This year’s Golden Globes was not so golden, having some negative reviews from audience members and even some of the ceremony attendees. The ceremony was hosted by Jo Koy, who brought a lot of negative controversy over his monologue and other aspects of his hosting. With this being said, the overall award ceremony was un-comedic and dull but handed out well-deserved awards to great pieces of entertainment.
The year 2023 had many outstanding cinematic masterpieces, making this year’s Globes stand out among other award shows in the past. Oppenheimer won a total of five awards, standing out from other major movies of 2023. Categories such as “Best Motion Picture, Drama”, “Best Director, Motion Picture” (Christopher Nolan), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama” (Cillian Murphy), “Best Supporting Actor, Motion Picture” (Robert Downey Jr.), and finally “Best Original Score, Motion Picture” (Ludwig Göranssony). It is no surprise Oppenheimer was one of many entertainment pieces shown in the spotlight that night. This movie was a box office hit, the film grossing up to 955 million dollars worldwide. Along with incredible acting from Murphy and great direction from Nolan, Oppenheimer was an absolute success and added great substance to the entertainment industry.
Along with the success of Oppenheimer at the Globes, HBO Max’s hit TV show, Succession, won a total of four awards throughout the night. While up against other popular shows such as The Last of Us and The Crown, Succession truly stole the show. Winning categories such as “Best Television Series, Drama”, “Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama” (Kieran Culkin), “Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series” (Sarah Snook), and “Best Supporting Actor, Television Series” (Matthew Macfadyen). While Succession made its debut in 2018, the show’s success in the fourth season truly blew audiences away. With a total of 2.9 million people viewing the final season, Succession was a big hit and, while up against other heavily popular and viewed shows, definitely deserved a spotlight shown on it.
While Barbie was one of the summer’s hit movies, alongside Oppenheimer, Barbie did not win as many awards as expected. Barbie won a total of two awards, having won in categories “Best Original Song, Motion Picture” (Billie Eilish and Finneas) for their song titled “What Was I Made For”, and “Cinematic and Box Office Achievement”. While another incredible movie Poor Things won “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy” (Emma Stone), and “Best Picture, Musical or Comedy.”
Alongside Murphy on winning “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama”, actress Lilly Gladstone also had the honor of receiving the award for Best Actress due to her work in Killers of the Flower Moon. Gladstone’s win was well deserved and she also made history as the first Indigenous woman to win and be nominated “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama” at the Golden Globes. Gladstone spoke part of her speech in the Blackfoot language, a language spoken by the Blackfoot or Niitsitapi people, and the rest in English. All of the acceptance speeches were truly heartwarming, but nothing compares to the emotional and inspiring speech Gladstone shared. Gladstone’s win is definitely historic for Hollywood and she will continue to make a mark in the industry.
While the awards themselves were the highlight of the night, the comedy was on the latter side of the ceremony. As mentioned previously, host Koy had an abundance of negative reviews from numerous viewers. His bits throughout the show were not only un-comedic, but were very distasteful and disrespectful to some of the production pieces that were nominated. Specifically, his monologue about Barbie, which sparked controversy about his sexist remarks. Many have stated how Koy’s remarks were why the Barbie movie was made in the first place and how his monologue continued to undermine women.
Overall, this year’s Golden Globes were historic in many ways. With the Globes having actress Gladstone become the first Indigenous woman to win Best Actress to cinematic masterpieces such as Oppenheimer and Succession winning a plethora of awards. While the Golden Globes are not the most well known among other award shows, they are definitely underrated and showcase all the hard work actors, actresses, and filmmakers go into to make incredible films for us to watch and enjoy.
