A: I didn’t feel that she was claiming anything that SHE personally did as being the big deal. She was pretty clear about the fact that this was something happening TO her, not BECAUSE of her.
B. I think the worst thing about her speech was the fact that she didn’t mention Billy Bob, and even after, when she was asked if she’d forgotten anyone, she mentioned someone else, but not him. And I’d like to see her pull off that role playing opposite, say, David Hasselhof.
stoid
In a word, yes.
And as I said, where did you get the opinion I wasn’t dealing with it?
I didn’t like Halle Berry’s speech. I found it tremendously long, meandering, self serving and over the top.
You didn’t.
I’m dealing with it fine!
j
Jarbaby, as Andros said, you ranted, we disagreed, deal with it.
Sure, Halle Bery’s spech was emotional, ans why not? She won an Academy Award. As she said, the moment was bigger than her.
Halle Berry recognized that she stood on the shoulders of all who had gone before her:
Josephine Baker, who had to flee to France to be respected as a human being as well as an entertainer
Hattie Mcdaniel, the first black Oscar winner, who never got to play anything but a menial
Butterfly McQueen, an accomplished dancer and singer who only got to play simpleminded servant roles
Lena Horne, whose sultry scenes were cut out of her films when they were exhiited in the South
Dorothy Dandridge, who could perform in Vegas hotels but couldn’t stay in them, or even walk in the front door
And all the other black actresses of the day who were never allowed to kiss the hero, who never got to play Cleopatra, who were stuck playing the loyal maid to the white heroine.
Your rant is based on lack of education on the portrayal of balcks in film. I suggest you read Donald Bogle’s books, or rent “Hollywood Shuffle” and “Bamboozled”
Uh, yes, you did. Ever hear of Mae Jemison?
“What’s this ‘we’ shit, kemosabe?”
As usual there are more than two sides to this argument, and also as usual I’m straddlin’ 'em.
I agree with gobear that we witnessed an historic achievement last night, and I thank him for the bibliography.
On the other hand, I agree with Jar – Halle thanked her friggin’ lawyer … twice!
I loved the fact that she won. When she broke down in tears, I misted up. But when she just kept on babbling it got embarrassing. She showed a lot of class, but I think she let it run away from her a little.
In a word, yes.
yep, overslept by quite a bit . 19 years to be precise.
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/black_history/blackhistory.html
Jarbaby, as Andros said, you ranted, we disagreed, deal with it.
Sure, Halle Berry’s spech was emotional, and why not? She won an Academy Award. As she said, the moment was bigger than her.
Halle Berry recognized that she stood on the shoulders of all who had gone before her:
Josephine Baker, who had to flee to France to be respected as a human being as well as an entertainer
Hattie Mcdaniel, the first black Oscar winner, who never got to play anything but a menial
Butterfly McQueen, an accomplished dancer and singer who only got to play simpleminded servant roles
Lena Horne, whose sultry scenes were cut out of her films when they were exhiited in the South
Dorothy Dandridge, who could perform in Vegas hotels but couldn’t stay in them, or even walk in the front door
And all the other black actresses of the day who were never allowed to kiss the hero, who never got to play Cleopatra, who were stuck playing the loyal maid to the white heroine.
Your rant is based on lack of education on the portrayal of balcks in film. I suggest you read Donald Bogle’s books, or rent “Hollywood Shuffle” and “Bamboozled”
Uh, yes, you did. Ever hear of Mae Jemison?
“What’s this ‘we’ shit, kemosabe?”
As usual there are more than two sides to this argument, and also as usual I’m straddlin’ 'em.
I agree with gobear that we witnessed an historic achievement last night, and I thank him for the bibliography.
On the other hand, I agree with Jar – Halle thanked her friggin’ lawyer … twice!
I loved the fact that she won. When she broke down in tears, I misted up. But when she just kept on babbling it got embarrassing. She showed a lot of class, but I think she let it run away from her a little.
Oy. How embarassing. I stand corrected.
Cool – a new Olympic sport:
Synchronized Double Posting.
In a word, yes.
The point is that someday, it will not be a big deal (to anyone) when a black woman wins a Best Actress Oscar. Until that day, someone has to do it first. Halle Berry did that, and as such she did break down a barrier, if a very small one.
