Demi Moore’s new film “The Substance” has been officially submitted for Golden Globe Awards consideration — and moviegoers are stunned by the category it’s in.
The movie, listed under multiple genres on IMDb including horror, dark comedy and drama, has been submitted for awards contention in the Golden Globes “musical or comedy” categories.
Unlike the Oscars, the Globes gives awards for both film and television and has two separate categories for each format — the musical or comedy category and drama.
When news broke that “The Substance” was vying for awards in the Globes’ musical or comedy lane, many took to social media to express their astonishment.
“Labelling the best movie of this year as a comedy? Sure there’s [a] little camp humor in it. But a comedy???” one person posted on X.
Another person wrote, “This movie is a lot of things, but funny isn’t one of them.”
Others disagreed. “Idk why ppl are confused,” one dissenter commented. “This was so clearly a comedy. Dark comedy, yes, but extremely satirical in nature.”
“Comedy can be a lot of things and doesn’t need to be up front about being a comedy,” someone else argued. “Some things are just funny without telling you it’s funny.”
The movie’s producers decide which category to submit their film in. However, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the body that puts on the Golden Globes) has the final say over which category each movie falls into.
Placing movies in the Globes’ “musical or comedy” categories has stirred debate and outrage before.
Jordan Peele’s horror movie “Get Out” was nominated for multiple awards in the comedy category at the 2018 Globes, leaving many mad and confused. Even Peele, who had no input on what category the film would be considered in, was upset. “What the movie is about is not funny,” he said at the time.
Two years before, Ridley Scott’s space adventure “The Martian,” starring Matt Damon, took home awards in the Globes’ comedy categories and inspired this headline: “The Martian won the Golden Globe for Best Comedy because everything is a lie.”
The backlash sparked by the win spurred the Globes to change their policy. “Motion pictures shall be entered in the category that best matches the overall tone and content of the motion picture,” the rules change read. “Thus, for example, dramas with comedic overtones should be entered as dramas.”
“The Substance” follows an Oscar-winning actress (Moore) who loses her job as the host of a popular daytime aerobics workout TV show upon hitting 50. After she takes a black-market drug, she creates a younger, better version of herself (Margaret Qualley) — with dire consequences.
The film has elicited strong reactions from theater audiences. Many have walked out of showings and even got sick from the flick.
Moore has shared that she was “moved” after reading the script. Speaking with Interview magazine, she described it as “such a unique way to be exploring this issue of aging, of societal conditioning, of what I also see as the pressure of the male-idealized woman that we as women have bought into.”
Moore added: “At the core of it, what it’s really about is what we do to ourselves, and I loved that it was illustrated in such a physical way — showing that violence with what we do with our thoughts, how we attack ourselves and distort things.
“There’s great power in knowing that what we do to ourselves is a choice, and we can make a different choice.
“And for those who aren’t looking for such a deep message, it’s just entertaining,” she concluded.
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