a long history of storytelling going back to the 19^th century. It also evokes countless cinematic versions of Frankenstein, including the famous Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Mel Brook’ hilarious Young Frankenstein (1974), the latter dramatising the implantation of an ‘abnormal’ brain within a corpse. Likewise in Poor Things, the heroine Bella Baxter is implanted with the brain of her unborn child: this leads to comical outcomes, especially when her unfiltered behaviour disrupts polite Victorian society. The many textual influences threading through Poor Things provides it with a narrative richness that is lacking in Barbie.

Significantly, too, this film’s questioning of boundaries, especially when it relates to the differences between humans and animals (but also humans and monsters) sets the tone for a narrative that asks us to ponder both the limits and possibilities of sexual identity. There is certainly a lot of graphic sex in Poor Things, but its sexual acts hardly define its sexuality, especially Bella’s as her sexual awakening is not confined to heteronormative forms of eroticism. In possessing the developing brain of an infant, she is a genuinely exploratory character whose experience of sensuality and pleasure is uninhibited by the hypocrisies of patriarchal society. Yet for certain male characters her sexual freedom is so unwieldy and threatening that she is deemed a ‘monster’.

There are many monsters in Poor Things: some are disguised, some are not; some are even beautiful. For instance, Bella’s creator, Dr. Godwin Baxter (who is resonant of Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein) looks like a monster because his face is all stitched up and his fingers are disfigured. He is, though, a very kindly father-figure to Bella, who she affectionately calls ‘God’. Bella too is perceived as a monster because she is a resurrected suicide case implanted with her unborn child’s brain. Despite the darkness of her origins, she is a delightful, funny character capable of great compassion. And then there are the countless mixed species populating Doctor Baxter’s estate who are other ‘poor things’, those who have survived his experiments. The brutish Alfie Blessington is perhaps the closest character of all to being a monster — his diabolical plan to mutilate Bella’s genitals exemplifies the depths and depravities of patriarchal violence.

Feminist critics have argued that Gray’s rewriting of Shelley’s gothic novel presents a ‘female monster’ whose physical abnormality lies not in her ugliness but ‘excessive beauty and sexual appetite’ (Papatya Alkan Genca, 2019). Certainly, one could argue that the ‘woman-as-monster’ trope is enacted in Lanthimos’ film, yet Bella’s vivid characterisation overturns this symbolic order by revealing instead the monstrousness of gendered violence. This is evident when she rejects her seducer’s marriage proposal, informing Duncan Wedderburn that over the course of their affair she had been engaged to the much kindlier Max McCandless. The outrage that this knowledge brings helps illuminate the monstrousness of male egotism. The spectacle of Wedderburn’s contempt is also a source of humour, exposing as it does the absurdities and indulgences of male vanity.

Ultimately, Bella’s ‘monstrosity’ disrupts our perceptions of what a monster can be. She pushes the boundaries of meaning-making to reveal how unrepressed female sexuality is typically constructed as abhorrent. In light of this, perhaps the true monster in Poor Things is not a character at all but a collective value system that undermines female agency. Monsters have a way of being more powerful when they exist as ideas and beliefs.

Stylistically Poor Things, with its “steampunk” aesthetic and fisheye lenses, stretches, distorts, and warps our point of view, encouraging us to embrace both the strangeness and novelty of existence. Notably, the fisheye point of view evokes Bella’s perspective as she once swam with the fishes when her corpse was dragged from the Themes. The distortion and expansion of this uncommon cinematographic choice, resonant of its heroine’s watery grave, encourages the audience to think differently — as if we are drowning creatures who have miraculously been rebirthed into a vibrant world of cinematic technicolour.

Unlike Barbie, Bella reaches beyond herself, beyond her awkward body in the pursuit of knowledge and autonomy. Her passionate questing toward this aspiration takes her to many places, including Paris where she becomes a sex worker. In this context, Bella is the consummate pragmatist, calculating that a lifetime of unpaid sex as a wife is much more oppressive than being a salaried working girl who services ‘Johns’ within ‘20-minute’ interludes. Of course, prostitution does not lead to sexual freedom; but her salary does, enabling her to enrol in medical school and become a surgeon in her own right.

