It’s about time that people of colour are getting recognized for their acting abilities. Denzel Washington’s Oscar win for Best Actor was a long time coming. Halle Berry’s speech was felt by millions of people of colour (esp. women) who are constantly fighting to be recognized as leading men/women in the entertainment industry.
Oh, my God," Berry said, sobbing and gasping in between words. "I’m sorry. This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. … It’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."
Though the roles are still limited, we would also like to cast in roles that really have nothing to do with being black stereotype. Not that there is anything wrong with portraying the ‘typical’ black person, it’s just that the typical black person doesn’t wag their neck while speaking, say ‘youknowwhati’msayin’?’ 15 times in a sentence, or in jail fighting some trumped up charge that ‘da man’ dealt to them. We want to cast in the same roles that Julia Roberts or Sissy Spacek would be cast in. Or Brad Pitt or Robert Redford or any other actor cast because of their talent, not only because they are black.
It’s also nice to see that black love still exsist in the industry. They set excellent examples for other successful black couples who aren’t ashamed of loving themselves and loving black.
(I’m making sure to phrase what I say very very carefully to avoid appearing insensitive or racist or anything else)
I found Halle Berry’s speech to be a tad narcissistic… as if she believes that 100 years from now in the Registry of Important Moments in African-American History number 3 will be March 24, 2002, right after Jackie Robinson and right before the I have a Dream speech. It seems to me that the big fight for black entertainers has been (and, importantly, continues to be) availability of roles, not oscar win percentage. That is, the important thing is not that Halle Berry won an oscar for her role in Monster’s Ball, but that the movie was even made to begin with.
No one (as far as I can tell) is claiming that in the past 20 or so years there have been large numbers of black actors in leading roles who have given great performances and then been denied oscars. Rather, the problem is a lack of leading roles.
I’m repeating myself. My point is that all of this (to me) makes Berry’s quote:
“It’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.”
seem awfully self-congratulatory. As if, had Halle not won an Oscar but merely been a black leading lady in a major studio production who was nominated for an oscar, then millions of little black girls would not believe that they could ever make anything of themselves. Is it really all that important that Halle and Denzel actually won the oscars instead of just being nominated? If 50 or so members of the academy had been enormous Russell Crowe or Nicole Kidman fans would that have made the evening yet another example of whitey oppression rather than a landmark step for civil rights? That’s nonsense…
(The really interesting question, to me, is why there are now a meaningful number of A-list black leading men… Will Smith, Denzel, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman and Lawrence Fishburne… who seem to have strong crossover appeal, but there seem to be no black leading women of anywhere near the same stature, now with the exception of Halle herself)
I was crying right along with Halle, honest I was. It’s so unfair that black performers and artists are among the most popular in entertainment, yet they have until now not been recognized by their peers.
A role I can think of that fits what you’re describing, Vivian, is “Red” in The Shawshank Redeption. In the story it was based on, the character was a red-headed Irishman, but there was no earthly reason he couldn’t be of any ethnicity in the world.
Like Eddie Griffin’s character in John Q? ::sigh::
Anyhoo, bravo to Halle Berry. I’m sure the brouhaha about “being the first etc. etc.” will die down in a week or so… maybe after that people will stop referring to her as “a black actress” and simply as “an actress” (as it should be… race has nothing to do with acting talent).
Why does Denzel Washington’s best supporting actor mean so little? It seems like people are just ignoring that this was his second oscar. He now has more than John Wayne and Cary Grant combined and people are acting like the academy threw him a sympathy Oscar. If I were Jim Broadbent I would be so ticked.
