And the Award goes to...

In the next few months, as the rest of us brush off the post holiday glow, Hollywood will amp up the self-congratulation with its annual Award Season. Everyone knows how crucial and stuffy the Academy Award ceremony is, which is the pinnacle of the season, but it's the first award show, the Golden Globes, that everyone seems to want to go to and get. It's not just because of the free booze, although that promises viewers at home a chance at seeing inebriated actors at their not-so-finest, but rather the reach of their careers when given a stamp of approval by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The awards are chosen by 90 foreign journalists from 55 countries with a readership of 250 million. However you translate it, Hollywood culture will do anything for more money and more places to sell its product.

I've read that the Golden Globe ceremony gives people an idea of what to expect for an Academy Award, however, what's great about this award is that it often recognizes smaller films or shows or lesser known (and often foreign) actors will be rewarded for their work, over something big budget and...American. It's important to note though that while it's a foreign association, most of its members are from western countries (http://www.goldenglobes.org/hfpa_members/) and are hardly well known journalists. The idea behind it, was for foreign journalists to gain access to more movie stars as Hollywood increased its overseas clout back in the 1940s. At this point though, many aren't journalists and they all have to live in Southern California. (a scathing review: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/article/750936--howell-the-powerful-nobodies-behind-the-golden-globes)

So the connection to our class and reading is that something like the HFPA helps make Hollywood money overseas, and serves as a funnel to export our movies or promote movies that aren't ours. Hanson wrote about it on pages 207/208, pointing out UNESCO's concern over American movies and the balance of exporting entertainment. Yet even if the HFPA was keen on promoting foreign movies in the US, and undoing some of America's dominance, it seems incapable of not being start struck and easy to court. Most foreign films lack the "secondary" budget to wine and dine the important people who can help their film gain international stature. The organization that many of us thought did a lot to promote foreign films and interest within Hollywood rarely votes against potential American favorites. It's possible that as more Americans are exposed to foreign films, directing the flow of money elsewhere, that Hollywood would take notice, but it's not very likely.