In the end, Bella achieves self-actualisation by being courageous enough to rewrite the script of Victorian ‘womanhood’. She is also not afraid to be a monster — even if it means that she is despised by certain men and wider society. Perhaps not caring if one is a monster is true freedom? Barbie on the other hand is trapped within a heterosexist logic of representation that defines sexuality according to a lack versus plenitude dynamic. This is reinforced when Ken requires Barbie’s sexual affirmation, a scenario which may reverse the symbolic order of a woman needing male recognition, but it hardly solves the structural problem of inequality if either sex can be undermined.

Strangely, or maybe appropriately, it is through the topsy-turvy, distorted world of scary monsters and super creeps that Poor Things provides audiences with hope. Bella’s brave exploration of herself and the wider world proves that it is possible to write progressive characters who challenge convention and society.

The post Is Poor Things a better feminist film than Barbie? These experts think so appeared first on Women's Agenda.

In this last category, she is among six other female nominees within a total group of ten nominees. Last year, every nominee in the Artist of the Year category (which merged the male and female categories into one award in 2022) was male. 

Reacting to her record number of nominations on the Bring On The BRITs 2024 nominations livestream, Raye said “it’s too much…my eyes fill with tears when we talk about this.”

“The only way I can describe it is as a miracle.”

Responding to a question from host Yinka Bokinni about the most “mind-blowing” moment in her career so far, Raye said, “A year and a half ago, as far as the industry was concerned, I was down and out. Never in my wildest dreams would I think that trying again would mean seven Brit nominations.”

In 2021, Raye accused her record label Polydor of withholding the release of her debut album since 2014. She was subsequently released from the contract before she went on to release the TikTok-topping Escapism as an independent artist. 

Noting this is not her first Brit Award nominations, the singer said seven nominations is “a whole different thing.” 

Her latest accomplishment breaks the previous record of six nominations in a single year held by Robbie Williams, Gorillaz and Craig David.

Raye will compete for this year’s Artist of the Year award alongside Little Simz, Arlo Parks, Jessie Ware, Olivia Dean, Dua Lipa, Dave, Central Cee, J Hus and Fred Again.

Female artists also dominated the list of nominees in the award for International Artist of the Year, with eight of the ten nominees being female, including Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Caroline Polachek and Kylie Minogue. 

Last August, Raye released her long-awaited debut record, My 21st Century Blues, which will compete for Album of the Year at this year’s Brit Awards alongside Little Simz’s No Thank You, J Hus’ Beautiful and Brutal Yard, Young Fathers’ Heavy Heavyand and Blur’s The Ballad of Darren.

This year’s rising star prize has already been awarded to The Last Dinner Party, a London-based all-female five-piece indie rock band from London formed in 2021. 

This year’s Brit Awards will take place in London on March 2, with Dua Lipa already confirmed to perform at the event. 

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This is the second time Gerwig has been snubbed for Best Director while her movie is nominated for Best Picture — in 2020, she missed out on a Best Directing nomination for Little Women. 

In the last few hours, Ryan Gosling issued a statement expressing his disappointment over his co-star and his director missing out on a nomination for their work on Barbie.

“There is no Ken without Barbie, and there is no Barbie movie without Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the two people most responsible for this history-making, globally celebrated film,” he said. “No recognition would be possible for anyone on the film without their talent, grit and genius. To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement.”

Several posts on social media commented on these latest snubs with comedic flair. 

American activist Shannon Watts shared her dismay on X, writing, “Greta Gerwig: Made a critically acclaimed, culturally profound, feminist movie about Barbie and the patriarchy that made a billion dollars at the box office. Oscar nomination goes to … Ken.” 

Author Laura Tisdall wrote, “So Greta Gerwig created one of the most original films of the decade, one that completely blew apart people’s expectations of what a #Barbie movie could be & resonated with millions … yet apparently that’s not *quite* worth a nomination for best director???”

