The Golden Globe Award for Best Film and Television Performances was held for the 75th time on January 7th.
The main focus on the night was on the current atmosphere in Hollywood and campaigns like Me Too and Time's Up, which are focused on bringing about change for women not only in the entertainment industry but also around the world.
On Sunday night, there were very few "who are you wearing?" conversations and more "why are you wearing black?" as the focus has shifted away from fashion statements and more toward activism. In December, it was reported that celebrities would be donning all black to protest sexual harassment, but that was just the start. What was previously a rainbow sea of stars is now a sparkling group of black suits and gowns — and a major middle finger to abusers.
The pertinent and fair question though was: what will it accomplish in real terms? Who will it really make a difference for and how? How will this stop women from being abused or find justice for those that have been? And part of the answer emerged on the very first day of 2018, when Time’s Up was launched — an initiative from 300 women in the entertainment industry to fight systemic abuse in the workplace. At its core is “50/50 by 2020”, which aims for gender parity in Hollywood studios and talent agencies, and a legal defence fund to help those in a less privileged position, particularly working-class women, to be protected from, and be able to report, harassment or abuse.
Many winners and presenters at the Beverly Hills ceremony addressed the ongoing scandal - with host Seth Meyers setting the tone with his opening monologue:
"Welcome ladies and remaining gentlemen, it's 2018 and marijuana is finally allowed and sexual harassment finally isn't. For the male nominees in the room tonight, this is the first time in three months it won't be terrifying to hear your name read out loud.''
The highlight of the evening was Oprah Winfrey's speech on taking the Cecil B. DeMille Award for Lifetime Achievement. But this year there was no movie that dominated like La La Land last year, everyone got something, so let's start from the beginning.
BEST MOVIES
Since there was a lot of good and quality films in 2017, the nominees in the best movie categories were uncertain because each of them had a good chance. For best drama, in competition were Call Me by Your Name, Dunkirk, The Post, The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.
Best picture gone to Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, after star Frances McDormand won best actress moments earlier. Director Martin McDonagh also won for best screenplay and Sam Rockwell for supporting actor.
McDormand plays a mother seeking justice for her daughter, who was raped and killed, and takes on the small town police force who she doesn’t believe is doing enough to solve the case.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
In the category for best film - comedy or musical, nominated were Lady Bird, I, Tonya, The Greatest Showman, The Disaster Artist and Get Out, according to many, the group's intruder.
Greta Gerwig’s directorial debut “Lady Bird” has won this award.
“Lady Bird” stars Saoirse Ronan as the title character, a teenager in Sacramento, California, who is navigating her last days of high school and her tense relationship with her mother.
And Frances McDormand, gave charismatic speech.
“So many of you know, I keep my politics private but it was really great to be in this room tonight and be part of the tectonic shift in our industry’s power structure. Trust me, the women in this room tonight are not here for the food. We are here for the work.”
Lady Bird
THE BEST SERIES
The jury decided on the best batches in three categories. For best comedy or musical nominations were Master of None, Will & Grace, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Black-ish and SMILF. The award gone to The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a series of two-in-a-bachelor in the late 1950s, started a stand-up comedy in New York. The author of the series is Amy Sherman-Palladino, known for Gilmore Girls.
In the category of the best drama series were Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, The Handmaid's Tale, The Crown and This is Us. But all the glory this year has gone to magnificent achievement The Handmaid's Tale.
BIG BIG WINNER
Big winner for the night Big Little Lies has taken out best television limited series or movie.
The series follows a group of mothers in Northern California who each have their own secrets threatening them and their families. The show won the Emmy Award last year for best limited series and will return for a second season on HBO. The show dominated the acting Globes in the limited series category, with wins for Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgard and Laura Dern.
Reese Witherspoon, who starred in and produced the series, said of women who have been abused: “We see you, we hear you, and we will tell your stories.”
While the winners celebrate, the memory that will linger is that women are fighting back against an industry and a society that has tolerated abuse and harassment for years, and which has systematically given female cast and crew a lower status.
Oprah gave the night's most powerful, ambitious, devastating and inspiring speech, to nobody's surprise :
Their time is up. Their time is up. And I just hope — I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth, like the truth of so many other women who were tormented in those years and even now tormented, goes marching on.
It was somewhere in Rosa Parks' heart almost 11 years later when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in Montgomery. And it's here with every woman who chooses to say, "Me too" and every man, every man who chooses to listen.
In my career what I've always tried my best to do, whether on television or through film, is to say something about how men and women really behave, to say how we experience shame, how we love and how we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, persevere, and how we overcome.
I've interviewed and portrayed people who have withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights. So I want all the girls watching here now to know that a new day is on the horizon.
And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say, "Me too" again. Thank you.