“You’re doing me dirty!” Daniel Kaluuya yelled into the Zoom void, as Laura Dern, in crisis mode, tried to gracefully move onto the next segment of the show. “Is this on? Is this on?”

Initially, unbeknownst to Kaluuya, his microphone was muted as he accepted the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture for his role as Black Panther Illinois Chapter Chairman Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah.” Unfortunately, this debacle, occurring during the first award presented, was the perfect encapsulation of last Sunday’s troubled 78th Golden Globes ceremony.

Before Sunday evening even arrived, this year’s Golden Globes were shrouded by controversy and skepticism: what explained the nominations for “Emily in Paris” and other mediocre, offensive projects? Could the popular yet arguably obsolete award show really pull off a bi-coastal, three-hour show via Zoom and simulcast? This year’s Golden Globes ceremony begrudgingly addressed, yet cautiously avoided, the ethical and diversity woes of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA, the award show’s 87-member voting body) in what was an uneven evening hampered by technological glitches and a deficiency of playful moxie. Even the star power of fourth-time co-hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, stationed at grand ballrooms in New York and Los Angeles, respectively, could not bring the necessary vitality to the ceremony.

However, the blame did not lie on Fey and Poehler. The storied comedy duo started off strong, bringing their reliably clever yet biting brand of comedy to an opening monologue that gave a basic rundown of this year’s nominees and hilariously made use of the physical distance between the two. But alas, as the monologue drew to an end, the ceremony’s defining question had to be answered: what was to be said about the state of Hollywood, an industry whose antiquity seems to drag it down in an age of reckoning with institutional underrepresentation? Hesitantly, Fey and Poehler addressed both pop star Sia’s “real problematic” film “Music,” about a young girl with autism played by Sia muse (and neurotypical actor) Maddie Ziegler, and the total absence of Black members in the HFPA. No mention was made of Paramount, the studio initially funding “Emily in Paris,” allegedly offering luxurious stays for HFPA voters to visit the show’s Parisian set. The show’s hosts slyly nodded at these calls for more diverse representation both onscreen and in the HFPA.

“Even with stupid things [like awards shows,] inclusivity is important,” Fey reminded the audience.

This year’s Golden Globes could have been a watershed moment for institutional change and promises kept, all while providing live, humorous, entertaining escapism to fill the dark void of a year-long pandemic. 

If only.

Trite attempts at cashing in on diversity trends and awkward reactions from Zoom cameras displaying lavish celebrity homes characterized an ultimately tone-deaf evening of virtual fanfare. Three members of the HFPA made a cameo appearance to hurriedly address the alleged corruption of their association, promising to change with the times. This was really the only acknowledgment from the HFPA of their role in supporting historically marginalized writers, directors, and actors. On the logistical side of things, it was odd to see nominees show little to no reaction to the award show banter. These nominees would inadvertently interrupt each other through the static connections in breakout rooms that bookended commercial breaks. As displayed by the Emmy Awards last fall, although there were genuine moments of progress and poignancy, it is no easy feat to create TV magic in the stilted Zoom era of entertainment.

The Golden Globes are no Emmys, though, and the HFPA certainly does not perceive itself as a mere hybrid of the Emmys and Academy Awards (despite awarding both film and television). Rather, the HFPA is notorious for its odd and mysterious nomination process, allowing blockbusters and projects with mixed critical responses to find themselves battling it out against critical darlings destined to clean up through awards season and up to Oscar night.

The fan favorites, for the most part, reigned victorious. The awards for television were nothing short of predictable, and streaming’s grasp on the television industry was as obvious as ever. Netflix’s hit drama “The Crown” swept the drama categories, with three of their four nominated “royals” taking home acting prizes, and the mini-series smash hit “The Queen’s Gambit” (along with its star Anya Taylor-Joy) won its match. In the comedy/musical categories, “Schitt’s Creek” continued its post-finale award show sparkle. Despite sweeping the acting categories at the recent Emmy Awards, the only acting honor that “Schitt’s Creek” received last night was given to leading comedienne Catherine O’Hara, who accepted her award in a perplexing but otherwise amusing bit where her husband interrupted her hurried speech with play-off music. Jason Sudeikis won a leading actor Globe for his charming turn as the eponymous “Ted Lasso.” Sudeikis accepted his award with a five-o’clock shadow in a tie-dye hoodie while speaking of his love for Tolstoy–perhaps the evening’s most accurate representation of pandemic living–while rejecting the very notion of designating a single best actor.

The pool of film nominees gave way to both foreseeable winners and pleasant surprises. Though it led the pack with six nominations, director David Fincher’s “Mank,” the story of “Citizen Kane” screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, left empty-handed. The top prizes of the night went to the drama “Nomadland,” an examination of the modern American nomad directed by Chloé Zhao, and the headline-grabbing and contentious comedy “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” led by Sacha Baron Cohen. Chloé Zhao’s victory with “Nomadland” was a promising sign of the strides filmmakers of color have made despite the HFPA’s blatant historical exclusion of them, as Zhao is the first woman of color to win for directing. In addition, the largely snubbed “Minari,” a Korean American family drama from writer-director Lee Isaac Chung, managed to win for Best Foreign Language Film, despite being left out of the main film and acting categories. As expected, writer-director Aaron Sorkin won for his screenplay for “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”  Disney’s “Soul” won two awards, but the acceptance speech from producer Dana Murray and co-director Pete Docter, both white, with the absence of Black co-director Kemp Powers, was strange. Murray and Docter accepting an award for a film about a Black jazz musician was an unfortunate visual. 

The acting categories brought a number of surprises, notably for Rosamund Pike (star of Netflix’s “I Care A Lot,” who won for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy over the favorited Maria Bakalova from “Borat”) and Jodie Foster (who won the supporting actress prize for “The Mauritanian”), and in one of the evening’s greatest twists, Andra Day won for her performance in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” portraying Lady Day herself. In the night’s most touching moment, the late and beloved Chadwick Boseman was posthumously awarded for his leading role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” His wife, Taylor Simone Ledward Boseman, tearfully accepted on his behalf.

Jane Fonda, accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in film, offered perhaps the evening’s strongest insight into the power media has as we examine the essential role storytelling plays in these turbulent times.

“Stories,” Fonda stated, “they really can change people.”

But can a diverse array of stories truly change the ways institutions like the HFPA approach both criticism and praise for American film and television? It seems that the HFPA has no true interest in broadening its exclusive, yet seemingly arbitrary, collection of obscure international critics and journalists. Yes, as Tina Fey frankly reminded us (before she and Amy Poehler inexplicably disappeared for the majority of the show’s second half), awards are stupid. But awards can shape the cultural conversations of our society and bring attention to the stories that deserve to be widely seen, that offer insight and a platform for the voices we typically “tune out,” as Fonda added.

Ultimately, what Hollywood wants us to believe is that diversity, whatever that may mean to the film and television industry, won at this year’s Golden Globes. But it would appear that many Americans can no longer fall for the performative theatrics of vaguely promising to “listen” and “do the work.” The event turned out to be a ratings disaster for NBC (only around 7 million people tuned in, as opposed to 18 million last year). As we struggle through the end of the pandemic and continue to reckon with the stain of institutional bigotry, hopefully, film and television fans alike will “do the work” institutions like the HFPA promise to do. This work might allow the historically voiceless to tell their stories, whether they are awarded or not.

 

Vincent Langan can be reached at vlangan@wesleyan.edu