By Ellie Pitkowsky ’18, Section Editor

The Golden Globes, one of the most well-known awards shows, recently celebrated their 74^th anniversary and has long been a symbol of excellence, glamor, and stardom in the Hollywood world. With the Oscars following not far behind chronologically, however, the importance and merit of the Golden Globes is often questioned.

While the Oscars are older, more prestigious, and more formal than the Golden Globes, the latter plays an essential role in Hollywood. For one, unlike the Oscars, the Golden Globes has categories. While the Oscars just gives the award for “Best Actor,” the Golden Globes has “Best Actor in a Drama” and “Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical,” making the awards more specific; it is difficult to compare acting performances across genres and the Golden Globes recognize this fact. This aspect allows for a greater showcasing of talent in contrast with the super-selective Oscars. In addition, the Golden Globes include television in the award show, once again creating a greater array of talent than the strictly-film Oscars do.

Along with being inclusive, the Golden Globes affects the Oscars in important ways. The Golden Globes are known to be a huge asset in predicting the outcomes of the Oscar, which occur about a month later. In fact, a 2012 article from The Hollywood Reporter found that in all the major Oscar categories for the past 20 years (1982-2012), the Golden Globes have been correct in choosing the Academy Awards winner 91 times out of a possible 140. Winning a Globe is also found to boost box office sales and increase salaries of recipients. However, this honor can also have some negative side effects. Film Studies teacher Ms. Acquadro weighed in on this issue, stating that “so many awards shows that precede the Academy Awards have actually diminished the surprise and value of the Oscar […] The devaluing of the Oscar is one of the reasons why the Academy Awards come earlier than they once did.”

With the evidence behind the advantages of winning a Golden Globe so obvious, however, the awards may compound other issues in the movie industry. For example, there have been many issues with people of color and award shows. The hashtag #oscarssowhite played an enormous role in the award show season last year. Perhaps the fact that there seems to be an implicit bias against actors of color has lead to less casting for these artists. Another example is that action movies, no matter how good the cinematography is or how incredible the effects are, never seem to win. Ben Leit ’18 elaborated on this idea, stating, “I think that modern-day award shows are pretty flawed, because the films that tend to win are typically low-risk and are designed from the top down to win these awards, which are still deemed incredibly prestigious (not only by consumers, but by Hollywood). These “award-friendly” films continue to dominate these mainstream events – as happy as I am that “La La Land,” one of my all-time favorite movies won seven Golden Globes, the fact that it won seven Golden Globes is entirely representative of the issue.”

While it is apparent that award shows play an important role in the movie industry for all involved, there are definitely negatives associated with these events. With increased innovation and independent films, there is hope that the industry can break the self-perpetuating cycle that has lead to a lack of diversity in both movies and these awards. However, there seems to be no escape from the glamor and surprise that is lost in the close proximity of the Oscars and Golden Globes.