December 10, 2019

"In what was already a very male year, the Globes handed all the major nominations to a bunch of boys..."

I'm trying to read "The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2020 Golden Globe Nominations" (in NY Magazine's Vulture).

You might think that sounds like it was written by a woman — don't call them "girls"! — but no, it's by 2 men, Nate Jones and Hunter Harris. Should I call them "boys"? Are they trying to say what they're supposed to say, trying to get on the good side of Natalie Portman?
The Globes’ regrettable tendency to overlook female directors was pointedly addressed by Natalie Portman onstage at the 2018 ceremony,* but while the [Hollywood Foreign Press Association] may have been momentarily embarrassed, it apparently did not see any need to change its behavior. In what was already a very male year, the Globes handed all the major nominations to a bunch of boys: another all-male directing lineup, the same in Screenplay, and as a further insult, zero films directed by women in the Drama or Musical/Comedy best-feature lineups. Little Women, Hustlers, Booksmart, and Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood were essentially confined only to the acting races.
Was there any reason to feel sure that Little Women, Hustlers, Booksmart, or Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood was one of the very best films of the year? I don't know. I haven't seen any of these or any of the other movies of this past year (aside from "Rocketman," streamed on TV). Like (I bet) you, I don't care about The Golden Globes. I am only standing back and watching Hollywood writhe. It has problems that cannot be solved by throwing a woman's name into the mix when award time rolls around or a beautiful woman murmuring one hyphenated word over her plunging neckline.
___________________

* Here's Natalie (and watch the little Opie giggle nervously, thinking perhaps, But of course, I am America's sweet, good little boy)):

33 comments:

tim in vermont said...

This is why I don’t watch movies. Not enough politics for me.

rhhardin said...

Maybe there are no young good looking women directors.

lgv said...

New categories: Best Woman Director, Best Screenplay by a Woman.

There, problem solved. Until a man who identifies as a woman wins.

or

Expand the nominees to 10 with the extra 5 set aside for women and disadvantaged minorities. The problem with this solution is that a man might still win every year.

I'm not sure I've seen any of the movies other than The Irishman. Not only that, I'm not sure I want to.

clint said...

The Mr. Rogers movie was excellent, despite the hype. Tom Hanks definitely deserved the supporting actor nomination. But I feel sure that this won't help the gender-bean-counters who want to paper over Hollywood's very real problems.

Helena Bonham Carter was excellent in the Crown as well.

Other than those two, I haven't even heard of most of the nominees. (I'll eventually watch the Irisman, and Richard Jewell when it opens. And the family seems excited to go see Little Women over the holiday week.)

Danno said...

Not knowing the populations of male and female directors, I have no clue if this is something Nasty Natalie should be fighting.

What if male directors outnumber female directors 75 to 1?

rehajm said...

What a sad looking bunch. Hollywood is a sad communist hotel in a Wes Anderson movie...

Looking forward to next year when the Obamas start earning some of the millions Netflix gave them...

Leland said...

I guess Ron is taller than Natalie, which is why his head is always tilted down when looking her way.

Greg Hlatky said...

The more superficial the profession the more awards and prizes it hands out.

rehajm said...

The baby Yoda show everyone’s watching got snubbed. Opie’s daughter directs that one...

Michael K said...

I just ordered another book on the history of movies. Too bad they are so crappy now.

rhhardin said...

Helen Hunt directed one that was okay, Ride, I think. [checking] 2014

Shouting Thomas said...

Women bitching.

What's new?

Ralph L said...

I saw Portman "act" for the first time last week in "Thor". I can't remember a non-hysterical female who was more grating. Too bad Hemsworth didn't hammer her.

Bruce Hayden said...

Maybe the answer is that this is just another place where men and women are not equal. Women's Sports have essentially been destroyed by allowing males to compete as female just by identifying as a woman. Even after transitional surgery, genetic males are likely still to be bigger, stronger, faster, etc.

Why bight that be the case with movies? For many things, while means for attributes, such as IQ might be equivalent between the two sexes, males have a larger standard deviation. You don’t see this until you get out in the tails of the distribution. Another aspect is that traditionally, men just work harder than women, esp out on the tails of the distribution. Females tend more than men to try to balance parts of their lives. Combining all these things goes some wYs to explaining why, for example, almost all self made billionaires are male, while a lot of female billionaires either married, or inherited, their money.

Krumhorn said...

Paroxysms of pretense.

- Krumhorn

tim in vermont said...

"he more superficial the profession the more awards and prizes it hands out.”

That is true. Fields Medal is handed out once every four years.

Howard said...

Art is as macho as working in an old school machine shop. Many people mistakenly think it's quite a girly thing.

The fact that the ladies are doing as well as they are in the arts is a credit to their sex.

readering said...

I thought it was agreed that the Hollywood foreign press association is a joke. When are oscar nominations out?

Paul Zrimsek said...

Where's the narrator from Arrested Development when you need him?

"Little Women, Hustlers, Booksmart, and Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood were not among the best movies of the year."

tcrosse said...

Ida Lupino directed a number of films, as well as many TV shows. She came from a centuries-old theatrical dynasty dating back to the Italian Renaissance.

Known Unknown said...

"Opie’s daughter directs that one..."

With the plot lifted directly from The Seven Samurai. It was okay. The series is good, but not great.

Freeman Hunt said...

I saw one of those movies, which had received excellent reviews, and it was terrible.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Nice boobs, but Natalie stank up Star Wars worse than Jar Jar.

Bill Peschel said...

All this means is that the studios didn't bribe the Hollywood Foreign Press Association enough on the women's behalf.

Equal rights means equal bribes.

Years back, the LA Times in a psychotic fit ran a long article about the HFPA that demonstrated what a total scam the Golden Globes are. Top to bottom, a potemkin-village of puffery and fakery.

rehajm said...

With the plot lifted directly from The Seven Samurai.

Kurosawa didn't have a BABY YODA!

Nichevo said...


Ralph L said...
I saw Portman "act" for the first time last week in "Thor". I can't remember a non-hysterical female who was more grating. Too bad Hemsworth didn't hammer her.

Grating indeed. Her "all-male" remark would have been far more effective if delivered in other than her grating tone.

Also, she's peaked, physically. The cleavage tells the tale. Has that old people look.

gahrie said...

What if male directors outnumber female directors 75 to 1?

Well that's clearly prima fascia evidence of discrimination right there.

hombre said...

Well, after all, women are a victim class. Champion athletes in womens’ sports are men. Glamour’s Woman of the Year was a man. Some women, Wonder Woman, Nikki Haley, Althouse, etc., are beyond the whinging and other silliness. Most are not.

Icepilot said...

Clearly, Natalie was celebrating the masculinity of these men ... or she doesn't know English.

narciso said...

no nominations for ford vs Ferrari, thankfully deniro got shut out for the Irishman, but a pretty pathetic list,

narciso said...

that two hour defamation of linda freedman, got 16 nomination, yech,

Darrell said...

The Golden Globes were shown to be a complete fabrication of Hollywood studios by investigative journalists some years ago (in the early 2000s.) Foreign reporters get an all-expenses-paid trip to Hollywood and play no role in selecting winners or nominating contenders. The studios take care of that. The investigative journalists got a few foreign reviewers to spill the beans, getting them to realize that their bosses always chose new people for the trip.

Bilwick said...

Nice picture. I didn't know Portman even had breasts.