One post from a parody account read: “No Oscar nomination for Greta Gerwig. No Oscar nomination for Margot Robbie. Ryan Gosling gets an Oscar nomination. The is actually the whole plot of “Barbie.”

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The statements made in this last post are not entirely true. Gerwig has received an Oscar nomination – just not for her directing. She shares a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination alongside her husband, Noah Baumbach. And technically, if Barbie wins Best Picture, Robbie will be up on stage accepting the award along with the other producers of the film. 

Other key nominations for women

The good news is that for the first time in Oscars’ 96 years, three movies directed by women scored nominations for Best Picture: Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Celine Song’s Past Lives. 

Nevertheless, Hollywood’s surprising snubs are nothing new. Each year, we lament the lack of female artists nominated in technical categories. Men continue to dominate the awards for Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Sound. This year, just one female director has been nominated in the Best Directing category. French filmmaker and writer Justine Triet is nominated for her film, Anatomy of a Fall, which has secured five nominations in total. 

Triet, 45, becomes only the eighth woman in Oscars history to be nominated for Best Director. 

Speaking to Hollywood Reporter after she received news of her nomination, Triet said, “I was surprised because there are no more women beside me. So of course, I’m so, so lucky and very proud of all these things.”

“Most of these [other nominees] since I was a child I’ve admired so much, and of course to be involved in this history, it means a lot for me. It was not a dream because I could not imagine.” 

Lily Gladstone, the female lead in Killers of the Flower Moon, becomes the first Native American acting nominee in Oscars history, nabbing a nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Reflecting on her nod from the Academy, the 37-year old said, “It’s long overdue. I feel like it’s circumstantial that it’s me because there have been so many immense, incredible performances. I stand on the shoulders of some unbelievable talent.” 

Gladstone will compete with Annette Bening (Nyad), Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall), Carey Mulligan (Maestro) and Emma Stone (Poor Things) for the award. If Stone wins – as she is predicted to by some critics, it will be her second Oscars. In 2017, she won Best Actress for her role in La La Land. 

In a statement provided to CNN, Stone said she is “beyond grateful to the Academy for including me as both an actress and producer among this group of exceptional nominees and for recognising our film in so many categories.”

“The team of artists who contributed to ‘Poor Things’ gave it everything and I am forever thankful for the opportunity to play Bella and see the world through her eyes. She has shown me that life is so much more than just sugar and violence.” 

Earlier this month, Stone won Best Female Actor for her role at the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards. Poor Things picked up a total of 11 nominations for this year’s Oscars. 

Gerwig’s Barbie secured a total of eight nominations, including Best Costume Design, Best Original Song and Best Production Design. America Ferrera is nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, going up against fellow first-time nominees Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), Danielle Brooks (The Color Purple), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers). 

Jodie Foster (Nyad) is also nominated in the category, marking her third Oscars nod. She has previously won two Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role — in 1989 for The Accused, and in 1992 for The Silence of the Lambs.

Ferrera, 39, told Variety she is still shocked by the nomination.

“I still haven’t really been able to get in my feelings because I’m still on like the top layer of ‘I can’t even believe that this is real,’” she explained. “[My husband] was screaming and emotional. And I just heard my kids in the back, like so confused. ‘What are you screaming about?’”

Ferrera then jumped on to a Group FaceTime with her The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants co-stars Blake Lively, Amber Tamblyn and Alexis Bledel.

“It was hilarious and funny and emotional and it’s wonderful to be celebrated and held up by my sisters. These women who I’ve had the honour of growing up with in this industry and being loved and cheered on and supported by them. Which we all do for each other. They’re amazing, and such a gift in my life.”

“It’s an overwhelming amount of love and support and congratulations to me,” she continued. “I feel it so deeply and am so grateful for their love and support and in this moment. It’s been a long ‘Barbie’ journey — I mean longer even for Greta and Margot and Noah, it’s been years and years and years — everyone’s really excited that we get to celebrate and to end this journey at the biggest party of the year.”

