Why bother with the 2012 Golden Globes nominations?

Each year the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) vote on the Golden Globes. Each year, the association come together and vote on what they deem to be the best of film and television.

While I do like that both mediums are represented under the one award show (considering the cross-pollination of talent these days across both film and TV, combined with the diminishing quality of cinema against the elevated quality of TV, it makes sense). What baffles me is that anybody really pays any attention to these awards at all? Every year people complain about how nonsensical a lot of the nominations are. There are glaring omissions along with some really strange selections. It’s not as if the HFPA are known for making quality decisions as a group.

Who are the HFPA? The association was formed in the 1940’s to allow foreign journo’s living in Southern California to generate greater clout in order to get access to bigger stars to interview. To be a member, you need to live in Southern California and have to generate a minimum of four articles a year (which can be published in any number of obscure publications). Their members are hardly the cream of the crop of industry journalists. And furthermore, consider just how awful most entertainment reporters are (not all…just most).

It really is time that we stop caring what the HFPA think. The Golden Globes are not meaningful in any real way, nor do they deserve as much attention and respect as many of the other more legitimate awards issued by the industry each year.

That said, for those interested, the nominations for this year are below. For convenience, I’ve put in red the oddities that stuck out at me. They’re not necessarily bad, but of all the productions/performances from throughout the year, these were considered the best? Come on.