Awards season is officially here, and to kick off the year, the 82nd Golden Globes took place Jan. 5 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. A huge conversation starter during this season revolves around snubbing. These conversations are pointless and overshadow the deserving winners.
Public perception of the show seemed to improve drastically this year over last year’s, especially leaning in favor of this year’s host Nikki Glaser over last year’s Jo Koy.
Koy was spoken out against all over social media in 2024 after his opening monologue included some unfunny and outright offensive jokes at the expense of some nominees like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”
Nikki Glaser’s monologue, on the other hand, included jokes about Ozempic and Glen Powell that were far more outstanding than Koy’s disaster last year.
While the public perception of this year’s Globes had a far more positive spin than last year’s, many audience members felt that there were a few snubs. One of the biggest complaints audiences had—and the only one I have—this year had to do with the Best Original Song category.
Twitter users were outraged that “El Mal” from the motion picture “Emelia Perez” won over other entries like “Compress / Repress” from “Challengers,” or from other films that weren’t even nominated, like any of the songs from “Wicked.”
I can see in some circumstances how it would make more sense for other films to win over what is actually chosen to be the winner. Using this year as an example, the Best Original Song winner, “El Mal,” was not a good song.
There were others on the nomination list that deserved the award. “Compress / Repress,” was a much better song, that not only represented themes of the film, but also reflected where pop culture was at the time. It’s electronic sound mirrored albums that were popular last summer like Charli XCX’s “Brat.”
Snubs become a very contentious point of conversation around awards season. Fans of actors or films often feel cheated on behalf of their favorites when they don’t win in their nominated category. The conversations around snubbing can be pointless and blinded by biases. It’s hard to be objective when something you love is nominated.
However, in a different example, some Twitter users felt that Timothée Chalamet deserved the Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Motion Picture Drama over Adrien Brody. This is not a fair assessment, even though I liked Chalamet’s nominated performance in “A Complete Unknown.”
Both performers are dedicated to the roles that they played. Chalamet spent years studying Bob Dylan and this really shines through in his performance. But, Brody always does a phenomenal job when it comes to portraying subtle character traits, and he deserved the Globe for this performance.
Though there was some talk of snubbing, this year had some very deserving winners. Kiernan Culkin was stellar in his supporting role in “A Real Pain” and has been showing his chops as a great actor in the years leading up to this.
Sebastian Stan, who received two nominations and won for his role as Donald Trump in “The Apprentice,” also had an exceptional year. He was able to capture Trump in acute detail, without it feeling like he was doing an “SNL” style impression of him.
Some of the best moments from the Globes happened outside of the actual ceremony. Demi Moore ignored Kylie Jenner the entire time she was standing right next to her, Kathy Bates ripped up an acceptance speech after it was announced that she did not win the Globe, and some jokes that Nikki Glaser had to cut at the last minute.
The Globes can sometimes, not in an official capacity, be used as an indicator for the far more prestigious Oscars that happen later in the year. Winners like “The Brutalist” from director Brady Corbet, and “Challengers” from Luca Guadagnino, both have a lot of hype from audiences and critics alike. You should keep an eye out for both when Oscar season rolls around, but don’t let unnecessary talk of snubbing distract you from enjoying the films that do win awards.
Conversations around snubbing can be pointless and blinded by biases toward a film that may not be as deserving of an award, as the film that won. Just because an actor you really like is in the film, or it may be one of your favorite directors, does not mean that the film deserves to win.
Hopefully, we can look forward to more entertaining hosts like Nikki Glaser, more deserving nominations and wins and less snub talk next Golden Globes.
