A Little Oscar Talk

When I was younger, I would practice my Oscar acceptance speech in the shower.

Now that I only act from time to time (this weekend I played Gerald Ford in a short film...yes...you read that right) and have really no other skills that would allow me to be nominated for an Oscar (I mean, I guess I could try to write a screenplay, but...probably not going to happen), I have sort of given up on that goal.

Still, I sometimes watch it. Or I read people's tweets. Or articles. Especially when black actors are nominated and it forces us to look at when (what roles) the Academy nominates black men and women. Below are some articles that deal with the Oscars, the film industry, and African American actors/filmmakers (courtesy of Jezebel and a friend of mine on Facebook):


Polone: The False Circular Logic Behind Hollywood's Resistance to Black Entertainment

This is Why Chris Rock Should Have Hosted the Oscars

See Octavia Spencer's Acceptance Speech

Viola Davis on That She Says Harms Black Actors
I encourage you guys to read this one especially. Viola Davis makes a good point about how black characters have to struggle between being real and watered-down so as to not offend (my wording, not hers). She also makes the point that white actors have won Oscars for troubling roles so, basically, it shouldn't matter if black actors do too (again my wording). While I respect Viola's point, I would also point out that the number of white actors who have won Oscars is, well, long...and there are a variety of characters that got them the Oscar. The list for black actors is shorter so it probably means something that most of the characters depicted have been "troubling" in some fashion. She makes a great point that "as an artist, you have to see the mess." She is totally right. I guess my thinking is that the mess should be diverse and for many actors of color (lets be real...think about Asian actors, Latino actors...how many of them did we see nominated last night?), I don't think they have a variety of messy characters to play and, even if they do, they probably won't win the Oscar for them. That is my problem with it.

Tweets:

RT @shelbyknox: There have been 17 Black women nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Octavia Spencer is the 5th to win.

RT @gublernation the greatest award an entertainer can ever receive is the opportunity to entertain

RT @womensmediacenter In 84 years only 4 women have been nominated for best director. Only 1 has won. #WhereRWomen #Oscars