Draped in black
Golden Globes will try on a new look
The Golden Globes have always been the less serious stop in route to the Academy Awards — the boozy, bubbly awards show put on by a little-known group with sometimes confounding taste. But this year, a funny thing has happened: The Golden Globes mean something.
The 75th Golden Globes, to be presented in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday night, will be the most prominent and public display yet for the “MeToo’’ movement that has swept through Hollywood and left a trail of disgraced men in its wake. What has long been, first and foremost, a star-studded primetime party may this Sunday take on the tenor of a protest rally.
Out of solidarity with the victims of sexual harassment and assault, many women have said they will be dressing in black for the Globes.
It’s a plan that, on the red carpet and on the stage, will ensure the spotlight remains on the film industry’s endemic gender imbalances.
“That will be really powerful,’’ Allison Janney, a supporting actress nominee for the Tonya Harding tale “I, Tonya,’’ said earlier this week. “I will be in a black dress and be proud to be standing there with the other actresses.’’
The Globes have traditionally been a celebration, a good time and, frequently, a punchline. But they have had their political high points as well, like last year’s speech by Meryl Streep, the Cecil B. DeMille recipient for lifetime achievement. She spoke forcefully against then President-elect Donald Trump, who the next morning responded that Streep was “overrated.’’ In this Dec. 11 file photo, Golden Globe statues appear on stage prior to the nominations for 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. The Golden Globe Awards, to be presented on Sunday night will be the most prominent display yet for the “MeToo” movement that has swept through Hollywood and left a trail of disgraced men in its wake. What has long been a star-studded primetime party may this Sunday take on the tenor of a protest rally.
This year’s recipient is Oprah Winfrey, who earlier called the fallout following the allegations against Harvey Weinstein “a watershed moment’’ for women.
Winfrey is among the hundreds of women in the entertainment industry who have banded together to form Time’s Up, an initiative to advocate for gender equality among studio and talent agency executives. It has also created a $14-million legal fund for victims of sexual harassment.
Time’s Up — whose members include many Globes attendees, including Reese Witherspoon, Gal Gadot and Emma Stone — unveiled itself Monday with full-page newspaper ads. But
already there is fresh fodder for its cause.
The University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative released its latest findings Thursday on diversity in directing.
By examining the top 100 films of 2017 in box office, researchers found that just 7.3 per cent of the movies were directed by women. That’s an increase from 4.2 per cent the year before, but still below the decade-ago high point.
“Diversity in the director’s chair is virtually nonexistent and gender in the executive ranks of major companies remains grossly imbalanced,’’ the study concluded.
That lack of change will be on display Sunday, too, where
five men will compete for best director despite several potential nominees in Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird’’), Dee Rees (“Mudbound’’) and Patty Jenkins (“Wonder Woman’’). The category will be much watched when Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 23.
Still, the Globes are starting to see some of the same criticisms on diversity that have trailed the Academy Awards in recent years. But unlike the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which has revamped its 6,000-plus membership to make its ranks more inclusive, the same pressure hasn’t been applied on the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization of about 90 largely unknown foreign journalists.