Three Golden Globe "controversies" that shouldn't surprise anyone
Wednesday, December 23, 2020 at 11:39PM 
Apologies for not addressing this earlier today but of the three Golden Globe rulings that have the internet's collective tongue wagging, only one of them surprised us and only in a very mild kind of way. Perhaps this is why we didn't jump to discuss figuring that people would respond with a shrug. How wrong we were! If you're like 'what the hell are you discussing, Nathaniel?' here's a quick survey.
The three controversial rulings:
1. Minari will not be eligible for Best Picture at the Globes but instead compete for Best Foreign Language Film. Our surprise level: 0%. The Globes have never allowed pictures that weren't in the English language to compete in Best Picture and we just assumed everyone knew this but we were quite wrong. The same exact thing happened as recently as last year (The Farewell, 2019) and as recently, before that, as the year before (Roma, 2018)...
Somehow people had forgotten and now they're very angry. The triggering factor this time around and why it truly does feels like a different ruling is that Minari is set entirely in America (those other pictures weren't), and is about being an American immigrant. The Farewell had immigration elements but that wasn't the theme or story... but like Minari it was also from an American filmmaker and headlined by an American star. In other words, Minari is about as American as you can get, despite the fact that the bulk of dialogue is in Korean.
Should they change their rules? Yes. While they're at it they should also change the rule that animated pictures can't compete in Best Picture which they started as soon as they gave them their own category.
2. Borat's Maria Bakalova will be competing for Best Actress instead of Supporting Actress. Our surprise level: 5%. The Globes are extremely inconsistent about their reactions to Category Fraud but this is hardly the first time they've "promoted" someone who was campaigning as supporting and we expected this to happen in Bakalova's case. Does this help her with her Oscar campaign? We'd argue yes because anything that can make an atypical contender feel familiar (i.e. a high profile Golden Globe nomination) will lower the Academy's resistance to the fact that it's a very atypical kind of awards hopeful.
Should they reverse this ruling: No. She's a perfect candidate for this particular category: Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical
3. Promising Young Woman will not be allowed to compete in Comedy, which was its intention as we discussed last week. It will have to compete as a drama. Our surprise level: 25%. Frankly the Globes just do whatever the hell they want when it comes to Comedy or Drama classificiations. They've made very odd calls over the years and very inconsistent ones so they almost never surprise us. We were far more surprised, in point of fact, that Focus Features asked for the film to compete as a Comedy because distributors tend to want to compete as a Drama which, rather stupidly, has more "cred". Everyone, including critics, awards-givers, and studios, would do well to continually remind themselves that no genres (including dramas) are inherently better than any others. It's all in the execution. We'd have more interesting nominees at every awards show if people could stop automatically granting importance to some genres while looking down at others.
Should they reverse this ruling: Yes. Promising Young Woman is a comedy. Let's share a sterling tweet on the matter from last week that says it perfectly:
can't wait for another awards season of inane conversation where people reveal their inherent genre bias; that a drama is cinema and a comedy is trash. a comedy can be serious, intellectually rigorous and often a harder tonal tightrope to walk. https://t.co/X83J7k8AWw
— ANDREW FRASER (@andrewjtfraser) December 15, 2020
Reader Comments (26)
The foreign language film rule is very stupid and they need to get rid of it. They coveniently forget Inglorious basterds and Babel, movies that barely featured English were allowed to compete in the main categories (and the latter even won as Drama).
Eduardo -- i've been reading this a lot about Inglourious today and I'm not sure that it's true. Brad Pitt's entire section fo the film is in English and Waltz and Fassbender switches to English at least a few times if i recall correctly. I wonder if it's one of those 50/50 cases. Same with Babel... though Babel is in thirds and only one of the thirds is entirely in English so perhaps that wouldn't pass the 50% and should have competed in foreign (since those are their rules)
I thought you would speak to Hamilton's inclusion/qualification. But that one wasn't surprising to me either. Globes being the Globes after all. They just want to throw a great party (which admittedly won't really happen this year... or will it?).
I do not know what to make of the Hamilton inclusion at the Globes!?!? Is that not uncharted territory having a filmed live event from 5 years ago qualify as a competitive feature film? I mean.. I know 2020 has blurred the line between film in theatre and streaming but this seemed... odd to me?
