The Golden Globes is an annual award ceremony recognizing the best achievements in film and television for the year. Like the Oscars and Emmys, the Golden Globes select five nominees to be eligible for an award in an aspect of filmmaking: directing, writing, and acting. This year saw a competitive awards ceremony with an abundance of excellent films and shows in contention for the top prizes
The Golden Globes award the best miniseries (a show with a planned number of episodes) or film made for television in the same category. This year, Big Little Lies won the award, beating out the acclaimed series, Fargo. The show is about how the lives of three mothers of first-graders are superficially ideal. However, the dark secrets of their lives gradually reveal themselves, eventually causing a homicide. The miniseries was based on the best selling book by Liane Moriarty.
The Golden Globes also awards the best film in a foreign language. This year, the German film In the Fade won the award. The film, like Big Little Lies, is another solemn work of fiction that deals with the macabre. The thriller is about a woman who seeks justice after her husband and young son die in a bombing. A more lighthearted film that won a Golden Globe is Coco, which won in the Best Animated Feature Film category. This Pixar film is about an aspiring musician, Miguel, who enters the Land of the Dead and seeks the assistance of his great-great-grandfather, who was a musician. The movie has been lauded as being one of Pixar’s best films and was a commercial success.
A significant aspect of visual media, such as television and filmmaking, is music. While films are famous for their visceral method of storytelling, music has always been a significant tool for the director to tell their story. It was used since the beginning of motion pictures, as dialogue could not be used to set the mood. The Golden Globes award the best music in film in two different categories: Best Original Song and Best Original Score. The winner of the former award was The Greatest Snowman, with the song “This is Me” by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Alexandre Desplat won the award for his score for The Shape of Water, winning against other iconic composers, such as John Williams and Hans Zimmer.
The director and screenwriter are fundamental in the process of filmmaking and determine the quality of a film. If a screenplay is incredible, but the direction is subpar, then the film would not be as celebrated as it potentially could have. In addition, if a screenplay is flawed, then the audience will take notice of the issues of the screenplay and may lampoon the film for it. The director who won the Golden Globe this year was Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water. The filmmaker faced strong competition against other revered directors, such as Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, and Steven Spielberg. One of the directors nominated, Martin McDonagh, did win a Golden Globe for his screenplay. He directed and wrote the film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
There are many acting roles in a film. The main roles are often the most remembered and significant to a film or TV show, but supporting roles can be just as influential as the main one. The Golden Globes appreciate these actors with supporting roles with several awards. For television, Alexander Skarsgard won for his performance as Perry Wright, while Laura Dern, who played Renata Klein, won as the supporting actress. Both were for Big Little Lies. In film, the supporting actor who won was Sam Rockwell as Jason Dixon in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The best supporting actress was Allison Janney, who played LaVona Golden in I, Tonya.
The Golden Globes gives strong recognition to lead performances. For the best performance in a miniseries, Ewan McGregor won for his two roles in Fargo, while Nicole Kidman won for playing Celeste Wright in Big Little Lies. In television, the actor who won for his performance in a comedy or musical was Aziz Ansari as Dev Shah in Master of None, while the actress who won in this category was Rachel Brosnahan in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, in which she played the titular character. For the corresponding awards in film for this genre, James Franco won for playing a real person, Tommy Wiseau, in The Disaster Artist. Saoirse Ronan won for her performance in Lady Bird, against other acclaimed actresses such as Helen Mirren and Emma Stone.
Dramatic performances do not compete against comedy or musical performances, meaning that more performances can be nominated than other award ceremonies: The Oscars. Elisabeth Moss, who played June in The Handmaid’s Tale, picked up the trophy, while her male counterpart, Sterling K. Brown, won as Randall Pearson in This is Us. For film, actress Frances McDormand won as Mildred Hayes in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. She was nominated with the legendary actress, Meryl Streep, who has more Golden Globe wins and nominations than any other actress. Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour was the actor who won in this category. He encountered strong competition against Tom Hanks, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Denzel Washington.
The Golden Globes recognizes the best dramatic and comedic film and television show of the year. In television, The Handmaid’s Tale won for the best dramatic show of the year. It is about a dystopian future follows the “Handmaids”, women who are selected into bearing children. The best comedic show was The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a housewife who decides to pursue a career as a stand up comedian in the late 1950s. In film, the best dramatic picture was Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The premise of the film is that a grieving mother, Mildred Hayes, places three billboards to reveal her disappointment and frustration at the lack of progress in the investigation of her daughter’s murder case, causing controversy amongst the residents of Ebbing. Lady Bird, which follows a 17-year old artist in 2002 maturing into the world, won the Golden Globe for best comedic or musical film.
This year’s Golden Globe will also be historic for one of its awards, the Cecil B. deMille Award. The award is given annually to those in Hollywood who have made a profound and significant impact on the entertainment business. Recipients include Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg, and Clint Eastwood. This year, Oprah Winfrey received this honor, making her the first African American woman to win the award. In addition, this year’s ceremony will be remembered for its political statement amongst the attendees. Many of the nominees wore black in order to raise awareness about the infamous sexual harassment scandals revealed in late 2017. In fact, several of the speeches this year have referenced these scandals. It is not uncommon for award ceremonies to have political speeches and movements. For instance, Marlon Brando refused to claim his Oscar in 1973 due to the poor representation of Native Americans in film. While many people may discuss about the political statements made in these award ceremonies the day after the ceremony, only the awards given during the ceremony will be remembered.