Borkowski Weekly Media Trends 13-01-23
Golden Globes Revival | Rise of Camp Chaos | Nominations BRITshow | Brazil Riots | USA Political Circus
Have the Golden Globes regained their shine?
The 2023 awards season is officially underway and this week saw the Golden Globes return in their full splendour for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic. But it wasn’t really covid that this particular parade of celebs needed to bounce back from. The 2022 ceremony did in fact go ahead, but in a much smaller guise and without the usual prime time TV slot after a 2021 exposé revealed that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the membership body behind the Globes, didn’t include a single Black person. NBC dropped the show and the Hollywood glitterati fled. The Globes were well and truly cancelled. But in yet another example of the true impermanence of cancellation, after nearly two years of public self-flagellation and some impressive sounding changes to HFPA’s diversity credentials, the ceremony was this year raised from the dead and all the great and good returned to its stage.
Host Jerrod Carmichael addressed the elephant in the room head on, saying in his opening monologue, “I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m here because I’m Black.” Adding of the HFPA, “I won’t say they were a racist organisation, but they didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd died,” to uncomfortable titters from the Globes’ audience. The awards themselves did make some steps toward representing the diversity of talent in today’s TV and film industry, with Michelle Yeoh becoming only the second Asian actor to win the award as she was honoured with Best Actress for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Director and producer Ryan Murphy used his acceptance of the Carol Burnett award to shout out Michaela Jaé Rodriguez historic win at last year’s untelevised ceremony when she became the first trans actress to win a Golden Globe. Elsewhere, Jennifer Coolidge brought her loveable brand of chaotic energy as she thanked White Lotus creator Mike White in her acceptance speech saying, “My neighbours are speaking to me and things like that. I was never invited to one party on my hill, and now everyone’s inviting me!” Even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an appearance. In a telecast introduced by Sean Penn, Zelensky said, “There are still battles and tears ahead…But now I can tell you who was the best in the previous year – you in the free world, who united around support of free Ukrainian people.”
The usual fashion parade was also back with, if not quite a bang, then at least a pop. Red carpet queens like Anya Taylor Joy, Elizabeth Dibecki and Letitia Wright appeared with their usual aplomb. However, even the casual fashion observer might note the distinct lack of real va va voom dressing by attendees (Billy Porter aside of course)…almost as if the who’s who of Hollywood weren’t quite ready to shout about their quick return to a ceremony which, a mere 12 months ago, was firmly #problematic.
Globes show value of Camp and Chaos in modern Celeb Culture
If, like the other 8 billion people on this planet, you didn’t watch the Golden Globes this week, there’s really only one thing you need to know – Jennifer Coolidge. Dressed to the nines in charisma and camp, Coolidge presented an award before going on to win one too. Her speeches, and interviews in between, produced such viral moments as Coolidge admitting her dream role would be a dolphin, that she’s definitely open to becoming a real housewife, and that her neighbours didn’t invite her to things until very recently. She delivered all of this with that same exasperated humour she has levied in such iconic hits as American Pie, Legally Blonde and A Cinderella Story. It all begs the question, having carried some of the most iconic films of the noughties, why is she only now getting a (much deserved) standing ovation?
The Jenaissance is, arguably, symptomatic of our growing boredom with the curated celeb. Since the mid-noughties’ demise of Britney, the tightrope called fame has gotten narrower and narrower. Whilst social media has meant anyone can now make it to the start, few survive beyond the first few steps without the safety harness of a huge PR team. Kim Kardashian, Bella Hadid, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles – these have all become mere brand names for congloms of comms teams, all carefully curating an avatar we’ve clicked, liked and devoured.
We started to see the first symptoms of ennyeux with this all last year. Emerging from the chaos of covid, we filled that void with the messy star of ‘unca jems’, Julia Fox. While JLo et al all had separate teams for hair, make up, shoes and style, Julia would rock up to a red carpet in clothes she made herself and make up that looked as though she’d tripped up in Boots. And we ate it all up. And who’d have thought Pete Davidson could date a Kardashian before quickly moving on to Emrata, and actually win new fans through the mess?
Seen through this lens, the Jenaissance is more than just Coolidge achieving her just applause. It is symptomatic of the fact that, in a world facetuned beyond reality, we’re increasingly desperate for a pile of organic mess.
Publicists beware though. If Harry’s book has taught us anything, it’s that the public can tell when the chaos is curated. The chapter on how applying cream to his ‘delicate place’ left him thinking about mummy was not endearing, but derided.
Nominations are a total BRITshow
While the Golden Globes achieved the rare feat of a major award ceremony passing without a major controversy, the BRITs managed this week to ignite a media storm with only their nomination announcements.
Having signalled a more progressive and forward thinking approach to major Awards by scrapping gender categories, the BRITs proceeded to announce an all-male best artist shortlist and a best album shortlist containing a single female act – Wet Leg.