Ferrera also commented on Gerwig and Robbie’s snubs, saying “I was incredibly disappointed that they weren’t nominated.” 

In a separate statement, she expressed her joy at the increasing diversity of representation in movies. 

 “I’m so proud to get to bring Latiné representation to this year’s Academy Awards, along with my fellow Latiné nominees,” she said.

“May the diversity of voices acknowledged by the Academy continue to grow! I’m thrilled to celebrate my phenomenal Barbie family and all their achievements. Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie made history and raised the bar with Barbie. The cultural and industry impact they’ve achieved will be felt for generations and I’m so thankful to them for asking me to be a part of it.”

Meanwhile, in other major blows, Sofia Coppola’s eighth feature, Pricilla received no nominations at all. Emerald Fennell’s second film, Saltburn, also received no nominations. Both films have been critically acclaimed. 

Although her film, Past Lives is nominated for Best Picture, director Celine Song missed out on a Best Director nomination. She has been nominated for Best Original Screenplay, a nod which she has described as a “tremendous recognition” and “unbelievable honour.”

“I am overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude, and for my first film… crazy,” she said in a statement.

“Some of the experience working on a debut film is secretly questioning if you belong, if people will support your vision. It has been equal parts scary and rewarding to make this film and release it into the world. It is with immense gratitude to those who championed my vision that I now get to be among these giants of screenwriting.”

The indie-darling has been universally adored since it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival almost year ago, picking up countless glowing reviews from both critics and the public. Song’s directorial feature won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film, and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature. 

The 2024 Academy Awards will be held on the evening of March 10. Australians will be able to watch the live stream starting at 10am on March 11th. 

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Before presenting the award to the evening’s winner (Ayo Edebiri, for her role in The Bear), Applegate was introduced by the show’s host Anthony Anderson, who said the actor had made her television debut at the age of one. “She grew up on TV,” he said. 

As the 52-year-old actor walked on stage with a cane, she was applauded by an audience who rose to their feet. 

“Thank you so much! Oh my God! You’re totally shaming me [and my] disability by standing up,” she joked. “Body not by Ozempic.” 

“Some of you may know me as Kelly Bundy from Married… with Children,” she continued, as the audience gave her another round of applause. “We don’t have to applaud every time I do something,” she said. 

“Or [as] Samantha from Samantha Who, or probably, maybe my last job… Jen Harding, from Dead to Me.” 

“But very few of you probably know me from that debut…I’m going to cry more than I’ve been crying — Baby Bert Grizzle, from Days of our Lives.” 

A photo of Applegate as a baby was displayed on the screen behind her. 

The Primetime Emmy Award winner revealed her multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis in August 2021, while she was filming Dead to Me. 

In November the following year, she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, appearing alongside her Married…with Children co-stars Katey Sagal and David Faustino, and her Dead To Me co-star Linda Cardellini.

“This day means more to me than you can possibly imagine,” she said at the time. “I don’t say that I have friends. I have family. These people take care of me. They take care of me every day of my life, and without them I don’t know what I would do.”

In May 2023, she opened up to Vanity Fair in a candid interview, saying that living with MS “f**king sucks.”

“You just have little s****y days…people are like, “Well, why don’t you take more showers?” she said. “Well, because getting in the shower is frightening. You can fall, you can slip, your legs can buckle. Especially because I have a glass shower. It’s frightening to me to get in there.”

“There are just certain things that people take for granted in their lives that I took for granted. Going down the stairs, carrying things – you can’t do that anymore.” 

“It f**king sucks. I can still drive my car short distances. I can bring up food to my kid. Up, never down.”

“I can’t even imagine going to set right now,” she said. “This is a progressive disease. I don’t know if I’m going to get worse. I actually don’t want to be around a lot of people because I’m immunocompromised.”

“I also don’t want a lot of stimulation of the nervous system because it can be a little bit too much for me. I like to keep it as quiet and as mellow as possible.”

