Letters to the Editor: Why it’s not surprising that the Golden Globes didn’t air the original score category

To the editor: It’s not particularly surprising that the producers of the 2026 Golden Globes broadcast decided to relegate the announcement of best original score to a commercial break (“What you didn’t see on TV at the Golden Globes,” Jan. 12). A few years ago, the producers of the Academy Awards removed original score and other craft categories from their broadcast before reinstating them the following year.

But why should anyone be surprised when so many recent movie scores seem to aspire more toward the realm of sound design than memorable music? I suspect that, if the current trend continues, the original score and sound design categories will merge into one (“best aural ambience”?).

Mostly gone from our latest blockbusters are memorable themes, those musical signatures that stay with us long after the popcorn bag is empty. This is a huge loss and, like so much that has slowly been taken from us, we are, in our lack of vocal protest, complicit in its disappearance. The value of the well-crafted, memorable musical theme has been downgraded in favor of (mostly) technologically generated sounds, gestures and punctuation.

And while some movie-goers (or producers or directors) may not consider music an essential element of a good or great film, I suggest we all consider for a moment the sweeping aural vistas of Maurice Jarre’s music for “Lawrence of Arabia” or the characterful John Williams themes for the “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and “Harry Potter” movies. When E.T. boards his spaceship to return home, Steven Spielberg’s filmmaking gifts bring tears to our eyes, but I suggest it’s Williams’ music that wets our cheeks.

Robert J. Elias, Santa Clarita