What a nice surprise to see my tweet here - thanks Nathaniel!
Basically, all of these rulings are insane but it wouldn’t be the Globes otherwise. I hope the controversy around Minari helps it build some momentum towards more critical and industry acclaim.
Did Netflix try to push Ma Rainey to Musical? But Viola did not sing at all in that movie! Is it reasonable for lip-synching to win for a musical prize?
I tend to like that the Golden Globes allow more than one entry per country, which enables different films to get in that don't have a shot at Oscar, though I understand why the rule exists to prevent certain countries from dominating each year. I remember a past American Globe nominee, In the Land of Blood and Honey, which I was glad to see get some attention, but ultimately I don't think that The Farewell or Minari should be relegated to a foreign film category.
I don't mind Maria's promotion, and I don't have strong feelings about Promising Young Woman as a comedy or drama since I think it's very strong on both fronts.
What I can't comprehend is Hamilton being considered a film since performances that already competed for Tonys years ago are now going to be winning new prizes over more recent work that's actually film. It's already going to be a complicated year with all these early 2021 releases being eligible (though theoretically not for the critics' groups that have already announced), and this doesn't help at all. That's also made even more chaotic by Small Axe, which I think will end up competing as a limited series at the Globes even though it's won a bunch of film prizes from other groups.
I'm all for seeing different projects nominated by each awards body, but it would be nice to have some sort consistency across the board for what's eligible.
Also, competing (and even winning) in the Golden Globes Comedy categories (Picture/Actor/Actress) can be the kiss of death for chances to win an Academy Award. I can't rattle off the exact stats and there are exceptions (e.g., Colman, Stone, Green Book, Dujardin, The Artist Lawrence, Foxx, Cotillard and Chicago), but by and large it's one of the Drama contenders (and not necessarily the winner; see The Shape of Water, Spotlight) that goes on to prevail at the Oscars.
Re: Inglorious Basterds. Just saw it a few days ago for the first time in a few years, and I was surprised how much of it was subtitled. I'd say it's 75% not in English. There's just not that much time devoted to Brad Pitt & crew, and their scenes aren't as verbose as the Waltz ones. We spend an overwhelming amount of time with Shoshanna at the theater, and the very long (and excellent) setpiece in the pub takes a good chunk of the running time as well. Now, I wouldn't categorize it as a foreign film at all, but if the pseudo-standard is "more than 50% not in English," it definitely passes.
1.- Racist
2.- Bakalova is not a lead-lead
3.- Promsing Young Woman is not a drama
I've been calling Bakalova going lead in the Globes (maybe Satellites, too, and wait for BAFTA, I think she will be nominated in any category she choses, there, thanks to Sacha Baron Cohen's influence in the UK.
Bakalova now becomes the frontrunner to win the Globe, and can actually take BAFTA as well. She's the unexpected, unlikely frontrunner now, for Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
Precedents? On a reversal, Kate Winslet stole Penélope Cruz's Vicky Christina Barcelona Globe, by going Supporting there, then Lead at Oscar, so they both won.But it felt completely unfair as Winslet also won Leading in Drama for Revolutionary Road, so it was a trick so she wouldn't have to compete with herself for a Globe Drama nomination. I still think HFPA should have awarded Cruz, instead.
Bakalova to me is his years Tiffany Haddish and the category confusion will hurt her chances even more.
I think past Globe Winner and nominees have suffered due to category confusion,i'm thinking of Jamie Lee in 94,Hugh Grant in 2016 and Scarlett Johansson in 2003.
@markgordonuk
Bakalova isn't Haddish, as Girlstrip was a pretty bad film, with a mixed reception and Haddish didn't go beyond the NYFCC supporting actress win, if I remember correctly, on the key precursors.
Bakalova is winning A LOT of awards, and her film is being featured among the year's best (Indiewire's #1). Plus, Haddish didn't have someone like Sacha Baron Cohen pushing for her, and Amazon Studios will push her really strongly to win the Oscar (as the "going Lead" at the Globes indicates). Amazon and Sacha Baron Cohen want her to win the Oscar, not just a nomination...
Lead-Lead LOL
Rules are rules. I can’t wait to see the movies in the cinema again
Bakalova will score her Globe nod (would've done so in either category) but I suspect she's snubbed at SAG, BAFTA and ultimately the Oscars.