The main symptoms of MS include fatigue, pain, brain fog and impairment in different areas of the body. There is currently no cure for the disease, however treatments are available to help control the condition and ease the symptoms. 

In 2018, actor Selma Blair was diagnosed with MS. She told British Vogue she’d experienced the symptoms of the disease for four decades before she was officially diagnosed.

“If you’re a boy with those symptoms, you get an MRI,” she said. “If you’re a girl, you’re called ‘crazy.'” After her diagnosis, Blair underwent a hematopoietic stem cell transplant in 2019. Since 2021, the MS has been in remission.

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Seeing the trailers for the latest adaptation, you’d be forgiven for not knowing it’s a musical. Nothing about the promos gives away the fact that it’s a musical. 

So if you’re not a fan of musicals, you might struggle to embrace the latest version with the same fervour and enthusiasm you gave the original.

Nevertheless, this musical version is packed with the same hilarious lines from the original, and stars the next generation of young, talented actors and singers — including the 23-year old Australian Angourie Rice, who takes on the role of our heroine, Cady Heron, perfectly. Rice is sweet-faced, approachable, docile, yet self-aware. 

The plot is essentially the same as the original — with a few minor tweaks that shouldn’t offend any viewers. The friendships and betrayals feel less convincing, only because the mean girls don’t get to be very mean, and the strongest relationships (such as the one between Cady and outcast Janice) aren’t given the space to breathe. 

Cady’s mother is played by The Office‘s Jenna Fischer, while the iconic Queen Bee Mean Girl Regina George is played by Renee Rap. Rapp first played the role in June 2019 for the stage production on Broadway. Other cast members who were taken directly from their original casting for the Broadway production include Ashley Park (from Emily in Paris, JoyRide and Beef) who plays the French teacher in this screen adaptation. In the original stage production, Park played Gretchen Wieners. 

Because it’s a musical, the entire feel of the film has a different feeling to the original. Some of the numbers (and how it’s shot) made me feel like I was watching an erotic thriller. The songs are tolerably good, though at times felt they were interrupting the flow of the narrative. The high-stakes drama of teen girls lends itself so well to the musical, yet whenever Rapp was singing, I couldn’t help but yearn for Rachel McAdam’s steely cold face.

If anything, this latest version will have you appreciating the genius of the original script. A few characters get some new killer lines — Karen, this time, played by Avantika Vandanapu calls a pimple on Regina’s face “a face breast”. Damien, Janice’s best friend and side-kick, asks Cady if she’s okay when she’s hiding in the girls’ toilets: “We’re concerned you’re either taking drugs or having a toilet baby.” 

Is it worth watching? Certainly. You’ll have a good time and laugh a lot. Even if you’re not a fan of musicals. 

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Snook was named the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the 75th Emmy Awards night on Monday local time, days after receiving a Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice award.

The ceremony announcing the winners of the 2023 Emmy Awards should have taken place last year, however, the actors and writers strike delayed the ceremony until  Monday night.

There were several tear-jerking moments and record-breaking wins for women in television at the Emmys. Here are some highlights.

Ali Wong, Beef

American actor and stand-up comedian Ali Wong received the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series. Playing Amy Lau in TV series Beef, Wong became the first woman of Asian descent to win an Emmy for a leading role.

In her acceptance speech, Wong thanked her parents and her two daughters.

Ali Wong gives a kiss to Bill Hader after winning the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for #Beef pic.twitter.com/tQK7TmAJkG

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 16, 2024

“I wouldn’t be standing here without my parents, my amazing parents, my mother and my father who I so wish was alive to share this moment with me,” she said.

“To my beautiful daughters Mari and Nikki, you are my everything, and thank you for inspiring me and this is for you.”

Niecy Nash-Betts, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story

“I’m a winner, baby!” Necy Nash-Betts announced as she came on stage to accept her award. Nash-Betts was awarded Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series for her role in Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.

She played Glenda Cleveland, a Black woman who reported the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to the police but on several occasions was ignored.

