Monday June 21, 2021
Is a Good Comedy Better than a Good Drama?
OK, nerd alert: I keep a spreadsheet of movie awards, guild and otherwise, and how they match up against the Oscars, and update it each season. Mostly best picture stuff. Anyway, in the last Oscar crush, my eyes wandered over to the Golden Globe Awards for Drama and Comedy/Musical, and I kind of idly scanned the list. And then not so idly I began to realize that generally I preferred the GG winners for Comedy/Musical (usually thought of as a frivilous category) over the GG for Drama (serious and important).
Here they are since 1970. My preferences are in yellow. If there's no yellow, it's a wash (“Nomadland,” “Borat”), or I haven't seen one of the movies ('Beauty and the Beast,“ ”Green Card,“ ”Arthur,“ ”The Turning Point,“ ”Fiddler on the Roof“).
YEAR | DRAMA | COMEDY/MUSICAL |
2020 | Nomadland | Borat Subsequent Moviefilm |
2019 | 1917 | Once Upon a Time ... In Hollywood |
2018 | Bohemian Rhapsody | Green Book |
2017 | Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri | Lady Bird |
2016 | Moonlight | La La Land |
2015 | The Revenant | The Martian |
2014 | Boyhood | Birdman |
2013 | 12 Years a Slave | American Hustle |
2012 | Argo | Les Miserables |
2011 | The Descendants | The Artist |
2010 | The Social Network | The Kids Are Alright |
2009 | Avatar | The Hangover |
2008 | Slumdog Millionaire | Vicky Cristina Barcelona |
2007 | Atonement | Sweeney Todd |
2006 | Babel | Dreamgirls |
2005 | Brokeback Mountain | Walk the Line |
2004 | The Aviator | Sideways |
2003 | Lord of the Rings | Lost in Translation |
2002 | The Hours | Chicago |
2001 | A Beautiful Mind | Moulin Rouge |
2000 | Gladiator | Almost Famous |
1999 | American Beauty | Toy Story 2 |
1998 | Saving Private Ryan | Shakespeare in Love |
1997 | Titanic | As Good As It Gets |
1996 | The English Patient | Evita |
1995 | Sense and Sensibility | Babe |
1994 | Forrest Gump | The Lion King |
1993 | Schindler's List | Mrs. Doubtfire |
1992 | Scent of a Woman | The Player |
1991 | Bugsy | Beauty and the Beast |
1990 | Dances with Wolves | Green Card |
1989 | Born on the 4th of July | Driving Miss Daisy |
1988 | Rain Man | Working Girl |
1987 | The Last Emperor | Hope and Glory |
1986 | Platoon | Hannah and Her Sisters |
1985 | Out of Africa | Prizzi's Honor |
1984 | Amadeus | Romancing the Stone |
1983 | Terms of Endearment | Yentl |
1982 | E.T. The Extraterrestrial | Tootsie |
1981 | On Golden Pond | Arthur |
1980 | Ordinary People | Coal Miner's Daughter |
1979 | Kramer vs. Kramer | Breaking Away |
1978 | Midnight Express | Heaven Can Wait |
1977 | The Turning Point | The Goodbye Girl |
1976 | Rocky | A Star is Born |
1975 | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest | The Sunshine Boys |
1974 | Chinatown | The Longest Yard |
1973 | The Excorcist | American Graffiti |
1972 | The Godfather | Cabaret |
1971 | The French Connection | Fiddler on the Roof |
1970 | Love Story | M*A*S*H |
I would've assumed a landslide for Drama, but it's 18-15 in favor of Comedy/Musical. Your mileage may differ.
Love that the raunchy Burt Reynolds prison/football comedy ”The Longest Yard“ got a Golden Globe. There should be more of that. And paired with ”Chinatown"? That's a fun year. If you had to do a double-feature, which year would you go with? I like '72, '74, '82, '14 and '17.
Twitter: @ErikLundegaard
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