Perhaps only Meryl Streep could overtake the 2017 Golden Globes ceremony with her empowered acceptance speech for her Cecil B. DeMille award, seizing the opportunity to overtly take a jab at the imminent führer of America, Donald Trump, without ever even mentioning his name.
Though there were a few other highlights of the night, which did not include the personalityless Debbie Reynolds/Carrie Fisher tribute, it was Streep’s exhortation to, as she borrowed the aphorism from Carrie Fisher, “Take your broken heart, make it into art,” that stood out the most, lending hope for a dark hour not just in politics, but in the entertainment industry (just look at how bad some of the 80s pop culture was during Reagan’s reign–barring, of course, anything from Madonna). Her frank assessment of Trump as a great actor in his own right led her to commend his performance, “not because it was good; there was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh, and show their teeth.” These strong words, naturally, set Trump off on his Twitter account, as his teen girl ways are wont to make him do. Decrying Streep as an “overrated” actress and that the “liberal movie people” are always prone to verbally accost him, Trump showed, once again, that he has neither the mental capacity nor maturity to run a country.
And yes, elsewhere in the ceremony, there was evidence of a bizarre conservative Hollywood future to come with the approach of January 20th. Fitting right in with Trump’s America was Sofia Vergara, continuing to capitalize on her whole Charo bit by mispronouncing “annual tradition” (“anus” is much easier to say, after all) as she introduced another perfect example of how the 80s have come back with Trump’s election, Sylvester Stallone…’s daughters.
It seemed Jenna Bush’s (yes, George W. Bush’s spawn) mix up/conflation of the films Fences and Hidden Figures into Hidden Fences provided further proof of an uncaring, unfeeling Republican machine, with no concern for differentiation when it comes to black people or “black movies.” However, at least the latter category mildly triumphed with wins for Moonlight for Best Picture, Drama and Viola Davis for Best Supporting Actress in Fences (Hidden Fences, to some).
The Golden Globes did, in fact, bandy signs of the 80s everywhere, but this version of it might be far more garish in its Joker-like effects on an un-United States turned Gotham. On the plus side for Eva Mendes, she at least has a hopelessly devoted fella in the form of Ryan Gosling to get her through this trying political time in Hollywood (it might even harken back to HUAC in the 50s if things get really bad). In truth, she ought to lend Gosling out as Batman–but wait, Meryl would probably make a better superhero. It might give us a fighting chance against a villain of this caliber.
