Zooming with the Stars: The 2021 Golden Globes
Illustration by Sam Plascencia | The Corsair
The multi-talented Tina Fey and Amy Poehler opened the 78th annual Golden Globe Awards on Feb. 28, after an almost two-month delay of the award show due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fey and Poehler hosted this year's ceremony under strict COVID-19 guidelines. Poehler reported from Los Angeles’s own ‘Beverly Hilton’ while Fay joked about hosting from the Rainbow room in New York City, “Good evening, I’m Tina Fey coming to you from the beautiful Rainbow Room in New York City where indoor dining and outdoor muggings are back.”
The bi-costal celebration kicked off with an eight-minute monologue from the duo that poked fun at the controversy surrounding the Globes this year. Of the 87 members in The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) not one of them is Black. In the weeks leading up to the Golden Globes, plenty of voices on Twitter were heard, as well as all over the rest of the internet about the lack of diversity that the HFPA presented us with.
While the Netflix series ‘The Crown’ swept the Globes, Chole Zhao became the second woman in the history of The Golden Globes to win Best Director for her film ‘Nomadland’. The first woman to win this award was Barbara Streisand in 1984 for ‘Yentel’.
Jane Fonda was presented with this year's Cecil B. DeMille Award for Outstanding Contributions to the World of Entertainment, and her speech truly captured the theme of the night. Fonda spoke of the importance of storytelling and how it has the power to truly move an audience, “After all, art has always been not just in step with history but has led the way. So let’s be leaders. OK?” Despite the quip, on the lack of diversity, she then went on to thank the HFPA for her award.
The controversy that led up to The Globes was as predominant as the winners and nominees alike. With Poehler and Fey taking a few jabs at the ‘Emily in Paris’ nomination — which lost in the category of ‘Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy’ to the Pop TV series, ‘Schitt’s Creek’ — Fey stated, “French Exit is what I did after watching the first episode of Emily in Paris.”
It was tongue and cheek fun throughout the night even with the technical difficulties Zoom had to offer. Most notoriously, Daniel Kaluuya won for ‘Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture’ for the film, ‘Judas and The Black Messiah’.
In an oddly relatable turn of events, his mic remained on mute, which led award-winning actress and presenter, Laura Dern to begin to apologize. Kaluuya caught on quickly however and interrupted as she began to accept the award for him -- “You’re doing me dirty!” Kaluuya laughed.
Jodie Foster, who won ‘Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in any Motion Picture’ for her film, ‘The Mauritanian’, accepted her Golden Globe in pajamas alongside her wife, artist Alexandra Hedison, their dog Ziggy, and friends downstairs who yelled their excitement a few seconds into Foster’s acceptance speech. “It’s a couple seconds off!” the bewildered actress stated, about the live stream.
The 2021 Golden Globes were a piece of history that most would probably rather forget given the Coronavirus pandemic. Yet it was a charmingly relatable perspective into the personal lives of celebrities on Zoom within their homes. It proved to be a night filled with laughter and inclusion, despite the debates prior to The Golden Globes. It seemed the biggest winner of the night was the topic of diversity and inclusion.
Visit the Golden Globes Awards website for a full list of winners and nominess.
