Golden Globes tightens rules so dramas can’t slide into the comedy category

The Golden Globes are a delightful mess of an awards show, run by an allegedly corrupt group of people who increase the show’s nomination pool by dividing movies into two different categories: drama and comedy. Sometimes that leads to confusing decisions, like how last year, The Martian, a movie about a man who is nearly killed and then stranded on Mars, won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy. The film’s leading astronaut, Matt Damon, also won for Best Actor in a comedy or musical. Unfortunately, such joyful nonsense is unlikely to happen again, as the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has just revised its award consideration rules to say that “dramas with comedic overtones should be entered as dramas,” Indiewire reports.

The wording of the rule is still a little vague, and seems like it should be a no-brainer: “Motion pictures shall be entered into the category that best matches the overall tone and content of the motion picture.” As Indiewire points out, the HFPA also added a few other new rules, like an actor playing themselves in a cameo role cannot be nominated for a best acting award. If that were allowed, we’d all deserve a Golden Globe nomination, because isn’t life really just one big cameo?