Why the Golden Globes pissed me off

Started by Gloria, January 16, 2011, 10:38:57 PM

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Gloria

Hi everyone. 

I watched the Golden Globe awards this evening and it made me angry.  First of, Aaron Sorkin got the ball rolling with the most condescending "smart girls have more fun" line.  He was trying so hard, and fell totally flat with his insincerity.  I kind of wanted Inception to win, which, let's face it, didn't have very strong female roles either.  Ellen Page was an audience character, basically there to fill in the blank, and Marion was never really shown as herself -- only how Leo's character perceived her.  Melissa Leo won for Fighter -- great, she was good, but let's face it, her character felt a bit cliche.  That movie pissed me off with how the sisters were portrayed -- hive mentality, ignored by the mother, the sons got all the attention, blah-dee-blah-deee-blah.  I know it was based on a true story, and they were set up to be "white trash" but damn, throw me a bone to keep them from just being annoying brats.  Natalie Portman won for Black Swan -- great, she gave a terribly awkward speech.  She was great in the role.  Helena Bonham Carter was great in the King's Speech, but still, she was just there to hold up a man. 

Black Swan -- female character descends into madness.
Fighter -- female characters fight with one another, but join together to help a man.
King's Speech -- female character is no-nonsense, but works hard to help her man.
Social Network -- let's face it, most of the women are props here, or just cause problems for the men.
Inception -- women are either part of the man's mind (or killed -- Nolanized -- to drive the main character) or just there to keep the audience on track.

Why can't the woman win?  I wanna see a woman win.  Why are women always so sad and insane or living for a man? 

I'm so bored with movies lately.  And it's mostly because I'm having a tough time relating.

Now, I've had a pretty shitty weekend, so maybe it's just the remnants of my own bitterness seeping through, but I'm waiting for a great female role in a drama that doesn't make me feel forced to clap, forced to be happy for it just because it feels like THAT'S ALL THERE IS!

I'm glad Annette Bening won, The Kids are All Right is definitely just an okay movie, though.  Jane Lynch is funny -- but for Glee?  Laura Linney is always great, but who really watches The Big C?   Writing this out, I realize it just sounds like I'm being hard on the women and their roles.  I'm really not, every actress who won or was nominated were/are great.  I just wish they had more to work with.

Don't even fuckin' get me started with the Directing awards.

Best win of the night - Katey Sagal.  Bad. Ass.

So Aaron, if smart girls have more fun, how about you write some good roles for them for next year, mmmmkay?

Okay, I'm going to bed.  'Night.  Thanks for letting me vent.

Stefen

The Social Network was misogynistic and Sorkin was probably just trying to fire extinguisher the talk. It's still a great film, but yeah, not kind to women. Nerd guys who created Facebook at Harvard have band-aids. Girls who will sleep with them because they're in a ba........created facebook on computers. lol.

Still, times are changing, just slowly. Last year Kathryn Bigelow beat Jim Cameron for best picture and Jim Cameron is the most manly filmmaker ever. Also it was the highest grossing movie ever. Women are pretty much owning men right now. They got guys like Aaron Sorkin thanking them instead of his own wife and/or husband when he wins an award.

Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

I Love a Magician

not entirely sure what you're pissed at, that there aren't enough good female characters last year? i thought there were plenty!:

Fish Tank
True Grit
I Am Love
Black Swan
The Fighter
Blue Valentine
Everyone Else
Greenberg
Winter's Bone

not all of those are Paragons of Female Strength, but they're human characters with depth that aren't relegated to the background

modage

I'm not sure if your problem is with the Globes or with Hollywood. But remember that the Globes are COMPLETELY full of shit.

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jan/11/news/OE-WAXMAN11
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

wilder

Did no one see Rabbit Hole? What the fuck?

ElPandaRoyal

Quote from: Stefen on January 16, 2011, 10:56:12 PMStill, times are changing, just slowly. Last year Kathryn Bigelow beat Jim Cameron for best picture and Jim Cameron is the most manly filmmaker ever.

Yes, but Bigelow is also the most manly woman filmmaker around, right?

I'm also not sure if Gloria means The Globes or Hollywood itslef piss her off, but I was also trying to tell someone the other day about my favourite female performance of last here and realized the female characters weren't that much interesting to begin with...
Si

mogwai


Reel

all I can say to you Gloria is don't let the Golden globes ruin movies for you. When I was watching it last night it made me wonder why people even give out awards like that because they seem so fucking worthless, but then the Oscars come around and you feel like they're merited when people win who deserve them and ( at least for me ) it restores some of my faith back into the industry. Hopefully some chicks will win, too. The Oscars don't play with stuff like that.

Pas

Are you sarcastic? The Oscars are just as awful(worst?)

Gold Trumpet

If you're discouraged by awards, just don't care about them. Even the Cannes Film Festival looks stupid as far as having a process to judge films. People associate award recognition with cultural elitism, but with the money involved, it's more about marketing elitism. For professionals in the industry who are up for guild honors, I understand the personal pride in being recognized by your peers, but all these other awards just come off as bogus to me.

Alexandro

I don't understand anything in this thread.

Gloria, are you implying that for a female role to be completely good it has to be some sort of "women power" manifesto? That's just stupid. Sorry but it is, very very stupid to think in those terms. As I Love a Magician pointed out, there were plenty of juicy roles for women that gave actresses a chance to plunge into the depths of their talent and show it off. Every year there are. Men usually win playing antiheroes, fucked up devastaded people, and no one complains of "not relating".

Then the whole thing is based on watching the golden globes, which makes it bizarre. Then Reelist is perhaps joking around with the oscars being the INTEGRITY ANSWER to the golden globes.

What??

Sleepless

He held on. The dolphin and all the rest of its pod turned and swam out to sea, and still he held on. This is it, he thought. Then he remembered that they were air-breathers too. It was going to be all right.

tpfkabi

All I want to know is what Bale said to DeNiro.
My guess is a compliment on Raging Bull, probably something he studied to make The Fighter.
I am Torgo. I take care of the place while the Master is away.

polkablues

Apparently he told him that he was "the shit".
My house, my rules, my coffee

socketlevel

Quote from: Alexandro on January 18, 2011, 01:55:31 PM
I don't understand anything in this thread.

Gloria, are you implying that for a female role to be completely good it has to be some sort of "women power" manifesto? That's just stupid. Sorry but it is, very very stupid to think in those terms. As I Love a Magician pointed out, there were plenty of juicy roles for women that gave actresses a chance to plunge into the depths of their talent and show it off. Every year there are. Men usually win playing antiheroes, fucked up devastaded people, and no one complains of "not relating".

Then the whole thing is based on watching the golden globes, which makes it bizarre. Then Reelist is perhaps joking around with the oscars being the INTEGRITY ANSWER to the golden globes.

What??

Alexandro this reminds me of a me-and-you-agianst-the-world (or thread) moment 6 or so months ago. this has really come around full circle from the aldomovar thread.

these are great roles for females. it's funny Gloria, i made the exact opposite arguments in favor of women having more to sink their teeth into. so they could be three dimensional, and not perfect in their social abilities.

what is the alternative? female characters always in the right or sneaky/witty in teaching men lessons in life? it's great movies are exploring the dark side of women. because the dark side of women is both unique and beautiful while at the same time cautionary.
the one last hit that spent you...