A lot of folks this AM seem very happy that the Writers Guild and Screen Actors Guild are doing something that should hurt the Golden Globe Awards — the writers refusing to allow WGA talent to write it, and SAG encouraging its members to stay away. This joy is actually unrelated to the strike. It's that no one seems to really like the Golden Globe Awards very much.
The awards are voted every year by something called the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Who are they? No one seems to know. They throw a good party and they hype the importance of their awards, especially as a precursor to the Oscars. Basically, they have tradition and a good name. If you're in charge of advertising a movie and it wins three Golden Globe Awards, you say that in all the ads, presuming (correctly) that no one is going to go, "Who the hell even votes for those?" The Golden Globes therefore become a bit more famous and people assume they must mean something.
I've heard people debate whether the Academy Awards even mean a lot, above and beyond the fact that people think they mean a lot, and they do bolster careers and box office revenues. There is a convincing argument as to whether the voters have actually seen all the nominated films or if they just handed their ballots to their maids to fill out. Some, it is assumed, vote mindlessly for everything that is connected to them in any sort of business sense or friendship. (Back when movie studios had a lot of people under contract, it was not uncommon for the studio to circulate lists of who they wanted their employees to vote for in each category…or even to say "Just give us your ballots and we'll fill them out for you!") But at least with the Oscars, we know some people are voting whose opinions mean something.
But the Golden Globes? The industry joke is that when you win one, you thank "whoever votes for these things" and don't ask questions. When you get an Oscar, you can pretend that all your peers gave it to you; that the elite of the business unanimously thinks you're swell and that, in the words of Sally Field, they really like you. With the Golden Globes, no one who gets one wants to know too much because they're afraid they'll learn (or others may learn) that their lovely trophy was voted to them by caterers and parking attendants.
Basically, it's all a starfest. America watches because famous people show up…and famous people show up because other famous people show up, especially famous people who are campaigning for Oscar votes. This year, with Boycott in the air, we may be watching to see if famous people show up…or if so, which famous people show up and if any of them use the forum to denounce those who've caused or prolonged the strike. But I think a lot of people in the industry will be watching because they've long believed that the ceremony achieves a level of Phoniness that is offensive even for a Hollywood P.R. stunt, and they'll enjoy seeing it crash and burn.