Eight actresses walked hand in hand on the red carpet with activists who focus on sexual harassment and gender inequality.

“We don’t want to create heirarchies — saying that women in Hollywood are more important than other women,” Marai Larasi, executive director of Imkaan, a British network of organizations dedicated to ending violence against black women, said on the E! arrivals special. “We have a platform, and we’re trying to use it in the best way we possibly can.” Ms. Larasi attended as Emma Watson’s guest.

However, the tone on the red carpet was not entirely serious. Smiles abounded. Along with discussion about women’s rights came light-hearted banter by nominees about butterflies (the stomach variety) and some of the usual fashion chitchat. Alexis Bledel carried a black crystal clutch from Onna Ehrlich; Gucci dressed Margot Robbie and Dakota Johnson.

Still, this year’s Globes will serve as a test for the more erudite Oscars, which are scheduled for March 4. Can Hollywood castigate itself and celebrate itself at the same time? And deliver a telecast and red carpet extravaganza that keep the ratings from tumbling?

NBC and the givers of the Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of 89 journalists, have been trying to assure viewers that the night inside the Beverly Hilton’s International Ballroom will be as frothy as ever. NBC ran a star-studded Globes anniversary special in December — essentially a prime-time infomercial — and ceremony organizers have promised plentiful booze (125 cases of Moët & Chandon Champagne) and flowers (“vibrantly-colored red and orange roses displayed in glittering, diamond-wrapped gold containers”).

It could all add up to a moment when the Golden Globes finally grows up, becoming an event with equal parts solemnness and spectacle.

Or not.

Here are five things to watch for during this year’s ceremony, which will be hosted for the first time by the late-night entertainer Seth Meyers.

Harvey Weinstein is on many minds.

Harvey Weinstein has long been a fixture of the awards circuit. He remains a focus, this time for far different reasons. Credit Loic Venance/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

“It’s nice to have an elephant in the room,” Mr. Meyers told The New York Times about the topic of sexual harassment in Hollywood. “There’s nothing more helpful than something everybody’s thinking about.”

Something and someone: Mr. Weinstein, who has been accused of misconduct by dozens of women — prompting police investigations, lawsuits and the collapse of his former studio — was a major figure at the Globes for decades. He was seen as a master manipulator of voters. He always sat at a prime table during the ceremony. His post-Globes parties, recently hosted with Netflix, were often the splashiest.

Will Mr. Meyers call out Mr. Weinstein by name in his monologue?

Oh, right. The awards.

Meryl Streep in “The Post.” Credit Niko Tavernise/20th Century Fox

The annual Oscar race, which starts with festival screenings in late summer, has been unusually chaotic this time around. For various reasons — Hollywood’s attention has been elsewhere, the plethora of strong choices in some categories and few in others — consensus has yet to form. So the Globes could bring some clarity.

One nail-biter is best drama. “The Post,” Steven Spielberg’s newspaper drama, could easily win. But so could “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” about a mother (Frances McDormand) who goes to extremes to keep local police focused on her daughter’s murder. And don’t count out “The Shape of Water,” an allegory about a mute janitor who falls in love with an imprisoned sea creature.

Gold Derby, an awards blog, has supporting actor as another tossup category. Running hot are Willem Dafoe from “The Florida Project,” about indigent families living in a motel, and Christopher Plummer, who replaced Mr. Spacey at the last minute in “All the Money in the World.” Sam Rockwell (“Three Billboards”) is seen as not far behind.

A lift before the Oscars.

Timothée Chalamet in “Call Me By Your Name.” Credit Sony Pictures Classics

In truth, the Globes are often predictive of little. Top honors at the Oscars and the Globes only matched up once over the past three years. (Both agreed on “Moonlight” last year.) But the globular trophies are coveted by studios, which cozy up to the press association in hopes of receiving a box office-boosting blast of attention for winter movies.

A win by Timothée Chalamet, a best actor nominee, might help Sony Pictures Classics sell tickets for the gay romance “Call Me by Your Name,” for instance. That poetic film has taken in about $6 million at North American cinemas since its release in November. “Call Me by Your Name” has also hit some turbulence on the awards circuit. It was not nominated for the top Screen Actors Guild prize, for instance.

The similarly tiny “I, Tonya” might get a boost if Allison Janney takes the best supporting actress trophy. “The Post,” “All the Money in the World” and “Phantom Thread” are hoping for similar bumps.

It’s Oprah’s turn.

Oprah Winfrey will be given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. Credit Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Oprah Winfrey is set to receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, an honor that went to Meryl Streep last year — and ended up as a flash point in the Trump-era culture wars. During her acceptance speech, Ms. Streep went after Mr. Trump, targeting his skills as a showman and branding them as insidious. Mr. Trump fired back, calling Ms. Streep “one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood.”

Will Ms. Winfrey deliver a political zinger of her own? If she does go on the attack, it will probably be against the entertainment industry: She has been involved in recent months with the creation of an ambitious anti-harassment action plan called Time’s Up.

Television has big stars, too.

Rachel Brosnahan in the Amazon series “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Credit Amazon

While the press association’s movie awards receive the most attention because of their proximity to the Oscars race, the Globes ceremony relies on television categories for much of its star power. Making trips to the stage on Sunday could be Nicole Kidman, nominated for best actress in a limited series or made-for-TV movie (the now-continuing “Big Little Lies”); Sterling K. Brown, a best actor nominee for “This Is Us”; and Eric McCormack (“Will & Grace”), a favorite for best actor in a comedy.

Globe voters also love to support comedies that have debuted only recently. (See: “Transparent,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.”) Benefiting from that tastemaker desire this time around could be “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” an Amazon series about a woman who becomes a stand-up comedian in the 1950s. It could win best comedy. At the same time, best actress in a comedy could easily go to Frankie Shaw, the star of the new Showtime series “SMILF,” about a working-class single mother in Boston.

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