I saw Halle Berry’s speech, and I’m completely convinced that she was caught completely flat-footed. She didn’t have anything planned, she didn’t expect to win (the competition was formidable, kids), and initially it was all she could do to avoid fainiting in the aisle. Yeah, the “opening a big door” bit was a tad cheesy, but considering (a) she was probably making up the speech as she went, and (b) it is a historical event, I’ll give her the pass. She sure dragged the speech out a smidge, though.
And yes, this will make a difference. If nothing else, Berry’s Oscar will encourage countless other minority actors and actresses to press on and improve their craft, instead of giving up in futility. I’m reminded of Nichelle Nichols, who thought she was wasting time being an intergalactic phone operator on Star Trek, but who unknowingly inspired the next generation of black actors and actresses to push on…
Maybe it’s because of the kind of freakish person that I am but I did some number crunching.
There have been 74 Academy Awards…
African Americans make up roughly 13 percent of the population today although that has not always been the case, in the past the percentage was lower.
If you consider that half of the African American population is female (although this may be untrue, it may be slightly more than half) they make up 6.5%.
Now if the awards were distributed equally according to percentage of general US population that means that there should have been almost 5 academy awards for best actress for African American women.
5 isn’t alot and that assumes that there are just as many black women going into acting by percentage as there are other ethnicities. Add in a margin of error and eliminate a good portion of the early awards that may have been skewed due to outright and rampant racism and the number drops even lower. Basically I just don’t buy the idea that black actresses haven’t gotten a fair shake at the award… at least not for the past 25 years or so.
And I thought her speech was WAY too long and overwrought.
I wonder if there would be the same hullaballo if Halle Berry’s speech had been well planned and skillfully delivered. Tom Hanks’ acceptance speech for Philadelphia contained a similar message about how that award was a tribute not just to him, but to a particular group that he represented: "My work is magnified by the fact that the streets of heaven are too crowded with angels — we know their names, they number a thousand for each red ribbon we wear here tonight. " The difference is that Hanks was prepared and performed his speech magnificently. Berry wasn’t, and didn’t. The fault, such that it was, was that Berry, listed as the favorite in many places I looked beforehand, should have been better prepared. Then again, being a good actress does not neccesarily translate into being a good public speaker.
Firsts matter. Who can name the crew of the first spacecraft on the moon? The second? It was big news when Vanessa Williams won the Miss America pageant. It wasn’t big news last month when four of the five finalists for Miss USA were black because it is now generally accepted that there are going to be black women represented and that they have a reasonable chance to win.
That Berry’s speech was poorly performed, which I’ll grant, does not diminish the symbolic importance of her accomplishment.
I dunno. I’m not sure it’s all that significant. I mean, it’s not a black thing because African-Americans have won best actor. So I guess it’s sort of a combination of being African-American and being a women that make it a “first.” Except that African-American women have won best supporting actress before. So it’s just a first in this particular category. Will we get this excited when the first African-American women wins the Oscar for best animated short?
I guess racial firsts aren’t what they used to be. Definitely a good thing, that!
lokj: You need to recheck your numbers. Black women may be 6.5% of the total population, but they are 13% of the female population. This means that of the 74 best acctress awards, if distributed equally, about 10 (9.6) would have gone to black women. Thus, black women are underrepresented by a factor of nearly 9 to 1. I can see three possible explanations for why this would be so:
Black women are less talented than white women.
Black women get proportionately fewer Oscar caliber roles than white women.
Black women’s performances in Oscar caliber roles don’t get the attention they deserve.
I refuse to consider 1 as a real possibility. I suspect that the bulk of the reason is 2 with a bit of 3 mixed in.
She’s not being picked on. She’s just getting the same as anybody who chooses to rant about something in the pit. People disagree and wish to take issue with the rant. Is that so very surprising?
In real life, we have to let things go all the time because of tact and/or decency. On a message board - and in the Pit in particular - this is emphatically not the case. If you see something you think is wrong, or just plain stupid, you call it. Even if it’s an opinion, that opinion must still have come from somewhere. If the foundations of the opinion are shaky then expect them to be shaken.
Why must the ranter assume that everybody will either agree with them or refrain from biting back? That’s not how it works!
Now if jar or anybody else wants to get melodramatic about the fact that other posters are, indeed, choosing to take the “reply” option, then frankly that is just silly. What, exactly do they think is going to happen when they press that “new topic” button?
