The Golden Globes are almost upon us – but they’re still in shadow

January is a funny time for the culture team. We’ve barely had time to register the fact we’re in a new year before being thrust into the middle of awards season. In fairness to Hollywood, the chatter began a few months ago, but with the Oscars occurring in March (yes, it’s almost been a year since that slap), we thought we had a bit of breathing space.

But no. The Golden Globes is almost upon us and, two years after a slew of high-profile names boycotted the ceremony due to its voting body being made up of mostly older white men, a shake-up has been approved. This means we can no longer ignore the ceremony: a crack team of culture reporters has been assembled to work tirelessly through the night of 10 January to bring live updates to those wanting to follow along and the more sensible folk who will catch up on everything that went down after a nice sleep.

All of this will be done professionally, of course, but with our tongues slightly in our cheeks. After all, the Globes has never really escaped the shadow of its more prestigious cousin, the Oscars, and this year’s nominations are proof of that. Baz Luhrmann’s gaudy Elvis may have been entertaining, but a nomination for Best Drama is ridiculous. The same can be said for Ana De Armas’s Best Actress nomination for the truly awful Blonde, a film which I can confidently say deserves zero awards.

The Golden Globes honours the “best” in television as well, so why exactly Ryan Murphy’s Jeffrey Dahmer series racked up four nominations, while Apple TV Plus drama For All Mankind received nada, I’ll never know.

The announcement of the 2023 Oscar nominations on 23 January will hopefully bring recognition to films and stars snubbed entirely by the Globes, including Sarah Polley’s thought-provoking drama Women Talking and Danielle Deadwyler’s towering performance in Till.

One thing is for certain, though – there are not many things more reliable than awards season outrage. I guess there’s something comforting in that.

Yours,

Jacob Stolworthy

Chief culture reporter