Yesterday, an OS blogger by the name of Kevin Broccoli wrote a piece called Precious Actress Will Never Work Again. Said piece was later reprinted on the front page of Salon.com.
There was a kernel of no shit, Sherlock truth in it—there are fewer starring roles in Hollywood movies for a very talented but very overweight young black woman than for a conventionally pretty but less talented young white woman. And there was also a shitload of stupidity, i.e., trying to prophesy the career of ANY young newcomer to Hollywood with only one movie under her belt, regardless of how talented or attractive she might be.But there was also the statement that REALLY pissed me off in its unwitting racism:
It's become a sad tradition among African-American Academy Award winners that they tend to fade out of sight once they win. Well, gee, Mr. Broccoli, since prior to this year there were only ELEVEN African-Americans who won acting Oscars, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes on the IMDb to determine the veracity of this statement.Let’s start with Hattie McDaniel, another obese black woman, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Mammy in 1939’s Gone with the Wind. Between the day she walked home with a gold statue and her death in 1952, she appeared in 21 films, made several television appearances, and recorded several songs. She had also had a two-decade singing and acting career before GWTW.
Sidney Poitier won Best Actor for his portrayal of Homer Smith in 1963’s Lilies of the Field. Between then and his retirement in 2001, he appeared in 32 movies, directed nine, and is considered a Hollywood legend.
Lou Gossett, after winning Best Supporting Actor for 1982’s An Officer and a Gentleman, has been credited with 88 roles in TV and movies. True, few of them had the visibility or longevity of his Oscar-winning turn, but you know those “Eracism” bumper stickers you see everywhere? Yeah, he started that.
Whoopi Goldberg won Best Supporting Actress in 1990 for her role in Ghost. Since that time, she’s got 88 roles in TV or movies, HOSTED the Academy Awards, and made an ass out of herself with commentary on the television show The View.Cuba Gooding, Jr. Unfortunately, he did not fade out of sight, no matter how much we all wish he would. Since his 1996 win for Jerry Maguire, he’s been prolific with the bad movies. 38 of them, to be exact, including such fantastic rotters as Boat Trip, Snow Dogs, Daddy Day Camp and Norbit.
Denzel Washington had a distinguished career and been nominated several times before winning the Best Actor Oscar for 2001’s Training Day. In the past nine years, he’s appeared in 14 movies, has six in production, and three more in development.
Halle Berry—well, OK. I’ll grant that she’s made a couple of massively shitty movies since winning the Best Actress Oscar for 2001’s Monster’s Ball. But she’s been in six movies in nine years, including the hugely successful James Bond and X-Men franchises, done voice-over work, and has seven movies in production and/or development. She also took off time to have a baby.
Morgan Freeman, since his 2004 Oscar win for Million Dollar Baby, has amassed 24 credits to his name, as well as a Best Actor nod this year for his role as Nelson Mandela in Invictus. He has four projects in development and has, to date, been nominated for an Oscar five times.
Jamie Foxx won a well-deserved Best Actor Oscar in 2004 for not so much playing Ray Charles but channeling the great musician. Since then, he’s appeared in ten movies, including the critically acclaimed Jarhead and Dreamgirls. He’s got six projects in development.
Since his 2006 Best Actor win for The Last King of Scotland, Forest Whitaker has amassed 21 acting and voice-over credits to his name in both film and television. He currently has four projects in the works, and is set to star in and direct What a Wonderful World, a biopic of Louis Armstrong.
Jennifer Hudson came out of the amateur TV talent show American Idol, which she was voted OFF of. Until her Best Supporting Actress appearance in 2006’s Dreamgirls, she was primarily known as an up-and-coming singer. In the all of three years since, she has appeared in two movies, reprised her Dreamgirls role on stage on Broadway**, won a Grammy for her debut album—which sold over a million copies, and given birth to a son. She is slated to play the lead in Winnie, a biopic of Winnie Mandela.
So, Mr. Broccoli—did they really fade out of sight, or did you just go blind?
