Awards Shows: Who Made You The Judge?
On Sunday 5th January 2025 (for Americans that is) or for those of us here in the UK, Jan 6th... Demi Moore became a Golden Globe winner. Moore won ‘Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy’ for her performance as Elisabeth Sparkle in 2024’s ‘The Substance.’ With an acting career spanning four decades, and several recognisable titles featuring within her filmography, it’s slightly surprising that this was her first Golden Globe win.
Three times she has been nominated before her 2025 win. The first time was in 1991 in the category ‘Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy’ for ‘Ghost’. Two more nominations followed in 1997 with the film ‘If These Walls Could Talk’ in the categories ‘Best Television Limited Series, Anthology Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television' and ‘Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television.’ Yet, the beloved and talented Demi Moore waited until age 62 for her talent to be officially recognised by this awards body. I have been asking myself since: even if she didn’t win… would it really matter?
Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle in 'The Substance' (2024)
Don’t get me wrong, I recognise the importance of celebrating art. The importance of publicly awarding outstanding films, television shows, performances of all kinds, and all the different aspects that go into creating such works of art. We as a collective should celebrate media that unites all diverse groups of humans due to our shared humanity, our empathy, and our thirst for interesting stories with characters we care about. Undoubtedly, the people who have worked hard to pull these stories into existence should have occasions where they are recognised for their labour.
The issue I have with these awards bodies is that they attempt to objectively quantify categories that are, at their core, subjective matters. But... does this mean that the other nominees, or even the media that failed to receive such a nomination, are less than? Are those films and television series somehow flawed creations?
Take for example cinema superstar and all-round heartthrob Timothée Chalamet. The man needs no introduction but I’ll still give him one just for the sake of it. The French-American, New York City native started acting as a teenager and was quickly shot to stardom after appearing in the likes of ‘Interstellar’ (2014), ‘Homeland’ (2012), and ‘Men, Women & Children’ (2014).
These roles garnered him reasonable attention but it wasn’t until 2017 that he became a certified household name. Starring in ‘Call Me By Your Name,’ ‘Hot Summer Nights,’ ‘Lady Bird,’ and ‘Hostiles,’ all in the same year launched his film career into the eyesight of significant awards bodies. His performance as Elio in ‘Call Me By Your Name,’ earned him nominations from the Academy Awards, the British Academy Film Awards, the Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, to name a few.
Following 2017, Chalamet’s career has continued to skyrocket. His filmography is ridiculously lengthy and seriously impressive. ‘Beautiful Boy’ (2018), ‘The King’ (2019), ‘Little Women’ (2019), ‘The French Dispatch’ (2021), ‘Dune’ (2021) and ‘Dune: Part Two’ (2024) - to name a few. I’ll save you the full list, but they’re all bangers (except for maybe 2023’s Wonka, but that’s just my opinion). Yet, despite receiving over one hundred and thirty nominations across various awards bodies and associations, Chalamet has been repeatedly snubbed by the major ones. He has never actually won a BAFTA, Golden Globe, Academy Award, Critics’ Choice Award, or Screen Actors Guild Award.
Chalamet's talent is undeniable. There is no arguing about his acting abilities and dedication to his craft. His casting as Bob Dylan in his biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ was announced in January 2020, and then due to the pandemic production of the film was delayed. Chalamet spent this time researching the singer-songwriter, dedicating four years of his life to this project before seeing its release on Christmas Day 2024 in the US (it is due to be released on January 17th in the UK). Listening to Chalamet talk to Zane Lowe, you can hear the passion he has for this work, and the respect with which he treats each role - he even shares how he received an endorsement text from Dylan’s manager Jeff Rosen, and the man himself had this to say about the film.
Bearing in mind that several of the major awards ceremonies are still yet to happen, like the Oscars, SAG Awards, and the Critics’ Choice Awards, this is not a snubbing that is set in stone, he may still win in some of his nominated categories this year. Many people will not even consider his losses as a snubbing, but herein lies the issues with subjective-based categories - they attempt to cement a select group’s opinions as fact.
The Golden Globes have a voting body of 334 people, made up of journalists from several different countries. For the Oscars, winners are decided upon by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members. As the name suggests, members of the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists vote for the SAG Awards. So, it makes sense that these awards shows do not always reflect viewer’s opinions, as you literally cannot please everyone. No matter who wins, more nominees will lose, and the result is that somebody will end up disappointed. So is it really worthwhile allowing these decisions to impact your viewing experience? Personally, I don’t think so.
Focusing on a small voting body for these decisions can also lead to more serious patterns of behaviour, where actors of colour are systematically discriminated against and snubbed repeatedly in their nominated categories. Across the entire history of the Academy Awards since 1929, only five black men have won ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role.’ Sidney Poitier in 1964, Denzel Washington in 2002, Jamie Foxx in 2005, Forest Whitaker in 2007 and Will Smith in 2022. For ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ there has only ever been one black winner: Halle Berry in 2002 for her performance as Leticia in ‘Monster’s Ball.’
Halle Berry in 'Monster's Ball' (2002)
The list of black actors who have won an Academy Award for their supporting roles is similarly small featuring only seven male winners: Louis Gossett Jr. in 1983, Denzel Washington in 1990, Cuba Gooding Jr. in 1997, Morgan Freeman in 2005, Mahershala Ali once in 2017 and again in 2019, and Daniel Kaluuya in 2021. For black women, there have been ten supporting role winners: Hattie McDaniel in 1940, Whoopi Goldberg in 1991, Jennifer Hudson in 2007, Mo’Nique in 2010, Octavia Spencer in 2012, Lupita Nyong’o in 2014, Viola Davis in 2017, Regina King in 2019, Ariana DeBose in 2022 and Da’Vine Joy Randolph in 2024.
This year marks the 97th Oscars. Across 96 previous ceremonies, each having a category for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, as well as Best Leading Actor and Best Leading Actress only twenty-two out of these winners are Black. That ratio doesn’t make sense unless you factor in the systemic discrimination experienced by black actors at the hands of these awarding bodies.
Can a select group of people definitively say that Meryl Streep’s performance as Margaret Thatcher in 2011 was better than Viola Davis' in The Help? Well, evidently yes, seeing as the Oscars and other awards shows like it, occur every year, and are widely enjoyed by eager viewers all across the globe. But, does that make their decisions a steadfast fact? No. Does that mean you’re not allowed to prefer the losers over the winners? Absolutely not. Does that mean the winner is more talented than the losers? Nope.
These awards shows are a common occurrence each year. They are fun opportunities to see your favourite celebrities donning new outfits for us to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at. They act as a public celebration of art and can help draw attention to some of the best films from each year that you may not have already heard of. But... they are not absolute, infallible judgements of an actor’s ability or a movie’s worth. Especially considering some of their patterns of displaying prejudice towards and ignoring the talents of people of colour within this space.
Watch them if you want to watch them, and enjoy the red carpet looks, but I’d certainly recommend watching with a pinch of salt… and try to bear in mind some of the more serious ways in which they repeatedly snub actors and directors from minority groups. Don't let the judgements of an awards show dissuade you from forming your own opinion.
