After two years of controversy regarding its lack of diversity and inclusion, The Golden Globes changed nearly everything about its organization to preserve its standing and reputation. However, if you watched Sunday’s 81st Annual Golden Globes, it felt like business as usual for Black actors, films and television series.
As excited as we are for the breakout wins of Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Ayo Edebiri, the lack of wins for major titles like “American Fiction,” “The Color Purple” and “Rustin” was glaring.
When it comes to awards season, analysts are well aware that it’s not always the best project or performance that wins — there’s a lot of politics taking place behind the scenes. Unfortunately, it seems like Black art and artists are often on the rough end of those politics. For example, the Golden Globes is the only major show that specifically recognizes musicals...you’d think this would give “The Color Purple” the inside track, but it doesn’t work that way.
It seems that critics associations and awards organizers only have room for one film per season for any minority group. If this is the case, then “Barbie” is this year’s “women’s movie,” “Past Lives” is the “Asian movie” and “American Fiction” is the “Black movie” that gets all the Best Picture nominations.
That’s not a knock against any of the aforementioned films, because they’re all exceptional. But it’s also not fair to other projects that deal with similar themes and issues.
It’s still pretty early in awards season, but based on what we saw Sunday, it looks like “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things” are the favorites. For “American Fiction,” “The Color Purple” and “Rustin,” that means their awards season will likely begin and end with just the nominations. It’s another frustrating example of the eternal treadmill Black projects and actors seem to find themselves on.
Sadly, this issue isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, as I imagine we will be back here at the same time next year having a similar conversation about the 2025 awards season.