Black Star, White Ceiling: Why Can't Lupita Nyong'o Find a Role Worthy Of Her?
An Academy Award can mean many things, but it’s never the solution to a problem. That reminder landed brutally in late April, when Lupita Nyong’o, the actress whose Oscar for 12 Years a Slave was the Cinderella story of this year’s ceremony, entered final talks for her first major post-prize gig. She’ll be playing the mother wolf in a remake of The Jungle Book. You read that right. Hollywood is handed a beautiful, talented, Yale School of Drama-trained actress of color, and what does it come up with? Well, let’s see…she could be an animal. In the Third World. Yes, the movie business is tough, and whatever your race, a Best Supporting Actress Oscar guarantees you nothing, especially in a field in which women are considered old at 31. But the evidence is the evidence: When the people who make movies look at Lupita Nyong’o, they see a slave, a stewardess, and an “exotic.” On that level, the range of opportunities for a black actress on the big screen in 2014 doesn’t look all that different than it did in 1967, the first time Disney made The Jungle Book. http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/04/30/lupita-nyongo-jungle-book-oscar/
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