American Awards - Voted by Foreigners

Usually movie and television awards (Emmys, Oscars, etc.) are talked about crazily in the days leading up to the day of. Who will win, what dress each actress will be wearing, things like that seem to consume people's minds. I want to focus on the first part of that, the winners/nominations, in this blog. As a lot of people know, the Golden Globes air tonight. The Golden Globes is an event where both television and film are honored together. I had always wondered how and who chooses the actors to nominate, and who decides the winners of award ceremonies such as the Golden Globes.

The Golden Globes are produced by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), which is a nonprofit organization with "about 90 members". On the website, it tells you each of the members names and which country they are from. None of them are from the United States. I know it is the "Foreign Press", so that makes sense. But, the job of people in the association is to spread information about movies and television to the world through various mediums of publication. I thought it was interesting that a "foreign press" are the judges, for lack of a better word, for a United States event. All of the films being honored were made with American actors, and most likely American producers/directors. The Golden Globes is also being hosted by Americans. If there are people that are supposed to decide nominees and winners, why aren't there foreign films featured? Occasionally there might be, but for the most part it is a completely American show.

I think this alone shows how America is often seen as the "center" of the world. As a country, we often times think we are better than others. People often times think of themselves as "always right', and that they know the answer or solution to everything. Although this is not always the case, I think the fact that foreigners are the ones voting on who wins awards for American film and television, shows that America is often the country that everybody looks at as the best. The best movies, the best TV, etc.