Niecy Nash-Betts wins the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.
pic.twitter.com/BFsXnwhEgB

— Film Updates (@FilmUpdates) January 16, 2024

“You know who I wanna thank? I wanna thank me – for believing in me, and doing what they said I could not do,” Nash-Betts said.

“I accept this award on behalf of every Black and Brown woman who has gone unheard, yet overpoliced – like Glenda Cleveland, like Sandra Bland, like Breonna Taylor.”

Ayo Edebiri, The Bear

Ayo Edebiri was named Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the Emmys, playing chef Sydney Adamu in The Bear.

Her acceptance speech was short and sweet, dedicating it to her parents.

“Thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all that. It’s probably not, like, a dream to immigrate to this country and have your child be like ‘I want to do improv!,’ but you’re real ones”

—Ayo Edebiri thanking her parents

#Emmys pic.twitter.com/1ZOPu7UR0W

— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) January 16, 2024

“Thank you so much for loving me and letting me feel beautiful and Black and proud of all that,” she said. 

“It’s probably not, like, a dream to immigrate to this country and have your child be like ‘I want to do improv!,’ but you’re real ones.”

Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary

Never in the history of the Emmys before have two women of colour won comedy acting awards – until now. Quinta Brunson, who played Janine Teagues in Abbott Elementary, received the award as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

She was so emotional in her acceptance speech that it was hard for her to get words out.

“I’m so happy to be able to live my dream and act out comedy,” Brunson said.

“I didn’t prepare anything because I just didn’t think…”

After the ceremony backstage, Quinta Brunson and fellow award winner Ayo Edebiri shared a special moment together, revelling in their achievements.

“Bitch, what the fuck???” is so precious lmao pic.twitter.com/aTeiWcBTs6

— Joi Childs (@jumpedforjoi) January 16, 2024

Sarah Snook, Succession

Our very own Sarah Snook has done it again – her third award in almost as many weeks. For her role as Shiv Roy in Succession, she received the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.

In the final season of the show, Snook was pregnant with her first baby, and after thanking all her supporters, she gave a final thank you to her daughter.

#Succession Sarah Snook wins the award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at the #Emmys pic.twitter.com/fyloJtLvFw

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 16, 2024

“I carried her with me in this last series, and really it was her carrying me,” Snook said. “It’s very easy to act when you’re pregnant because you’ve got hormones raging, but it was more the proximity of her life growing inside me that gave me the strength to do this. 

“I love you so much, and it’s all for you from here on out.”

Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus

The ever-hilarious Jennifer Coolidge also came out of the Emmys with an award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.

Coolidge played Tanya McQuiod in the series The White Lotus and at the Emmys, she stole the show in the way only Jennifer Coolidge could.

#TheWhiteLotus star Jennifer Coolidge thanks "all the evil gays" during her acceptance speech for winning Supporting Actress in a Drama Series at the 75th #Emmys pic.twitter.com/nxTPEHUBCJ

— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) January 16, 2024

“I want to thank all the evil gays,” she said.

Before being rushed off stage for speaking too long (once again), she finished her speech with this.

“I had a little dream in my little town and everyone said it was impractical and it was far-fetched, and it did happen after all – so don’t give up on your dream.”

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Even though Barbie picked up six Critics Choice awards, including for Best Comedy, Best Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Hair and Makeup and Best Song (“I’m Just Ken”), many were presented during commercial breaks and therefore didn’t air to tv audiences.

When Barbie won ‘Best Comedy’, Handler said: “I’m gonna go rogue because Greta and Margot deserve the opportunity to make an acceptance speech. Would you mind coming up and accepting the award?”

Gerwig and Robbie both thanked Handler for the opportunity, with Robbie noting: “You know, when everyone is like ‘Oh, this is so unexpected. This is actually unexpected and was not a part of the show.’ We were very grateful nonetheless and I’d like Greta to talk.”

Gerwig went on to say: “We were excited in our chairs. And it’s nice to be up here. Thank you to everyone that helped make the movie. I laughed during most takes. Because of our beautiful cast — Margot and Ryan and America [Ferrera] — who got to be as brilliant as they are.”

