Golden Globe Highlights

Swetha Sirupa, Staff Writer

The prestigious 76th Golden Globe Awards were presented on January 6, marking the beginning of awards season.

The Golden Globes Award is an honor that is awarded to a winner by 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) for films and television.

It was first held in January 1944 and it honored the best film and television, including cast and crew.

The Golden Globes is the first major awards ceremony of the year, so it has a strong impact on Oscar nomination voting and other big awards. The results can be wild because of the eligibility to vote but, I still think it plays into the rest of awards season,” says Carolyne Geng (‘20).

Currently, the Golden Globe has 25 categories: 14 in motion pictures and 11 in television.

The nominees were announced on December 6, 2018, by Terry Crews, Danai Gurira, Leslie Mann, and Christian Slater.

The awards were hosted by Brooklyn Nine-Nine star, Andy Samberg, and Killing Eve actress, Sandra Oh, who became the first Asian woman to ever host the awards.

Oh had taken a moment to be serious during her opening monologue, and pointed out the increase in racial and gender representation at this year’s award.

The actor, who won the Golden Globe for Best Actress – TV Drama for Killing Eve, told the crowd that she said yes to hosting despite her “fear” because she wanted to “witness this moment of change”.

“I said yes to the fear of being on this stage tonight to look out onto this audience and witness this moment of change,” Oh said. “And I’m not fooling myself. I’m not fooling myself, next year could be different, but right now this moment is real. Trust me, it’s real. Because I see you and I see you, all these faces of changes. And now, so will everyone else.”

The ceremony marked the debut of a new non-competitive award rewarding excellence in television, the Carol Burnett Award, with Carol Burnett herself being the inaugural recipient.

The comedy-drama film, Green Book took home the most awards, including Best Musical or Comedy, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay. Both Bohemian Rhapsody and Roma followed, each winning two awards.

In television, The Kominsky Method and The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story were the most awarded, with two awards each. Jeff Bridges was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement.

Lady Gaga fulfilled predictions, taking home the award for Best Original Song, with her ballad “Shallow” which was featured in the musical romantic drama, A Star Is Born.

However, there has been some controversy about some nomination choices. Some people have questioned why the stars of Crazy Rich Asians, which was highly regarded last year for its all-asian cast that was a huge push for asian representation in the film industry, wasn’t nominated.

“Honestly, I’m glad that Crazy Rich Asians or Constance Wu didn’t win because the acting was subpar and I feel like it was only nominated because of the media attention and hype,” said Claire Ma (‘21).

But despite this, there has been a positive response to the ceremony, and many called for other award shoes to follow in suit.