The Golden Globes Don't Appear to Know That Women Can Direct Good Movies Too

The Golden Globe nominations were announced today and, despite 2017 giving us a lot to celebrate in terms of marginalized voices and their ability to make successful films, the awards managed to leave women completely out of its Best Director category.

Patty Jenkin’s Wonder Woman, Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird (which received nominations for Best Screenplay as well as Best Picture Musical or Comedy), and Dee Rees’ Mudbound were all successful, critically acclaimed films. But all three directors were snubbed for the Best Director award in favor of Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water), Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards), Christopher Nolan (Dunkirk), Ridley Scott (All the Money in the World), and Steven Spielberg (The Post).

It’s no surprise that the category is full of veteran heavy hitters, all of whom have enjoyed success in filmmaking for ages. It’s almost an assumption that their skills as directors should be lauded—an assumption that did not get extended to three women who managed to make great, very popular films in an industry that has almost no tolerance for women directors. The Globes have only nominated five women for Best Director since their inception in 1944, making this part of an infuriating trend.

Of course, the fact that Jordan Peele was snubbed for Best Director and Best Screenplay for his breakout hit Get Out also points to another kind of blindspot. It seems that despite all the progress women and people of color (and those who are both) have made, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has a pretty clear and singular idea of what a director looks like.