Golden Globes Ceremony and Looming Oscar Nominations Heat Up Awards Season Race

Just last week, the most prominent preemptive awards ceremony to the Oscars took place in star-studded Beverly Hills, the Golden Globes. And although there were hardly any moments during the telecast that captured the cultural zeitgeist like, for instance, Oprah’s acceptance speech for the Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award (the speech that sparked thousands of presidential bids!), there were still many moments pertinent to the average SHS student.

The most viral celebrity of the night wasn’t a Hollywood actor or actress; instead, it was the Fiji Water Girl, who photobombed thousands of paparazzi shots and started a Twitter frenzy over her shameless yet hilarious promotion tactics.

The actual winners of the ceremony were Green Book, for Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, and Best Film (Comedy/Musical) and Bohemian Rhapsody, for Best Actor in a Drama and Best Film (Drama). However, both winners were not critical favorites and certainly, each has their fair share of controversy.

Green Book, the true story of an Italian immigrant who drives the jazz prodigy Don Shirley through a Southern tour, has received backlash over claims of its “white savior” trope. (It was written and directed by white men.) Also, just several days ago, stories were leaked documenting cases of both racism (its star, Viggo Mortensen, used the n-word in a Q and A) and sexual misconduct (its director, Peter Farrelly, is known to expose himself to female cast members on his movie sets).

Bohemian Rhapsody has a similar, perhaps more serious string of controversy. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, accusations of pedophilia against director Bryan Singer were reignited, and because of a combination of these allegations and creative differences, he was ousted from the film just prior to wrapping (he still holds sole directing credits). There is also an outcry from queer publications arguing that although singer Freddie Mercury’s struggle with AIDs was touched on in the film, it largely erased his free-flowing sexuality.

Both received relatively lukewarm receptions compared to fellow awards season heavyweights, A Star is Born and Roma, but have certainly seen a boost in their chances for securing multiple categories in Oscar nominations on the 22nd.