Women set furious tone at prelude to the Oscars
Golden Globes was like a solemn occasion, with the audience dressed in black in protest
There’s just one certainty as awards season begins in earnest: this is a time to rage, not to party.
The Golden Globes are normally seen as the most fun of golden events, sort of the tailgate blowout before the celebrity Super Bowl that is the Oscars. Liquor flows, presentations and acceptances are shambolic and people the next day talk about how “outrageous” the host was.
Not this year. As the first major Tinseltown gathering since ongoing sex ha- rassment revelations began last fall, Sunday’s Globes event turned into the serious and politicized affair the Oscars are often accused of being. Just imagine how much more that way the Academy Awards will be — and by the way, don’t presume that big Globes winner Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri will similarly triumph at the Oscars, which historically go in different directions.
The Globes looked liked the most solemn of occasions, with everybody dressed in black as a visual statement of protest. Nobody was mourning the death of the way things used to be in Hollywood.
Host Seth Meyers was smooth and professional, but he seemed to be having trouble reading a room where the women were furious and empowered and the men were wondering what they should say, if anything.
Jokes he made about the future death of Harvey Weinstein and the alleged underage sex preferences of Kevin Spacey brought groans as well as laughs. Everybody was on message to a degree never before seen at the Globes, where the usual sight is of actors drunkenly attempting to read a teleprompter.
The message was female anger about perceived male wrongdoing, regarding everything from sexual transgressions to wage inequities and lack of job opportunities and awards recognition for women and people of colour.
“Trust me, the women in this room tonight are not here for the food,” said Frances McDormand, winner of Best Actress — Drama for her Three Billboards portrayal of a grieving and vengeful mother, wronged by men. “They’re here for the work.” Natalie Portman interrupted her reading of the Best Director nominees to pointedly note a gender disparity: “Here are the all-male nominees.” The Hollywood Foreign Press Association had failed to include Greta Gerwig ( Lady Bird) and Dee Rees ( Mudbound) in their consideration for directing glory, although they gave the coming-ofager Lady Bird prizes for Best Motion Picture — Musical/Comedy and Best Actress (Saoirse Ronan).
Barbra Streisand, presenting the prize for Best Motion Picture — Drama (which went to Three Billboards), noted that she was the most recent woman to be nominated for Best Director at the Globes, for Yentl back in 1984.
“That was 34 years ago. Folks, time’s up!” she said. “We need more women directors and more women to be nominated for Best Director. There are so many films out there that are so good directed by women.”
Streisand evoked the protest hashtag #TimesUp, but it was Oprah Winfrey, accepting a career award with a barnburner of a speech, who brought together the gender, racial and equity concerns of all the hashtags of rage, which also include #MeToo and #OscarsSoWhite.
Winfrey talked about how inspired she was, as a young girl watching the Oscars, seeing Sidney Poitier winning a historic Best Actor prize at the 1964 Academy Awards for Lilies of the Field, the first African-American man to be so honoured.
She expressed the hope that young girls watching the Globes would feel equally empowered: “So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon!”
People will be talking about Winfrey’s speech long after they’ve forgotten the winning movies and talent of Sunday night.
With all these serious concerns being expressed, it seems almost trivial to talk about what effect the Globes might have on Oscar nominations, which will be announced the morning of Jan. 23. Academy voters are currently in the midst of filling out their ballots.
The truth is, the Globes will likely have little impact, if any. The 90-odd members of the Globes-bestowing HFPA have always tended to vary from the choices of the considerably larger pool of Academy voters, whose ranks have swelled to nearly 7,500 this year with the addition of 1,457 new members, many of them women and people of colour.
All of the winners Sunday night had already figured into speculation for Oscar recognition, although it certainly won’t hurt Three Billboards, Lady Bird, The Shape of Water and I, Tonya to be attracting more attention.
What will really carry over to the Oscars on March 4, and all the other awards shows between now and then, are the growing sense of rage and the determination to end the harassment, unfairness and silence that for too long have been considered the unspoken price to pay for Hollywood stardom. Peter Howell is the Star’s movie critic. His column usually runs Fridays.