You or someone that you know is going to see Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It's one of the most anticipated blockbusters of the year, but it seems that overwhelming success and critical acclaim doesn't lead to awards gold. The Monday before The Last Jedi's opening weekend, the nominations for the 2018 Golden Globe awards were announced, and Star Wars was nowhere to be found. While fans may suspect that the lack of a nomination for Star Wars is a major snub on the part of the Golden Globes, it's no surprise given the fact that the franchise hasn't gotten a Golden Globe nomination since 1980.
It's been nearly 40 years since Star Wars garnered a Golden Globe nomination, and that was for Best Original Score for Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Since then, the six major Star Wars films – from Return Of The Jedi to the much-maligned prequels and now The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi – haven't received a single Golden Globe nomination, nor did last year's spin-off Rogue One. However, the Star Wars franchise seems to do well at the Oscar ceremonies, where literally every film in the Star Wars franchise including the prequels has been nominated. So why can't Star Wars gain any traction with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who awards the Golden Globes? It seems that the Golden Globes just don't recognize the things that make Star Wars great – the franchise's technical achievements.
The film categories at the Golden Globes cover performances, directors, music, and screenplays. While the latest films in the Star Wars franchise have featured strong performances and effective storytelling, the Golden Globes simply do not award the elements that differentiate Star Wars from many other films. While The Force Awakens received no Golden Globe nominations, it managed to receive five Oscar nominations for "Visual Effects, Film Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing." The only one of those categories that the Golden Globes recognizes is Original Score.
The issue isn't that the Golden Globes have some long-standing grudge against Star Wars – it's just that the Golden Globes are interested in things other than what Star Wars excels at. Perhaps if the Star Wars franchise did away with the scale and spectacle that defines it and opted to tell a low-key story about a young jedi attending Catholic School in the early 2000s, it could have a shot of winning a Golden Globe. But then, if it weren't for the lightsabers and large-scale space battles, would it even be Star Wars?
While Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi may feature some stellar performances and exceptional screenwriting that could be considered award-worthy by some, it doesn't help that they missed the nomination deadline by a few weeks. The deadline for a film to be screened for consideration in the Golden Globes was Monday, December 4, 2017, two weeks before the film's release. While Disney could've tried to screen the film for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the risk of spoilers getting leaked for one of the biggest releases of the year may have been too much of a risk to be worth taking.
And so, another year has gone by with Star Wars not receiving a single Golden Globe nomination. But really, does it need one? It's Star Wars. Everyone knows what Star Wars is, and even when films weren't being released every holiday season it has remained an ever-present cultural force in the world. While it would be satisfying to see the work of actors like Daisy Ridley or Adam Driver or the writing and directing of Rian Johnson recognized at an award ceremony, it's safe to say that Star Wars will do just fine without a Golden Globe. The franchise has done pretty well for itself without one, anyway.
