OK, Golden Globes, But What About 'Star Wars'?

Award season is officially underway! The morning of December 10 started out with a bang when the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced the nominations for the 2016 Golden Globe Awards — being hosted by Ricky Gervais, January 10th on NBC. However, if you're a Star Wars fan, you're too busy waiting for the December 18 release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens to get excited over award season just yet. So, you may have noticed that on that list of Golden Globe nominees, your favorite franchise was indeed missing. This must be the evil doings of the Dark Side, right? Nope! The HFPA has not been taken over by Darth Vader. Star Wars was snubbed at the Golden Globes for good reason. Just listen for a second.

While the film has been buzzed about in regards to receiving Oscar nominations this year — specifically when it comes to the special effects categories — not receiving Golden Globe nominations could be the thing that is holding it back when it comes to the more sought-after nominations. However, the lack of Golden Globes recognition is actually in part due to LucasFilm and Disney's own doing: keeping the film so secret that there has been no early press screenings. Yep, not only are the members of the press denied seeing all the action first, but, therefore, they are also denied the right to consider it for a Golden Globe or two. Since limited public accessibility means all HFPA — and even voters in the Academy eyeing the Oscar nominations — are limited from having an pre-conceived notions about the film.

But, while this may preserve the awesomeness for us fans, it does honestly leave me a bit disappointed. Because, even though screenings will make it out in time for the seventh Star Wars film to be considered for the Oscars — a lack of Golden Globes buzz might throw Academy voters in the end. However, there is another major factor to be considered. If Star Wars: The Force Awakens was previously released for consideration, would it have been considered anyway? Unfortunately, it may not have been, as the HFPA has been under fire for "hating" on hit franchises.

Exhibit A: Did you notice that the Hunger Games' latest installment Mockingjay: Part 2 was also missing from this year's nomination list? And it has been snubbed from receiving nominations in the past as well. They weren't the only ones to be left out, either. The 2012 Golden Globes also seemed to have snubbed the final Harry Potter installment. However, with the past success of the Lord of The Rings franchise at the Golden Globes and the Oscars in previous years, can we really say that the HFPA has something against franchises? Or is it only a recent phenomenon?

Considering that the Golden Globes also failed to acknowledge the recent The Hobbit prequels, maybe it could be a projection on how they really feel about the current outpour of hit money-making franchises. I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes out to wait and see. And keep our fingers crossed that Star Wars will, instead, be able to show it's face at this years Academy Awards.

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Images: LucasFilm