Golden Globes focus on sexual assault

Last weekend, on January 7, the 75th Golden Globe Awards aired on NBC. The Golden Globes honor those people in the film and television industry who made the greatest critical impact, as voted on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. This year, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri and Big Little Lies were the big winners, winning four awards each, while The Shape of Water received the most nominations, with 7. However, this year, it seems there was another winner at this year’s award ceremony: women.

As the Me Too movement has rocked Hollywood this past year, with many women finding their voice to call out the bad behavior of men, the sexual assault in the film and television industry seemed to be a big focus at this year’s awards. Many women (and men) wore black to this year’s event in order to support the “Time’s Up” Movement, which is a movement against sexual assault against women that helps with legal funding for victims and calls for equal pay for men and women.

From the start of the program, it was clear with Seth Meyers monologue that this sexual assault would be a big focus, making several jokes about Harvey Weinstein and the issue as a whole. Later, Oprah became the first African-American woman to accept the Cecil B. DeMille Award, which honors someone each year who has made such a great contribution to the film and/or television industry. In her acceptance speech, she lauded the women who have come forward to share their voice about the abuse that they have endured, and claimed that “a new horizon” was coming for young women.

Many people, however, have called out the actors and actresses for their hypocrisy, noting that, even though they called out some of these men for their actions, they still work with and applaud other men who do the same things. Senior Luke Ehrenstrom, talking about the Golden Globes, states that “The Golden Globes’ increased focus on women was certainly a reflection of the step forward on the issue of sexual exploitation in the industry, but it does feel a bit premature. The Golden Globes, though, cannot claim a moral high ground to that culture of sexual harassment. Greta Gerwig’s debut film Lady Bird was nominated in almost every conceivable category, winning Best Picture, and yet somehow she didn’t receive a nod for Best Director? James Franco’s accusations of sexual exploitation following his Best Actor victory make clear that the industry has much further to go before it has an answer to its crisis, and much further to go before it can applaud its progress.”