I think it would be hard to argue that Jackie Robinson did nothing for race relations in this country, even if he was “just a baseball player”.
You shouldn’t forget the movie that Halle won for, either; Monster’s Ball has some pretty strong themes about overcoming racism. I’m sure that adds to her pride in the award.
I can’t really comment on whether she deserved the award, as I hadn’t seen any of the other movies nominated, but I thought her performance was phenomenal.
Dr. J
When I’m right, I’m right, dammit.
This goes to show, folks. Even mods are normal human beings, capable of triple-posts. Spread out over almost half an hour.
More caffeine.
Ah, yes, the last refuge of someone having her rhetorical ass handed to her: “I’m entitled to my opinion! Ranting is what the Pit is for!”
And the standard response: Put down the strawman, and please note that not one person in this thread has taken you to task for ranting in the Pit.
You’re being dogpiled for trying to belittle what is, to a lot of people, a big deal. No, she hasn’t personally swung the hammer to shatter the very chains of an enslaved people. It’s 2002, we’re a little past that. But it’s two thousand fucking two, and the Academy has only just now gotten around to awarding an Oscar for Best Actress to a black woman? It’s been a long time coming, and it came on a night when they’d just honored Sidney Poitier for his own pioneering work. It was a goddamned big deal, and Halle Berry was gobsmacked, and overwhelmed, and very, very grateful (to everyone she’s ever talked to, apparently ;)).
You want to be jealous and catty, cool. Ain’t no thing, we all do it, it’s fun (Gwyneth did not look like hell, by the way, you horrible turds. But what was with J-Lo’s hair?). If, in the process, you trivialize what is to many a long-overdue milestone on the road toward the day when a person’s worth actually is measured solely by the content of his character, expect to be debated vigorously.
I just realized the true significance of this event; Halle Berry’s place in trivia history is now assured. Which is cool. And we got to see it happen.
(Just for the record, Halle realized she was rambling, then said to heck with it and did it anyway. It was her moment, and her choice.)
(Oh, Lux Fiat - if Gwyneth wasn’t looking like hell, then I don’t wanna see what you consider to be looking like hell.)
I am glad she won - if she did a great job, she deserved to win. And, clueless that I am, I had no idea that she was the first black woman to win for Best Actress. So, yeah. That’s cool. Just because I’m oblivious doesn’t mean that other people are as well. It must have been a bone of contention to black actresses throughout the years - to know that no matter how GOOD they were, it wouldn’t matter. No Oscar for them. So, yeah, now that a black actress has won an Oscar, that’s nifty. And that explains (in part) her emotional speech.
However…as others have said, she went on TOO LONG. I was getting embarassed for her. Enough is enough. The show must go on. This is Hollywood, dammit! We gotta make time for the commercials!
I also cannot get out of my mind that she’s a flake. It wasn’t too long ago that she had that psuedo “hit and run” on Hollywood Blvd.? (I can’t remember all the details, but I believe she behaved less than honorably in that incident.) That shouldn’t have anything to do with her ability in “Monster’s Ball”, but my (personal) opinion of her has been changed. She’s now in my “flake” category. Eh.
(An Oscar side note: As a film music enthusiast, I was ELATED that Howard Shore won for the score of “Lord of the Rings”. As much as I love John Williams, he has Oscars coming out of the wazoo, I didn’t relish seeing him get yet another. Shore’s a fabulous composer, good to see him win!)
I’d beg to differ there. Jackie Robinson was the first black man to play baseball in the major leagues in the modern era. Halle Berry is not the first black woman in Hollywood. She’s not the first black woman to win an Oscar, either. She is the first black woman to win an Oscar in this particular category. A huge accomplishment in the industry, to be sure, but not at all comparable to what Jackie Robinson achieved. Winning an award for a job well done is grand, but having to fight to get the chance to do the job at all? That was Jackie Robinson, that was Sidney Poitier. That was not Halle Berry.
Conversely, if you consider a beautiful woman wearing an excess of dark eye makeup (which I don’t think looks bad on her) to be looking like hell, I am both impressed and a bit frightened by your standards. 
:eek:
Your tone suggests that you’re not joking- please look through her resume and tell me where she was overlooked- Your best case would be for The Color Purple where she was only nominated for an Oscar but she did win a Golden Globe and an NBR(?). Although she did redefine the role of center square…