Last Sunday night, many around the globe tuned in for a night filled with their favorite actors and actresses, glamorous outfits, and hopes of awards for their favorite movies and TV shows. The Golden Globes have been an annual, Hollywood staple since their creation in 1944, and has been a major part of the film industry’s awards season, leading up to the Academy Awards. An awards ceremony meant to honor and commend artists and professionals on their achievements from the previous year, has recently done much of the opposite through embarrassing women and promoting misogyny.
Sunday night’s show had a hopeful start. It was the first time the Golden Globes had been aired on live television since 2021 due to Covid-19 and other reasons. The host of the night was Jo Koy, an American stand-up comedian and actor. Koy opened the show with a monologue “ that was cumbersome, contentious, and profoundly uncomfortable,” as stated by Time. He set a tone for the night that failed to impress. One line, “The big difference between the Golden Globes and the NFL? On the Golden Globes we have fewer camera shots of Taylor Swift.”
Swift was clearly unimpressed with the line, along with many others in the room, and of course, “Swifties” around the globe. This joke objectifies an artist that has achieved much more than the fact she is dating a NFL player. The ceremony has frequently spotlighted male achievements while neglecting or sidelining the contributions and talent of women.
The worst “joke” of the night was easily Koy’s comment diminishing the whole Barbie movie. Barbie facing and overcoming sexism was pretty much the whole point of the movie, and Koy ignorantly stated, “Oppenheimer is based on a 721-page Pulitzer Prize-winning book about the Manhattan Project, and Barbie is on a plastic doll with big boobies,” he said. “The key moment in Barbie is when she goes from perfect beauty to bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet. Or what casting directors call character actor!”
This joke did not land, and there were many unamused responses from the crowd, including co-writer and director Greta Gerwig and stars Ryan Gosling and Issa Rae. The blatant misogyny in Koy’s joke actually further proves the point of The Barbie Movie, proving how even today, it is still difficult to be a woman in a man’s world.
Throughout the years, female artists, directors, and creators have fought an endless battle for equal recognition. The Golden Globes’ history is filled with instances where women in the industry were overlooked or marginalized. It took until 1982 for Barbra Streisand to become the first woman to win Best Director, a category where female nominees remained scarce. Even today, despite strides made by pioneering women, the presence of female directors, especially in prestigious award nominations, remains low.
The question is: When will there be change?
Women have fought for equality in Hollywood for years, and while there has been some improvements, we are far from done. Sunday night’s show further proved that accomplished women are often viewed differently than men, and are objectified and targeted as undeserving of their achievements. As we look forward to the future of the Golden Globes and other award shows, I hope that Hollywood decides to promote genuine change, and ignores the biases from the past.
