Margot Robbie ecstatically accepts her Golden Globe award for her acting in the hit movie Barbie. photo by Sonja Flemming
With numerous awards for popular productions, the black tie night was one for the books.
For the first time in two years, the 81st Golden Globe Awards, hosted by Jo Koy at the Beverly Hilton in California, took place on January 7th in celebration of the film and television productions of 2023. The famous award show was founded in 1943 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. It consisted of eight Los Angeles based overseas journalists who were passionate about judging Hollywood productions. The organization was shut down mid-2023 after being purchased by Eldridge Industries and Dick Clark Productions. With categories ranging from best motion picture to best actor/actress this year’s show congratulated many cinematic groups, creations, and individuals. Going into the awards, Barbie and Succession had nine nominations each for different categories earning these productions more nominations than any other movie or show.
This year’s show stood out from past years after the 2023 Writers Guild Of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes where actors and writers fought for better pay and working conditions. The strikes halted the production of hundreds of projects and cost thousands of people their jobs. Another change to this year’s show was the addition of a contender spot for each of the 25 categories making for six contending spots. Two new categories were also included; cinematic box office achievements and best performance by a stand up comic.
Koy introduced the show comparing the success of the movie Oppenheimer to Barbie with a line that immediately sparked controversy across social media platforms. He used derogatory words to degrade the character of Barbie and claimed she was just a plastic doll with certain feminine features. Social media users took to online platforms expressing their opinions on the joke. Many stated that the joke perfectly shows how difficult it is to “be a woman in a man’s world.” Going into the awards, Barbie, the top ranked movie of 2023, was nominated for nine different categories, and received the first ever award for cinematic and box office achievement. Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig dedicated the award to, “every single person on the planet who dressed up and went to the greatest place on Earth: the movie theaters.” The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon that occurred over the summer of 2023 made over two billion dollars combined in box offices. With a whopping five wins and eight nominations, Oppenheimer received the most wins of any movie winning “Best Movie Drama.”
Actress Lily Gladstone, who stars in Killers of the Flower Moon made history at the Globes with her acceptance speech after winning best actress in a motion picture. “I’m so grateful that I can speak even a little bit of my language, which I’m not fluent in, up here because, in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera,” Gladstone said. She opened the speech in the Blackfeet language then switched to English to continue expressing her gratitude for the win. She dedicated the win to her mother and sisters.
Competing with popular shows such as The Last of Us and The Crown, Succession won best TV drama. In addition, Kieran Culkin and Sarah Snook won best male actor and best female actress in a TV drama for their portrait of conniving “nepo babies” in Succession.
With some changes to this year’s show, the red carpet night was a success for plenty of award winners and received over nine million views. Despite some criticism regarding the show’s host, there was also a 50% increase in views from previous years, making the 81st Golden Globes a night to remember.
