2018 Awards Season Begins with 75th Annual Golden Globes

The 75th Annual Golden Globes kicked off the start of Awards Season on Monday, Jan. 8. An award given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the Golden Globes celebrate achievement in movies and television. The HFPA is made up of less than 100 entertainment journalist and photographers. Although none of the HFPA members are also Oscar voters, many Golden Globe winners do go on to win or be nominated by the Academy. Because of this, they are considered an important part of the Oscars campaign.

Host Seth Meyers did not have much screen time but made most of the time he had. Instead of playfully roasting attendees, his monologue took direct shots at the recent sexual misconduct controversies—more fitting with the presence of the #TimesUp movement where almost all of the Golden Globe presenters and nominees wore all black in its honor.

Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award recipient, Oprah Winfrey, also used much of her speech to address the #MeToo movement.

HFPA voters seemed to have had a clear pattern in their voting, pairing each Best Actress winner with a win for their show or film. “The Handmaid’s Tale” was named Best TV Series—Drama, and the Hulu series’ star, Elisabeth Moss, was named Best Actress—TV Drama. Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” was names Best TV Series— Musical/Comedy and its lead, Rachel Brosnahan, took home Best Actress—TV Musical or Comedy. In film, “Lady Bird” won Best Picture— Musical/Comedy and Best Actress—Musical/Comedy for Saoirse Ronan’s performance in its title role.

The two big winners of the night followed the Best Actress pattern but also won two other awards each. “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and “Big Little Lies” took home four Golden Globes each.

“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” not only had the paired wins for lead Frances McDormand as Best Actress—Drama and scored Best Picture Drama, but Sam Rockwell won for Supporting Actor and the film’s writer/director, Martin McDonagh, was awarded for his screenplay.

HBO’s “Big Little Lies” took the top prize for the Best Limited Series/ Made for Television Movie category, as well as individual acting awards for its lead actress and supporting actor and actress Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgard and Laura Dern.

Every single Best Actor winner represented their shows and films on their own. Recent Emmy champ Sterling K. Brown won Best Actor—TV Drama for the beloved NBC series “This is Us.” Aziz Ansari won Best Actor—TV Musical/Comedy for “Master of None.” For his dual roles in FX’s “Fargo,” Ewan McGregor was names Best Actor in a category for Limited Series/ Made for Television Movie. In the film categories, both Best Actor winners won for playing real people: Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in the drama “Darkest Hour”, and James Franco as Tommy Wiseau in the comedy “The Disaster Artist.”

“The Shape of Water,” which received the most nominations and was considered the Oscar front runner for Best Picture at the Oscars, only won for its musical score and for director Guillermo del Toro. Allison Janney, a beloved character actress and television icon, won Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her performance in the film “I, Tonya.” The animated film “Coco” won Disney yet another Best Animated Feature Golden Globe, and “In the Fade” was named Best Foreign Language Film. Lastly, Best Original Song was given to “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.”

While some critics have said that the HFPA spread the wealth this year, it seems like an incorrect statement since far more films and shows went home completely empty-handed. In fact, each of the five main categories only recognized two shows or films each. Over social media, while the #TimesUp was embraced, many fans were furious that many nominated films and shows were ignored completely. Others were also angry that some films that should have been in the drama categories were placed in Musical/Comedy, which is something the Golden Globes has been criticized for almost every year. It seems that even with all its categories, the HFPA still cannot please everyone.