Award season is arguably one of the most anticipated times for actors, producers, directors and musicians alike. The Golden Globes kick off award season in January each year, celebrating the best films and television shows of the year.
This year, the Golden Globes took place Jan. 11 and lasted approximately three hours. The full runtime of the event came with some shocking production decisions that left audiences, including myself, confused.
The nominees truly highlighted some of the most outstanding actors and actresses this season. However, production chose not to highlight their abilities with clips from their performances; instead, each announcement came with an odd crowd-locating gimmick.
As nominees were being mentioned, the broadcast panned the crowd and pinpointed them with a Google Maps-style icon above their seats. The images were muddled on screen and did very little for viewers, taking away a chance to showcase the nominees' performances.
Getting to see small clips of the highlighted nominations is always my favorite part of award shows. Seeing stars’ performances as they are being highlighted at a major award show demonstrates why the nominations were chosen in the first place. Those small clips celebrate each nominee’s hard work and their nomination for the category. Instead of celebration, viewers were met with strange pans to awkward celebrity waving and their seating chart as if stars were on Find My Friends.
Another puzzling moment of the night came with the announcement of each award. Usually, as winners are announced, a voice overhead shares how many nominations and wins each awardee received. However, at the Golden Globes, viewers were met with jumbled gameday-like commentary.
Teyana Taylor’s win had these commentators discussing how she wished to meet Julia Roberts and how she calls Leonardo DiCaprio “pops.” It was a lot of unnecessary information about any winning performance, turning the Globes into more of a comedy show than a professional ceremony, instead of sharing details about the winner.
Unsurprisingly, another horror film was snubbed despite phenomenal ratings from critics. Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” earned a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.5/10 on IMDb. However, the film only scored two awards during the ceremony, and not all of the awards they won were broadcast.
First, “Sinners” won Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. The award was introduced at the 2024 Golden Globes. It is designed to give space for popular films that had high global and cultural reach, which are not always recognized at award shows.
However, I find this award feels more like a participation trophy for movies that deserved to be awarded just as much as any other award show bait film. “Sinners” presented audiences with important messages and themes throughout the film, leaving a lasting impression on viewers across the globe. However, the film’s power was underscored by the Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award.
“Sinners” also took home the award for Best Score, giving composer Ludwig Göransson his flowers. However, this was the only award not broadcast as a way to save time.
Not only is this disappointing for “Sinners,” but it is also upsetting for all composers. These musicians work hard to achieve success, and the fact the award was completely overlooked is disheartening.
Overall, the Golden Globes' confusing moments leave a lot of questions about what other surprises audiences will receive this award season. While there are always some controversial moments during award shows, some of these listed are disappointing and hard to get past.
Sophia Anness is a junior studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Sophia about her column? Email/tweet them at sa425522@ohio.edu /@AnnessSoph0415.
