As the 82nd Golden Globes aired Jan. 5, fans of film and directors alike watched in anticipation as the winner of “Best Moving Picture, Musical, or Comedy” was announced.
After “Wicked” was nominated for the award, fans of the musical, as well as the majority of EHS, expected the movie-adaptation to win.
So when the musical “Emilia Perez,” starring Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez, was announced the winner, many people in the audience and at home were shocked.
According to a recent survey, 71.6% of EHS students said they don’t believe “Emilia Perez” deserved the win. And 75.3% of those respondents said “Wicked” should have won the Golden Globe.
“Wicked,” the greatly anticipated movie adaptation of the musical, was released to theaters in Nov. and was a massive hit, breaking box office records and grossing about $680 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The film brings the stage production to life with gorgeous, colorful scenery and familiar faces, such as Jonathon Bailey, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. The musical is all about friendship, and it shows how two people who are very different could learn to love one another.
The movie-musical has an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is still in theaters.
The winning film, “Emilia Perez,” falls around the $9.9 million grossing mark, and the Spanish musical has a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Emilia Perez” is a comedy-crime musical that covers topics such as drugs, gangs and transitioning to another gender all in one movie.
In the same survey, only 10.8% of respondents said “Emilia Perez” deserved the win. Out of those respondents, about 70% said they were still surprised to hear “Wicked” didn’t win.
Senior Bella Eder said the movie wasn’t even worth watching. She said she was unpleasantly surprised when she did some research on the movie and listened to the songs.
“I watched a video that explained the entire plot of the film to me, so I didn’t have to actually watch it,” she said. “When I first heard [one of the songs], I was pretty concerned.”
“Wicked” was healthily inclusive, casting actors of many different races, ethnicities, sexualities and physical appearances.
“Emilia Perez,” on the other hand, has been declared by many as problematic, especially since the plot involves someone who transitions to another gender so they can escape drug charges and avoid being sent to prison.
The musical also conveys transgenderism as a negative concept through its songs. One song, called “La Vaginoplastia,” is an musical adaptation of a conversation regarding surgical sex-switch, which is poorly explained.
Both “Emilia Perez” and “Wicked” promote different strong messages, and as evident by confusion on a national level, many believe the movie about true friendship should have taken the trophy for the best musical.