Awards season is a jam-packed blur for film and television enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike. To some, the Golden Globe Awards may seem indistinguishable from program ceremonies like the Oscars. (As I explained to my hometown friend, the Golden Globe Awards celebrate both film and television whereas the Oscars focus solely on film.) While awards shows such as the Golden Globes can appear performative or illegitimate, they serve as a time and place to celebrate the labor and love that goes into the world of cinema and television. This year’s Golden Globes was no different — yet, it was packed with surprises and snubs, just like previous years.

Despite NBC hitting its second-lowest ratings for the awards ceremony—averaging 6.25 million views— the Golden Globes was full of first-time nominees and boundary-breaking wins. The ceremony returned to television this year after going off-air in 2022 due to criticism of a lack of diversity in its voting body directed toward the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the organization that runs the Golden Globes. This year, the HFPA president, Helen Hoehne, stepped onstage to note the organization’s strides toward creating room for diversity within the HFPA, while host Jerrod Carmichael highlighted the lack of diversity from the HFPA in years prior. Carmichael opened the night saying, “I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m here because I’m Black.” 

Carmichael, a well-known comedian, provided high energy and laughter to audience members, as well as numerous quick changes, sporting some of the ceremony’s best looks. The broadcast ran past its strict 11 p.m. end time, causing stress from producers, and not reaching the four biggest honors — best drama series; best comedy series; best picture, comedy or musical; and best picture, drama — until after the designated end time. 

“The late Toni Morrison said that your life is already a miracle of chance, just waiting for you to order its destiny.” Angela Bassett

“The Banshees of Inisherin” was the most nominated film at the event with eight honors and took home one of the prized gems of the evening: best picture, musical or comedy. Steven Spielberg’s “The Fablemans” followed by taking home best picture, drama. For television, the big winners were “House of the Dragon” (drama) and “Abbott Elementary” (comedy or musical).

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“Abbott Elementary” stood out at the Golden Globes, taking home both supporting and leading Golden Globes for cast members Quinta Brunson in her performance as Janine Teagues (best actress, comedy or musical series) and Tyler James Williams in his performance as Gregory Eddie (best supporting actor, musical, comedy or drama). 

Mike White’s “The White Lotus” also made waves when it was awarded the titles of both best limited series and best supporting actress in a limited series for Jennifer Coolidge’s performance as Tanya. White and Coolidge had memorable speeches, both expressing their immense love for one another. Coolidge was not only remembered for her acceptance speech but also for her time presenting, as she exclaimed, “And the Oscar goes to …” before correcting herself: “Oh, no, no, wait, Golden Globes.” 

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Angela Bassett made Marvel history by winning best supporting actress for her role as Queen Ramonda in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” Her speech was incredibly moving as she said, “The late Toni Morrison said that your life is already a miracle of chance, just waiting for you to order its destiny.” She ended her speech with dedicating the award to “Black Panther” star and 2021 Golden Globe Award winner Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in August 2020.

While Michelle Yeoh (best actress, musical or comedy) and Ke Huy Quan (best supporting actor) won accolades for their outstanding performances in “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” the acclaimed film was snubbed for the category of best picture, musical or comedy, losing to “The Banshees of Inisherin.” With the 2022 film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert being rated as the ninth-best movie of all time on IMDb, the loss was seen as an upset.

Yeoh’s stunning acceptance speech expressed the magnitude of her win. She opened her speech by saying, “I’m just gonna stand here and take this all in. Forty years, not letting go of this. So just quickly, thank you Hollywood Foreign Press for giving me this honor. It’s been an amazing journey and incredible fight to be here today, but I think it’s worth it.” When rushed out by music, signaling to wrap up her speech, Yeoh moved forward, saying, “Shut up, please,” in one of the most iconic moments of the evening. 

Yeoh’s win was energizing and hopeful, as she discussed feeling her age play a part in her career, but receiving this role reignited her spark. “As time went by — I turned 60 last year — and I think all of you women understand this: As the days, years, numbers get bigger, the opportunities get smaller as well,” she said. “Then along came the best gift: ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’”

The Golden Globes also honored performances such as Austin Butler’s portrayal of the titular character in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” as well as awarding showrunner Ryan Murphy (“Glee,” “American Horror Story”) with the Carol Burnett Award. 

The evening seemed to be filled with high spirits, partly due to flowing drink and limited food. As White said in his acceptance speech, “I was gonna give this speech in Italian, but I’m too drunk because there’s no food. The food — when you got there, they were like, ‘The food is over, you can’t have any.’ It was just drink.”

Despite the laughter and high energy of the evening, the HFPA still has work ahead of them in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion. In response to the 2022 controversy, the HFPA has added six Black journalists to the organization as well as 103 nonmember international voters in an effort to create an equitable space. In prior years, the HFPA had no Black members in the organization. During the broadcast, Hoehne stated, “We commit to strengthening our partnership with Hollywood and with the worldwide fans who celebrate, like we do, the best in film and television. We will continue to support groups that amplify a variety of voices and continue to add representation to our organization from around the world as we did this past year.”

As awards season continues on and Oscar nominations were recently released, it may seem like the logical conclusion that the Golden Globes would foreshadow the Academy Awards’ winners. However, it has been shown in past years that the two often have little to no correlation. For example, the 2022 Golden Globe winners for best picture, “The Power of the Dog” (drama) and “West Side Story” (musical or comedy), lost to “CODA” (best picture) at the Academy Awards, despite being nominated at both award shows. The Golden Globes, seemingly a more wide-ranging awards show with many more categories than the Academy Awards, may start off the awards season but won’t predict future winners. 

The Golden Globes serves as a catalyst for the remaining awards season and was an exciting start to appreciating great works of film and television from the past year.