Culture

Golden Globes Recap: All The Ways Women At The Golden Globes Called Out Hollywood’s Bullshit

#TimesUp

by Sam Langford  8 January 2018
golden globes

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

This year’s Golden Globes just wrapped up, and it was a pretty standout year.

For a rare moment, some of the world’s most influential celebrities came together at one of the most high profile Hollywood events for a good cause. For more than one good cause, in fact. Attendees and hosts alike used this year’s award show to shine a light on racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other violence, and to send a firm message that for all of these scourges, #TimesUp.

So many people took a stand, in fact, that it’s hard to put together an exhaustive list of the ways this year’s show became a platform for crucial acts of solidarity and activism. Here’s a recap of some of the standout moments:

Almost Everyone Wore Black In Support Of The #TimesUp Campaign

If you’ve seen pictures of today’s outfits, you’ve no doubt seen a sea of black. Almost every attendee wore black in solidarity with those who have experienced sexual assault or harassment, and those who didn’t are getting pretty severely roasted.

The campaign was primarily in support of the #TimesUp legal defence fund for people who need support to speak out about sexual violence, and #TimesUp became the mantra of the day. We heard it on the red carpet, in acceptance speeches, and in impassioned chants from the event’s attendees.

To be sure, wearing black and repeating a few words are small steps. But they stood out, and they meant it was impossible to watch this year’s awards without hearing over and over again that #TimesUp — and not just on sexual harassment.

As Lena Waithe put it, “time’s up on sexual harassment, time’s up on homophobia, time’s up on transphobia, time’s up on racism. Time’s up on all of it.”

Stars Brought Activists As Their Plus Ones, And They Made Sure They Got A Platform

Many stars went a step further than just wearing black, and invited activists along as their plus-ones. Emma Watson, for example, showed up on the red carpet with acclaimed activist Marai Larasi, and used the spotlight to introduce viewers to Larasi and her work.

As Larasi, who is the executive director of Imkaan, a British black feminist organisation addressing violence against women of colour, put it, the event was “really an amazing opportunity to just use this platform to highlight all the different issues, and to say time’s up on violence against women. We’re calling time — enough.”

Michelle Williams, meanwhile, brought Tarana Burke — the founder of the #MeToo movement — as her plus-one, and kept steering interviewers back to Burke and her work whenever they wanted to talk about anything else.

“Thank you,” she said in response to an interviewer’s congratulations on her film work. “I appreciate it, but really the most exciting thing is that I thought I would have to raise my daughter to learn to protect herself in a dangerous world, but I think because of the work that Tarana has done, and the work that I’m learning how to do, we actually have the opportunity to hand our children a different world.”

“I am moved beyond measure to be standing next to this woman.”

In short, it was a brilliant example of people with platforms using their power to steer the conversation in the right direction. Maybe 2018 will prove to be the year that people more responsibly exercise their power.

Actors Used Red Carpet Interviews To Call Out E! For Its Gender Pay Gap

Stars were also not at all shy about calling people (and companies, industries, and societies) out on their bad behaviour. The red carpet this year was hosted by E!, and a number of celebrities used that as an opportunity to criticise E! for its gender pay gap.

Debra Messing was the first to slam E! while being interviewed on E!, saying she was “so shocked to hear that E! doesn’t believe in paying their female co-hosts the same as their male co-hosts”.

Laura Dern then made similar criticisms, pointing out that “we need the powers that be and all the industries and all the networks and E! to help us with closing this pay gender gap. 50/50 by 2020″.

All-Male Nominations Did Not Escape Unchallenged

Of course, these Golden Globes were far from perfect. Some categories, like Best Director, still had an entirely male field of nominees, much like most other years.

Unlike most other years, though, this lack of diversity was getting called out in real time. Many, many award presenters noted a lack of diversity when they saw it. Perhaps most notably, Natalie Portman introduced the list of Best Director nominees by stepping up to the mic and announcing “and here are the all-male nominees”.

Oprah Gave An Extraordinary Speech About The Power The Golden Globes

Oprah was at the Golden Globes to accept an honorary award for lifetime achievement, and the acceptance speech she gave was nothing short of profound.

Related
People Want Oprah To Run For President After Her Extraordinary Golden Globes Speech

In it, she spoke about how important it was to her as a young girl to be able to watch black actor Sidney Poitier receive an Oscar. She then spoke about how important this year’s Golden Globes will be to so many, from young black girls seeing a black woman win a lifetime achievement award, to survivors of sexual assault and harassment seeing so many people stand in solidarity with them. It was an incredibly powerful speech — you can read more about it and watch it in full here.

Films And Shows Reflecting The Very Issues #TimesUp Addresses Won Big

At the end of the day, the Golden Globes is an awards event. And in many cases this year, those awards went to films and TV shows starring or created by women and people of colour, shining a light on the very issues the #TimesUp campaign sought to highlight.

Big Little Lies and The Handmaid’s Tale, for instance, received accolades in the television categories; both are works that deal with violence against women, and the courage of women who have experienced it. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which centres on a mother’s quest to have her daughter’s murder taken seriously by law enforcement, received accolades in the film categories, as did Lady Bird, a film that centres on strong, complex women.

In her acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV Movie, Nicole Kidman, who plays a survivor of domestic violence in Big Little Lies, made it clear that honouring art that centres on these crucial issues does indeed matter.

“This character that I played represents something that is the centre of our conversation right now: abuse, she said. “I do believe and I hope that we can elicit change through the stories we tell, and the way we tell them.”

Host Seth Meyers Delivered A Monologue That Took Aim At Hollywood

Even the comedic monologue delivered by a white dude managed to create space to criticise those who deserved criticism, and support those who required support. We wrote about Seth Meyers’ opening monologue earlier today, but it’s worth revisiting as a moment of allyship.

I mean, sure, it would have been better to have given one of the many extraordinary women in comedy the privilege of hosting, but it’s a rare day that the white bloke who got the gig instead is willing to point that out. Meyers took the opportunity to skewer Weinstein, Spacey, racists and Trump, and to do all this in a part of the ceremony traditionally used for more lighthearted humour. You can watch his opening bit below.

Seth Meyers Opening Monologue - Golden Globes 2018

LIVE from Los Angeles: it's the 75th Anniversary of the #GoldenGlobes. Here's our host... Seth Meyers! #Globes75

Posted by Golden Globes on Sunday, 7 January 2018

We have certainly left out moments from today’s awards in this recap. That’s part of the extraordinary nature of this years awards: there were so many moments of activism, solidarity and support that it’s difficult to keep track of them all.

That, in itself, is extraordinary: that speaking out about injustice at glamorous, prestigious events has become more mainstream than exceptional. The Golden Globes weren’t perfect, to be sure, and there’s still much more to do to truly call time on the terrible things plaguing this industry, and this society. But it’s a step forward, and that’s always worth celebrating.

The Oscars are just a few months away. Let’s see how many steps we can take by then.