Headlines are dominated by the male and pale-ness of the nominations and the overall relevance of the awards is being questioned by the exact progressive London media class who – although not in any way representative of British society- do have the power to make a metropolitan elite institution such as the BRITs terminally uncool.
There’s an uglier undercurrent though. Firstly the nominations will call into question the demographic, values, motivations and selection criteria of the 1,000 strong voting academy, which could provide and even more damning indictment of the BRITs’ relevance and taste.
Secondly, a big part of scrapping the gendered categories was as a way of showing sensitivity towards artists whose gender identity alienated them from the old categories – the likes of Sam Smith and Redcar from Christine and the Queens. By scrapping gender categories and then announcing male-dominated set of nominees, the BRITs have supplied not just ammunition, but a ton of napalm to one of the most aggressive and divisive narratives in the culture wars – the notion that any move to recognise those who don’t easily identify with either gender is a Trojan Horse for men to invade spaces that were once restricted to them.
The BRITs has an ugly situation on its hands. One that might settle if there’s more gender diversity among the winners than the nominees, but over which questions will undoubtedly linger.
Brazil: How misinformation and fake news create real insurrection
In Brazil on Sunday, a week into the country's new government, after Lula defeated far-right populist Jair Bolsanaro in late October, thousands of demonstrators in support of the former president stormed and ransacked the country's Congress, Supreme Court, and the presidential palace.
These events are terrifyingly similar to the US Capitol attack, which Donald Trump is accused of sparking following false claims of election fraud, which resulted in several deaths and significant damage to the Capitol Building.
The fact Trump and Bolsonaro have leveraged rampant misinformation and conspiracy theories to incite violence and chaos shows that fake news is still an extreme threat and a weapon for those with dedicated fanbases and legions of support.
However, many experts have stated that the Brasilia riot was not simply a repeat of the US events; it illuminates how far-right movements may be influencing politics and culture across borders. But we now have two high-profile case studies that some may use as fuel to disrupt politics and mobilise groups outside of politics, ultimately causing more destruction.
The well-documented and discussed rise of fake news and misinformation will continue to threaten traditional news values and disrupt many walks of life, which will feed into confusion and mistrust among the public. Bad actors will target vulnerable communities and marginalised groups, spreading false information and propaganda that can lead to discrimination and harm.
Furthermore, there is a genuine threat that content creators, celebrities, and influencers mobilise their support on platforms that don't combat the spread of misinformation to create similar chaos. We've seen it many times, like QAnon, covid vaccine propaganda and even less nefarious examples like the rise of GameStop.
Until media outlets, social media companies, tech giants and governments effectively combat the spread of misinformation and education on critically evaluating information and identifying fake news is widely available, events like the Brasilia riots will become increasingly more widespread.
‘Sleepy Joe’’s Double Standards
Classified information sounds sexy, exciting and dangerous. Often in fact it is mundane and boring, but even the most tedious document can still be highly sensitive. That’s why it’s classified. Most politically moderate people acknowledge whether you are Trump or Biden leaving classified docs anywhere is not acceptable.
When confidential documents from Joe Biden's time as Vice President were found in the offices of a US Think Tank, there were instant echoes of recent incidences of Donald Trump being accused of mishandling of information when he transported documents from the White House to his Key Largo mansion.
At times like this, the best approach has been shown time and again to be for our leaders to be brave and admit they made a mistake, rather than trying to obfuscate their way out of it.
This goes especially for Biden, who was elected on a platform of competence, integrity and an understanding of the seriousness of the office he holds, but this week’s incident has seen him take a page out the Trump playbook. Instead of acknowledging and apologising, we’ve seen a flurry of panicked excuses fit for a schoolchild who didn’t do their homework. Some comfort that gutter politics isn’t exclusive to the UK…
George Santos - Republican High-Lyer
Post-Trump, one of the Republican party’s top priorities is trying to once again appear professional; slick, big-tent and ready for government. Standing in their way this week was a newly elected congressman, George Santos. Santos has been outed for having lied on his CV and on the campaign trail, about everything from education to work. Not a good luck for a party who want the public to trust them again, let alone take them seriously.
However instead of taking the honourable road and resigning with just a tiny bit of dignity, Santos is standing firm (apart from that one moment when he slipped on the newspaper) perhaps inspired by the likes of Boris and Trump’s refusal to know when the jig is up? His colleagues are openly calling for him to go, but he knows that with such a small congressional majority the leadership can’t actually afford kick him out. As he tarnishes his own reputation, and that of his party, he is insisting that only if more people call for him to go than elected him will he resign - perhaps inspired by Kier Starmer during ‘Beergate’?- so the battle line has been drawn.
This is a setback the Republicans could do without right now and a particularly bitter pill to swallow given they probably thought they had found their golden goose when Santos became the first openly gay Republican elected to the House (a handful of other candidates having come out after they were elected).