But actress Jane Fonda took a different tack when she received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the Golden Globes on Sunday night.
Fonda began storytelling as an art form and this year praised the work of the actors and directors behind many of the nominees. She ended with a call for better leadership in Hollywood to make sure everyone’s stories are told.
“Stories – they can really change people. But there is a story that in this industry we were afraid to see and hear about ourselves – a story about which voices we respect and elevate, and which we attune,” Fonda said.
Thank you all the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. I am so moved to receive this honor. Thank you.
You know, we are a community of storytellers, aren’t we? And in turbulent, crisis-torn times like these, storytelling has always been essential.
You see, stories have a way of … they can change our hearts and our minds. They can help us see each other in a new light. To have empathy. To recognize that despite all our diversity, we are human first, right?
You know, I’ve seen a lot of diversity in my long life and at times I’ve been challenged to understand some of the people I’ve met.
But when my heart is open and I look beneath the surface, I inevitably feel a relationship.
That is why all the great channels of perception – Buddha, Mohammed, Jesus, Laotzi – they all spoke to us in stories and poetry and metaphor.
Because the non-linear, non-cerebral forms that are art speak at a different frequency.
They generate a new energy that can shock us and penetrate our defenses so that we can see and hear what we may have feared seeing and hearing.
This year “Nomadland” helped me to feel love for the vagrants among us. And “Minari” opened my eyes to the experience of immigrants dealing with the realities of life in a new country.
And “Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Small Acts,” “US vs. Billie Holiday,” “Ma Rainey,” “One Night in Miami,” and others have deepened my empathy for what being black meant.
“Ramy” helped me feel what it means to be a Muslim American.
“I May Destroy You” taught me to look at sexual violence in a whole new way.
The documentary “All In” reminds us how fragile our democracy is and inspires us to fight for its preservation.
And “A Life on Our Planet” shows us how fragile our little blue planet is and inspires us to save it and ourselves.
Stories: They can really change people.
But there is a story that in this industry we did not dare to see and hear about ourselves. A story about which voices we respect and elevate – and which we tune in.
A story about who is offered a seat at the table and who is kept out of the rooms where decisions are made.
So let’s all – including all the groups deciding who gets hired and what gets earned and who wins prizes – let’s all do our best to expand that place. So that everyone gets up and everyone’s story gets the chance to be seen and heard.
I mean this simply means acknowledging what is true. Keeping pace with the emerging diversity that is taking place through all those who marched and fought in the past and those who took the baton today.
After all, art has always not only kept pace with history, but has also led the way.
So let’s be leaders, okay?
Thank you very much. “