Along with this salute to Barbie’s success, Handler declared 2023 was “the year of the woman”, saying “Barbie at the box office, Taylor Swift and Beyonce with their tours, Gwyneth Paltrow and her ski trial.”

Chelsea Handler vs Jo Koy

At the Critics Choice Awards, Handler differentiated herself starkly from fellow comedian and her ex-boyfriend Jo Koy, who gave what many deemed to be a very out of touch monologue as host of the Golden Globes. 

Koy’s most cringeworthy line might have been when he compared the Oppenheimer film to Barbie, saying that, “Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project.”

“And Barbie is based on a plastic doll with big boobies,” Koy said to a silent crowd.

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Even as he attempted to place some blame on his writers and a lack of time as excuses for his failed Globes set, Koy’s speech has been widely criticised. 

“Yo, I got the gig 10 days ago,” Koy said on-stage. “You want a perfect monologue? Yo, shut up. Slow down. I wrote some of these and they’re the ones you’re laughing at.”

Koy’s performance made perfect material for Handler, who didn’t pass up the opportunity. Starting out her set, Handler joked about actors Harrison Ford and Robert De Niro being “total smoke shows” and added she would toss Martin Scorsese “around like a little Italian meatball”. 

She followed up by saying, “Thank you for laughing at that, my writers wrote it.”

The subtle dig at Koy drew massive applause, including from many celebrities who had attended last week’s Golden Globes. 

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“Receiving the SeeHer Award for my contributions to more authentic portrayals of women and girls — could it be more meaningful to me?” Ferrera said. 

“Because I grew up as a first-generation Honduran American girl in love with TV, film and theater, who desperately wanted to be a part of a storytelling legacy that I could not see myself reflected in.”

Ferrera, who played Gloria in Barbie, received the SeeHer award which celebrates women who portray authentic and boundary-pushing characters. Previous winners include Viola Davis, Gal Gadot and Halle Berry. 

Ferrera’s character in Barbie is most known for an iconic monologue about the impossible standards women are expected to live up to.

“I yearned to see people like myself on screen as full humans,” Ferrera said in her speech. “When I started working over 20 years ago, that seemed impossible. It seemed impossible that anyone could make a career of portraying fully dimensional Latina characters.”

“But because of writers, directors, producers and executives that were daring enough to hear and to challenge deeply entrenched biases … some of my fellow Latina colleagues have been supremely blessed to have brought to life some fierce and fantastic women.”

@officialcriticschoice #AmericaFerrera makes an increidble speech for her #SeeHer award at the #CriticsChoiceAwards ♬ original sound – Critics Choice Awards

Ferrera said that to her filmmaking is about affirming the full humanity of other people, regardless of their identity or what they look like.

“To me, this is the best and highest use of storytelling to affirm one another’s full humanity, to uphold the truth that we are all worthy of being seen — Black, brown, Indigenous, Asian, trans, disabled, any body type, any gender,” Ferrera said. 

“We are all worthy of having our lives richly and authentically reflective.”

Margot Robbie presented Ferrera with the award, taking the opportunity to share some insight into working with the actor, noting that Ferrera is the only Latina to win an Emmy for lead actress for her role in Ugly Betty.

“I imagine being the first in any field can be isolating. I imagine it puts an enormous pressure on you to be perfect, to play it safe,” Robbie said. “But what I admire the most about America is how she has handled that pressure while never being afraid to continue to speak the truth when it counts the most.”

“Off-screen, she is remarkably grounded, surprisingly silly, seemingly unaffected by the talent she possesses, and always, always on the right side of a cause. She blazed a trail for Latina actresses while teaching everyone we are so much more than what we think we are.”

Ferrera also thanked Barbie director Greta Gerwig for telling women’s stories and proving they can be commerically successful.

“Thank you for proving through your incredible mastery as a filmmaker that women’s stories have no difficulty achieving cinematic greatness and box office history at the same time,” Ferrera said. “And that unabashedly telling female stories does not diminish your powers, it expands them.”

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