Sometimes it’s necessary to keep telling the same story over and over again

Yes, it’s tiresome to have to point out that the Golden Globes shut out a lot of female talent. But there’s a reason we keep doing it anyway

At last year’s ceremony, Natalie Portman’s frustration showed through when she announced the ‘all-male nominees’ for Best Director (NBCUniversal via Getty)

On Monday 9 December, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the organisation in charge of the Golden Globes, unveiled the nominees for the 2020 ceremony. Immediately after the announcement wrapped up, it became obvious that women had been left out of the main categories – again. There were none nominated for Best Director of a Motion Picture, nor for Best Motion Picture (on the drama and on the musical/comedy sides), nor for Best Screenplay.

As a culture writer in the late 2010s, I – sadly – considered this to be business as usual. And the Golden Globes specifically have come under fire before for their recurring dismissal of women’s work. Natalie Portman let her frustration show last year when, tasked with presenting the Best Director hopefuls, she announced: “Here are the all-male nominees.”

So what does one do, then, when something incredibly frustrating – yet fundamentally relevant to the industry that you cover – keeps happening year after year? Journalism is by nature averse to repetition. Writers are constantly looking for new angles, new takes, new ways into perennial topics. And when it comes to the Golden Globes and sexism, it’s easy to feel as though everything worth saying has already been said.

It could be tempting, then, to not say anything at all. Do we really need another news piece, another op-ed, another talking point calling out the HFPA for its unfair treatment of women? Must we keep caring, when caring has apparently led us nowhere so far?

Well, yes. Yes, we do. Things might feel repetitive sometimes (although each year brings a new list of female names being callously shut out) but look: if 2018 and 2019 have taught us anything, it’s that the entertainment industry warrants the same scrutiny that we usually apply to the political world. Culture reporters must treat Hollywood like they would any other environment dominated by wealth, power and privilege: with an unforgiving eye and a tireless dedication to accountability.

There is a narrative in the entertainment industry which says fewer women get nominated for prestigious movie awards because they make fewer high-profile films. Anyone who thinks about this for more than a second can see that it’s the chicken and the egg of sexism: perhaps women would make more high-profile movies if the industry stopped treating them like second-class citizens most of the time.

And so, this year, as we have before, let’s say it out loud: the fact that not a single woman scored a nomination in four key categories at the Golden Globes, one of the most prestigious ceremonies the entertainment world has to offer, is an outrage. Let’s keep saying it this year, and the year after that, and the year after that one if warranted.

This conversation doesn’t end because people get tired of it. It ends only when the injustice at its core gets rectified.

Yours,

Clémence Michallon

US culture writer