Mammy to Minnie: Black Women Oscar Winners

[onpatrol98]

Mammy to Minnie: Black Women Oscar Winners
By LUCHINA FISHER (@luchina)
Feb. 28, 2012


After Octavia Spencer won the Academy Award for best supporting actress, Jennifer Hudson, who won the same award in 2006, was first to welcome her into the very exclusive club of black women Oscar winners.

"Yes!!!! Welcome to the family Octavia!! Congrats!!! Amazing!!" she tweeted Sunday night.

Like all families, this one comes with baggage. For most Oscar winners, an Academy Award is a boon to their careers, both in terms of roles and earning power. For black women, the road after Oscar seems to be less certain.

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/oscar-boost-octavia-spencers-career/story?id=15802169#.T02CyNXAP64

[hlthe2b]

1. I can understand the desire for better roles for AA actors and I would agree totally with that...

But, to me, a good performance is still worthy of recognition, no matter how much one might not like the character. I have seen video of the late Hattie McDaniel accepting the first Academy Award to an African American woman for supporting actress in 1939. She was so proud and her acceptance was so poignant. That her accomplishment is derided by many because of the depiction she portrayed, is almost heart-breaking to me. Even if one does not like the character, that does not take away from an excellent performance. After all, Denzell Washington has played numerous wonderful characters. But he won his Oscar for playing a foul-mouthed, evil drug-dealing, crooked cop. Should we deride him because he won for a role that was less than admirable, but rather for an incredible, though extremely nasty, performance?”

I still cry when I think of Hattie at that podium. If you've never seen that moment in film history, please do check out the video on youtube. She deserves her place in Oscar history, imho-- no ifs, thens, or buts.

[midnight]

2. I just rented this movie four nights ago... God Bless Minnie...

She brought over her chocolate pie, to the ladies gild president, she was just going to drop it off and let the whole thing remain a secret, but she just couldn't....

[southernyankeebelle]

3. Well what about Halle Berry? She doing very well. On the whole though sometimes Oscar win

doesn't really help even the white women. In fact look at some of the previous white women who have won. Sandra Bullock is a good example where Oscar win really wasn't helpfull in her private life. Of course she did kick him to the curve and adopted a beautiful baby. She seems happy now.

[Hollywood Hills]

4. Mammy to Minnie?

Not much progress in my opinion....both were maids. As for Halle Berry, she worked more "before" her Oscar win.

[Number23]

5. And after Hudson's phenomenal turn in Dreamgirls, what was her next role?

Playing Carrie Bradshaw's assistant in "Sex and the City." Did they really need an Oscar winner that can sing better than 2/3 of the universe to play that role?

Where is Mo'nique now after her win with Precious? What will Octavia do now? Anybody seen Halle lately? Whoopi is the only one that's doing anything.

[SemperEadem]

6. I sure hope it's not a case of

"well, you got your oscar, can't you just go away and do something else so we can put out a slew of movies from the Tudor era?"

There are too many stories which need to be told which involve strong, positive, loving/lovable, attractive black females to show folks that we are also strong, positive, loving/lovable, attractive and not androgynous, simple, soulless creatures who "aren't born innocent".

[Number23]

7. Oh my GOD, you noticed that too???!

so we can put out a slew of movies from the Tudor era?"

I have been CRACKING UP at the resurgence in Victorian England and Mad Men-esque movies and tv shows lately. All of a sudden, Old Hollywood is all the rage again. Always struck me as odd the sudden interest in eras in which there would be nothing unusual about having an all-white cast full of actors that no one has ever heard of.

But as I noted in another thread, even George Lucas had a hard time finding a production company that would make his movie about the Buffalo Soldiers. GEORGE FREAKING LUCAS. Yeah, it isn't too hard to figure out what's going on.

[SemperEadem]

8. their line of thinking is

no white person wants to sit through 90 minutes of a movie on black people... and we can't have white women getting the sweaty thighs over a handsome, sexy black man--and god forbid white men consider black women as anything other than a beast of burden.

Now you will also notice the contagion of box office bombs (Jane Eyre, for one) with all white casts... they will bank roll a box of moth balls and lose money time and time again before they will deign to change their thinking.