Last year’s Golden Globes telecast aired not long after the election of our current president, an alleged sexual predator and powerful white man in both entertainment and politics. Meryl Streep, who won last year’s Cecil B. DeMille award, gave a powerful speech about resistance and openly defied our president and everything he stands for.
This year, the world and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association heard Meryl’s call and the women of Hollywood and beyond were the leaders and the storytellers at this year’s Golden Globes. Oprah Winfrey was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award, making her the first black woman to win this award. She gave a powerful speech about the importance of the #TimesUp movement, its predecessor the #MeToo movement, and the laying down of Hollywood’s first ever Black Carpet in place of the classic Red. No one said the president’s name this year, and I don’t think that was by accident.
His predatory behavior and twisting of facts were alluded to, regularly, but the focus was less on the men who have done everything in their power to fu** things up for the women in Hollywood and more on the women themselves. Oprah, during her valiant speech, spoke of the importance of “absolute truths” in light of “tyrants, their victims, and their secrets and lies.” She said, “I value the press more than ever before” and “What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.” She concluded her powerful call to change with “I want all of the girls watching right now to hear this: A new day is on the horizon!”
It was a damn impressive and moving telecast this year as I watched woman after woman walk down the Black Carpet in their all black attire supported by men also wearing all black attire. They were accompanied by activists connected to #TimesUp and #MeToo to remind women, and men in power, that a new story is being told. This year, instead of giving all of the prestige to the Best Actor-Drama category, for example, the category of Best Actress-Drama was reserved for the very end of the telecast, right before the announcement of Best Motion Picture-Drama.
It was, by far, the most impressive and moving Golden Globes I have ever seen, and not only for the sake of the many women whose stories were placed front and center, but the shy and brilliant Guillermo Del Toro won Best Director and got to speak, eloquently, of his deep love of monsters and how they have “saved” him time and again. Seth Meyers, while quite funny, did his duty by calling specific men accused of sexual misconduct out by name, and then honoring the women in the room time and again. Well done, Seth.
The two glaring mistakes of the night were the nomination of Get Out, one of the year’s most brilliant and lauded thrillers, to the category of Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy and Natalie Portman had no problem saying into the microphone what we were all thinking: not a single woman was nominated for Best Director. We still have work to do, folks.
There is so much more I would like to say about this year’s impressive Globes awards show, but, there is too much to say. Oscars, take note. The Golden Globes tore it up this year. Here is the list of tonight’s winners:
Best Actress Limited Series/TV Movie: Nicole Kidman “Big Little Lies”
Best Supporting Actor Motion Picture: Sam Rockwell “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Best Actress TV Series-Musical or Comedy: Rachel Brosnahan “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Best Actress TV Series-Drama: Elisabeth Moss “The Handmaid’s Tale”
Best Actor TV Series-Drama: Sterling K. Brown “This Is Us”
Best TV Series-Drama: The Handmaid’s Tale
Best Supporting Actor TV Series, Limited Series, or Movie Made for TV: Alexander Skarsgaard “Big Little Lies”
Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat “The Shape of Water”
Best Original Song: “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman
Best Actor Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy: James Franco “The Disaster Artist”
Best Supporting Actress TV Series, Limited Series, Movie Made for TV: Laura Dern “Big Little Lies”
Best Animated Feature Film: Coco
Best Supporting Actress Motion Picture: Allison Janney “I, Tonya”
Best Screenplay Motion Picture: Martin McDonough “Three Billboards”
Best Foreign Language Film: In the Fade (Germany/France)
Best Actor Limited Series or TV Movie: Ewan MacGregor “Fargo”
Best TV Series-Musical or Comedy: “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
Best Actor TV Series-Musical or Comedy: Aziz Ansari “Master of None”
Best Director Motion Picture: Guillermo Del Toro “The Shape of Water”
Best Limited Series of Movie Made for TV: Big Little Lies
Best Actress in Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy: Saiorse Ronan “Lady Bird”
Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy: Lady Bird
Best Actor Motion Picture-Drama: Gary Oldman “Darkest Hour”
Best Actress Motion Picture-Drama: Frances McDormand “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Best Motion Picture-Drama: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
-Josiah Armstrong
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