I’m with Number Six; I think the main problem these days is that black actors and actresses are rarely considered for Oscar-caliber roles, and almsot never for such roles that aren’t race-specific. Whoopi Goldberg may have done a fabulous job in The Color Purple, but it’s not like she had to compete with other white actresses for the role.
When we see more minority actors and actresses being cast in non-race-specific roles, then we can talk about the door being open. Heck, with all due respect to Sidney Poitier, if his Oscar “opened the door”, why has it taken another 19 years for the next black winner of the Best actor award?
BTW, I seem to recall Patrick Stewart doing a stage version of Othello with an otherwise all-black cast. Okay, so it was in some respects a “novelty” version, but it provided yet another interesting twist on Shakespeare. See also: Fiona Shaw’s King Lear and Vanessa Redgrave’s Prospero.
Y’know what? I don’t watch the Oscars as they have no relevance to me: They rarely pick movies or actors I like for anything other than token awards (Best use of bumblebees in a motion picture- type awards). And, most of the people featured, regardless of what they’re like in real life adopt the personna of or act like vapid, self-satisfied twits awash in self-congraulatory preening. I find it all somewhat nauseating.
That said, I’ll be watching in 2005, just in case schplebordnik’s prediction is correct. THAT’S something I’d give a couple hours of my life for!
I agree with you completely. I was simply trying to explain what I have seen in the past re:jarbaby and those that critictize her. I guess i should slink away now, as others have already tried to point this out to her.
And I have tried to do this before the “Great Crash” as well.
I agree with you completely. I was simply trying to explain what I have seen in the past re:jarbaby and those that critictize her. I guess i should slink away now, as others have already tried to point this out to her.
And I have tried to do this before the “Great Crash” as well.
I don’t really buy that. I was under the impression that people went into acting for the love of acting, not to win an award. Maybe that’s only true of the actors I know - they have a hard enough time paying the rent, let alone win Oscars.
This Awards night was a first for me, in that last year I stayed home a lot more (lol) - I’d seen none of the pictures nominated for awards but Harry Potter. I was rooting for Judi Dench for Best Actress based on opinions of others and because I’m just fond of Dame Judi. I didn’t think Berry was a shoo-in…but I did wonder after she won, why begin the hysterics while still seated…and then the historical significance was mentioned. The beginning:
…was nice I thought, and then the rest of it was all just her ‘thankings’. Pretty good for ad-libbing, if she really had no idea she’d win it and the entire speech was about 3 minutes long - only a problem in that it’s at the end of a long night, everyone wants to be over and done with. I thought the speech for A Beautiful Mind, the very last one, was a lot longer. (Could be wrong there.) In any case I think they all should be better prepared to have their words and outfits splashed all over the news the next day for review by the masses.
Yeah, but what you don’t realize is that, um, uh,
[points behind kabbes]
What the hell is that?
[sound of footsteps running, door slamming, car driving away]
What I also want to know is, how much of an ass am I going to look like now that I have realised that there is a thread about this very topic sitting right below this one?
Probably a bit far to go for one guest shot on one episode of a so/so show.
By the way, to the more important issue, was a there a settlement on the Gwyneth Nipple mystery? I saw the link Shayna posted, and as it happens, Gwyneth does not appear at her absolute worst in that photo. But I did catch a glympse on the TV coverage, and she looked like death slightly warmed over. Then again, I never found her in the least bit interesting in the first place, and the only real performace of her’s I have seen was Mr. Ripley, where her character spent half the time whining, so I think of her as a whiner now…
Halle, on the other hand, is quite beautiful, but her movie roles (before Monster’s Ball) have been so so-so, I was surprised she was even a nominee. I have not seen Monster’s so I cannot comment, but I see most people here agree she deserved it, so good for her. History this ain’t, but on the other hand, she has plenty of gushing rights, since it is a very elite club. (One I could care less about, but important to her, obvously).
Let the girl enjoy the moment, I don’t particularly like those corny acceptance speeches, that’s why I don’t watch. How many ways can you thank the Academy and your family? C’mon, it’s like watching reruns all the time with these shows. But if she feels like it, let her gush a bit. It is, after all, quite something to go from Swordfish to Oscar in one year.
I didn’t think Berry was a shoo-in…but I did wonder after she won, why begin the hysterics while still seated…and then the historical significance was mentioned. The beginning: