On January 7th 2024, the 81st annual Golden Globes took place. The Golden globes is an awards show celebrating the best in film and television. It was definitely a night that will go down in award show history. Here are the best (and the worst) moments of the show in case you missed it.
As far as winning is concerned, it was Oppenheimer’s night. The popular summer film took home five awards including major ones such as “Best Director”, “Best Drama film”, and “Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture”. Not only did the film pull off those wins, they got even more recognition by receiving nominations in three additional categories. It was definitely an impressive night for Oppenheimer.
It wouldn’t be an award show without a little controversy. One big scandal of this show was the treatment of the Oppenheimer’s big competitor, “Barbie”. Although it was arguably the biggest film of the year and racked up the most Golden Globe nominations, it only won one award which was a shock to all. Although Billie Eilish’s hit from the film “What Was I Made For”, took home the Best Song award, viewers were outraged with the fact that the only other award the film won was “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement,” (which is just a fancy way of saying it was the movie that made the most money). Popular sites such as the New York Times, Billboard, and Rolling Stone all noted that the film was snubbed of more awards, especially the award for Best Comedy Film.
Although the lack of awards for “Barbie” was controversial, it was not the most questionable moment of the night. That spot was reserved for the host: comedian Jo Koy. Koy was a last-minute pick to host. It was only announced that he got the gig two weeks in advance, and he even made a few jokes about it in his starting monologue. Even though Koy is a comedian, there were very few laughs in the audience throughout the night. Either Koy doesn’t do well under pressure or his jokes are just really bad. One of these jokes was directed to Taylor Swift who is frequently shown supporting her boyfriend Travis Kelce while he plays football for the Kansas City Chiefs. Koy, joking about the situation, commented, “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes, we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.” Swift was shown right after the joke was told, frowning and sipping her drink. The joke about Swift was offensive, but another criticized joke which he made about Barbie was even worse. In his monologue, he joked, “Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies. The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call a character actor.” Hosts of past awards shows
Despite the majority of the Golden Globes being a mess, it ended on a high note with Lily Gladstone’s “Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” win for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon.” She is the first Indigenous actress to win a Golden Globe and only the second to be nominated. As inspiring as her win was, her acceptance speech made it even more powerful. At a loss for words, Gladstone emotionally thanked the filmmakers for allowing her to speak her native language in the movie as most filmmakers just have them speak English. She also proudly claimed that her award wasn’t just for her, it was for her family and the members of her native tribe and that this moment was history for all of them. Her final remark was, “This is for every native kid out there who has a dream who is seeing themselves represented and our stories told by ourselves in our own words.” An inspirational moment that left very few dry eyes in the audience.
The 81st annual Golden Globes may not have been perfect, but it was one to remember and was definitely an interesting start to award show season.