Bakalova will lose the comedy globe to a double nominated Streep.... that is my prediction. If Mulligan had not been moved she would have been the victor.
Mulligan was going to win that Globe in Comedy. I don't understand who moved her to drama. Is it the A Star Is Born team?
I'm torn on the Minari thing. On one hand I generally think it's stupid that they don't just let foreign language films in general to compete wherever, but on the other hand a lot of the people angry about this seem to really be turning this into something it isn't. The category is called "Best Foreign Language" film, not best "non-American Film" so all the hyperventilating tweets about how "American" the movie is seem to really be missing the point, no one is saying it's not American, just that it's in a foreign language. It's not like this is the first time they've done this or like they're going out of their way to disadvantage this one movie. Perhaps calling the category "Best Film Not in the English Language" would make things clearer, but that's a bit of a mouthful.
Eden
I think both Angela Basset and Marion Cotillard won for lip syncing performances
The only problem with eliminating the Foreign Language & Animated Feature categories is that less films will be able to reach the 'Best Picture' top ten. There will immediately be outcry because 'it's always the Hollywood insider movie that is awarded the top prize.' If Croods 2 wasn't nominated for Best Picture, I wouldn't waste my time with it. If nominated as a Best Animated, I'd at least consider it. Same goes for a Foreign Language feature. Should either get nominated in both of their categories (Roma, Parasite, Beauty and the Beast), I'd classify it as something truly worth worthing. With SO MUCH content out there nowadays, at least nominations in those categories draw more attention to them, otherwise they'd be hollering that the Best Picture category now needs 15-20 entries...
We have an answer on the Inglourious Basterds thing in a recent Hollywood Reporter story:
"As for Basterds, there was actually a different rule on the books the season in which it was eligible. The earlier season of Babel had also yielded foreign language Globe nominations for the aforementioned Letters from Iwo Jima, from Clint Eastwood, and Apocalypto, from Mel Gibson, prompting the HFPA to implement a rule that American productions — films with major financing and/or creative elements from the United States — would henceforth not be allowed to compete in the foreign language category in order to save spots for productions without ties to America.
However that rule was dropped after 2009's Sin Nombre, a Spanish-language film from Cary Fukunaga that was popular with many HFPA members, went without any Globes nominations at all in early 2010."
I understand pushing Bakalova to lead (and with Mulligan now over in drama, she could even win? Cohen won for the first BORAT after all). But where is the decision about Viola Davis as supporting because... she's in about 30 minutes of the movie and absent for long stretches. That ain't a lead as far as I can tell. It makes sense why women rarely get Tony noms for that role, apparently. And tbh i prefer Mo'Nique in the role from BESSIE.
Amirfarhang,
I know those statistics. That’s old days of shame that should not be repeated. Do you support actors or actresses produce no music at all and win a musical prize? Viola Davis or Marion Cotillard should be celebrated by the dramatic rendition of the character for their movies in drama category. Judy Garland sings her whole life with her own voice on screen and off screen and gets a musical award in 1954. How can these actors or actresses win a musical award like her without singing? Are we now encouraging Hollywood to cast actors or actresses who can’t sing to play singing legends by lip-syncing and win musical awards? (Oh, and please don’t tell they can’t find big sized black actresses who can sing to play Ma Rainey.)
Eden
couldn't agree More
I wasn't supporting those choices I just tried to remind that they have done these terrible placements! ( but I can't deny that i'm happy Basset won something for that performance!)
@MJS The problem with that assumption is why so many folks are upset about the placement. The US doesn't have an official language. English is the most widely used language, yes, but it's not the official one, there are Americans who speak Spanish, Mandarin or...Korean as their first language and they are as American as anyone else. That reasoning that they are "foreign" is a subtle way of continuously othering individuals and cultures, and it's typically directed at non-white folks. There's where the anger derives from.
So yes, when they say the movie is foreign simply for not being in English despite being a thoroughly American movie, they imply that it's not American solely for being in Korean and that English is the only right way to be American.
It's a lot more "American" than movies like The King's Speech or say The Artist. Both of which were accepted without question.
I think it's the way these archaic rules across all awards bodies are made through a very myopic way of seeing the world. See also: Nigeria's film disqualified from foreign language at the Oscars because it was primarily in English even through English **is** the official language of Nigeria!!