This week, it was revealed that Curry Barker’s smash hit Obsession will contend in the Comedy or Musical categories at the Golden Globe Awards. This decision has sparked polarising opinions online. While close followers of awards season were anticipating this decision and cite its potential positive implications for its chances of being nominated for January’s ceremony, it has also received backlash due to the film’s depiction of serious subject matter.
In recent years, the Comedy or Musical categories at the Golden Globes have become somewhat of a ‘catch-all’ for genre films, with studios submitting in those categories to avoid the Drama categories that often boast the year’s biggest and most revered contenders. With awards bodies becoming increasingly receptive to the horror genre, it has seen the Comedy or Musical categories become rife with horror films and performances nominated, including Get Out, The Substance, and Heretic receiving nods in the past decade. Obsession follows in their footsteps this year, and there is an argument to be made that the film utilises absurdist humour in its storytelling. However, it is not a film with many actual jokes or laughs, and has a dark tone throughout, especially compared to the genuinely funny Weapons, which submitted in the Drama categories last year, but failed to score any nominations outside of Best Supporting Actress for Amy Madigan, a category that is not separated by genre. Could the lack of attention for Weapons in drama suggest that Obsession would follow the same fate had they submitted there instead?
As much as it is difficult to categorise Obsession as a comedy, it would be just as difficult to categorise it as a drama, as its tone and often ridiculous narrative twists are so specific to the horror genre. The issue arises with its classification instead is that it can be interpreted as trivialising its themes when presenting them as comedic. One viral critique of the submission on X read: ‘Submitting your horror film about rape and lack of bodily autonomy as a comedy is egregious. Especially when one of the biggest stories right now [the Cornell 7 scandal] is about how rape survivors never get justice. Reducing it to a comedy to have a better chance of winning is absolutely vile.’ By submitting as a drama, it could suggest that the film has a serious stance when it comes it portrayal of these sensitive subject matters, and not for it to be judged as comedic.
A similar situation to this happened in 2021 when Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman submitted to the Golden Globes for consideration in the Comedy or Musical categories. Another Focus Features-distributed film, the black comedy-drama was overruled as a contender in those categories, as was determined by the voting body’s internal genre committee to be a drama rather than a musical or comedy. This was because, despite satirical and vibrant stylistic choices, the narrative core involving the pursuit of justice for sexual assault and a grim, violent conclusion led organisers to classify it strictly as a drama. The film was nominated for Best Motion Picture- Drama and Best Actress in a Motion Picture- Drama for Carey Mulligan, losing both, while it could have easily won both corresponding Comedy or Musical prizes in what was a weak year for those categories, which were won by Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and Rosamund Pike for I Care A Lot, neither of which were serious contenders elsewhere that awards season. The rejection was harmful for Focus’ awards campaign, but arguably better presents the film as a serious depiction of its sensitive subject matter. While it is unlikely that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will overturn Focus’ submission this year for Obsession, there’s certainly precedent for it happening.
Another example is 2025’s Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor’s indie dramedy about a literature professor processing the trauma of a sexual assault. While the film is undoubtedly comedic at times, it is a film that is really funny, until it isn’t, and then it isn’t funny at all. It was widely expected to lean towards its comedic elements and compete in the Comedy or Musical categories at the Golden Globes, but ultimately their voting body, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognised Victor’s work in Drama, nominating her for Best Actress in a Motion Picture- Drama, which she ultimately lost to Jessie Buckley for Hamnet. The nomination was praised at the time, as not only did it recognise an understated performance that was widely snubbed by other major voting bodies, but notes the dramatic achievement of Victor’s portrayal of a victim of sexual assault. While Victor’s Agnes in Sorry, Baby is a very different role to Inde Navarette’s Nikki in Obsession, there can be a perception that Nikki will be judged as a kooky, over-the-top crazed character when being considered against comedic performances in that category, somewhat undermining the stellar subtlety that Navarette brings to the role to make up her overall portrayal of a woman losing her agency.
And while the argument has been made that the switch to competing in the Comedy or Musical categories can increase Obsession’s chances of winning awards, it can be considered flawed logic. Last year, when Rose Byrne controversially switched to the Comedy or Musical categories for her jaw-dropping performance in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, it worked favourably as it resulted in her only major awards win of the season, as she avoided competition from the frontrunner Jessie Buckley, who was competing in Drama. This year, the clear frontrunner for Best Actress is Julianne Moore, who will be competing in the Comedy or Musical race for her turn in The Debut, which is receiving raves from critics during the festival season. Inde Navarette will now compete against Moore at the Golden Globes instead of having a decent run at winning on the Drama side, where she would have faced lesser competition, a category that now looks like it will be between Virginie Efira (All of a Sudden), Sandra Huller (Rose) and Ruth Madeley (Being Heumann). As Brian Rowe, better known as The Awards Contender on YouTube, points out, ‘Navarette had one shot to win a major televised prize [to guarantee] her the Oscar nomination, and it was in Best Actress [in a Motion Picture-] Drama’. A televised award and speech would have done wonders for Navarette’s awards narrative, as it would showcase the newcomer’s personality to voters who would only really know her as Nikki. Recent winners such as Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here) and Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday) are a testament to this, and while Navarette will still likely get the Oscar nomination in the end, she could have really done with that Drama Actress win.
Where the category submission could benefit Obsession is in the Motion Picture category, as it looks to seek a pathway to a Best Picture Oscar nomination. With the Drama race being full of major, big-budget contenders such as The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three, in addition to acclaimed foreign language features (which the HFPA have recently championed) such as La Bola Negra, Fjord and All of a Sudden, it would have been difficult for Obsession to pull off a nomination for Best Motion Picture- Drama. In Comedy or Musical, a clearer pathway has emerged, especially following Digger’s odds in free fall after its mediocre reception upon release. Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine, Jesse Eisenberg’s The Debut, and Olivia Wilde’s The Invite are leading the way, while Jordan Firstman’s festival hit Club Kid also looks set for a nomination. The other slots depend on where other films in contention submit, with Project Hail Mary, Michael and Misty Green all expected to join the Comedy or Musical race, but that is yet to be confirmed. There is a strong possibility for Obsession to gain the equivalent nominations at the Golden Globes that they can realistically achieve at the Oscars: Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Screenplay. It also means that Focus Features have a player in the Comedy or Musical race while their other films, including Elsinore, Sense and Sensibility, and Werwulf, compete in Drama, avoiding competing against Obsession.
Overall, the response to Focus Features submitting Obsession as a Comedy ended up being as controversial as anticipated, and draws back memories of The Martian’s and Get Out’s equally egregious comedy submissions. Is Obsession a comedy? Absolutely not. But does this situation, which seemingly happens every year, not highlight the Golden Globes’ incapability to properly categorise the changing trends in the type of films they recognise? It has only been in the past few years that they brought back the possibility of foreign-language films being nominated in the Best Motion Picture categories, and allowed animated films to compete in them again. Is it time to include other genres such as Sci-Fi and Horror into the Comedy or Musical category as a credible ‘catch-all’ category, or have a separate category for genre films? Or maybe even scrap the concept of splitting films by genre altogether? The changes they potentially make in the future will be interesting to see, as will seeing if Obsession’s genre submission gamble will pay off.
Joseph Trusson is a BA Graduate in Film and Television Studies from the University of Nottingham and an MA Graduate in Film Distribution and Marketing from Birmingham City University. He specialises in film awards analysis and hosts the Best Picture Must Be Doing Something Right Podcast, and is covering the 2026/27 Awards Season for Celestial Cinephile. You can find him on Letterboxd @JosephT and on Instagram @joetalksfilms.