**I apologize for this error. Theatre work is generally not listed on the IMDb, and I was going off an article from The New Yorker from a few years back that had Miss Hudson slated to reprise her role. That seems to have fallen through for whatever reason. My apologies.
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Excellent final sentence.
R
(PS: Wonder if your rebuttal will see the salon cover.)
Here's what irks me ... isolating anyone and predicting his or her future, accompanied with knowing nods, because that person is not white, tall, big breasted, blonde, full of white teeth, etc. etc. etc. I wonder how many have investigated the careers of all the white, skinny women who won awards over the years. I bet some of their careers didn't take off but no one commented on it. Because they were white, skinny, full of white teeth, etc. Ugh. It also annoyed me that he included the other, white actress's love life in his wrap up of her life, as if dating Shia LeBoeuf is the height of success! Of course, he's making the same mistake Oprah made when she called Sidibe and asked her to the awards show, not realizing that the girl has a boyfriend to take her.
People are so ridonkulous sometimes.
{[R]}
Jennifer Hudson reprised NO role on the Broadway stage. Check ibdb, she hasn't been on Broadway at all. Not that she isn't incredibly talented, but since you're so big on facts...
I think I'm about done here. Cheers.
I hope that Gabby Sibide will be among the black actors in Hollywood who will be around for a long time, and whose career is just getting started. Even if perfect roles don't come her way every year, I think it's tremendously premature to assume she has no future.
Jamie Foxx WAS in Jarhead. He played Sgt. Sykes. Here he is in an interview explaining what it was like to take that role after winning an Oscar for "Ray."
http://movies.about.com/od/jarhead/a/jarheadjf110105.htm
So, when will you be making all these posts? In the interests of fairness to every single human being who won an acting award and then was either typecast in some way or didn't work much afterward ... waiting ... waiting ...
See? The problem isn't that certain actors are typecast or that some actors don't get work ... that's unremarkable. What's interesting is how both you and Howard singled out a person because you have what is clearly some discomfort with the fact that she's done something successful, despite her weight or the color of her skin. It reveals a prejudice against people outside the norm, for whatever reason. In your version of a 'sane' world, no one outside the 'norm' is truly ever successful, except as a temporary exception. But reality simply isn't like that, as these facts about award winners clearly show.
It doesn't even take an armchair psychologist to understand why Howard is uncomfortable. Because he too is an exception. He's an awkward-looking person who shouldn't have made it by 'normal' standards of looks, which aren't too great and personality, which is also a bit lacking. But he bucked that system because of his talent. However, like a lot of people who do this, he is intimidated/threatened that someone else might do it, too. It makes him less special if it's possible for others to do what he did.
Plus, he has a very skewed idea of what makes a woman attractive or beautiful. For him, it's fake tits, fake tan, and offers of sexual favors. He sees women, in my opinion, primarily as vaginas, offering little else in the way of interest. Of course, that's his radio persona. Perhaps he's different in person. But, it's somewhat doubtful.
In any case, that's my take. Sidibe already has plenty of work. I'm sure her career will be fine. What interests me is why it interests anyone else but her and why these people feel compelled to point out how it must be an exception. I find that a lot more telling about these people than about how her career is going to go.
Its position on the front page did not alter the content of Mr. Broccoli's post. Entitlement to an opinion does not confer immunity from criticism, it merely entitles one to opine. I am not ashamed, nor do I share your opinion that I should be.
A significant oversight on my part: Denzel Washington's Oscar for "Training Day" was NOT his first. 12 years before that, he won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for "Glory."
He and Freeman have both received five nominations. Granted, this is a small sample size, but that means that 18% of African-American Oscar winners are five-time nominees.
Mr. Broccoli said that African-American Oscar winners faded from sight after their wins. Now, considering the considerable body of work in the entertainment field these eleven actors amassed AFTER going home with a statue, obviously they didn't fade out of the sights of movie, television, and record producers. As for the sights of audiences...well, those performers were RIGHT THERE on the screen. Their names were RIGHT THERE on the movie posters and in the credits lists and, in several cases, called out over and over and over again at various award shows, including the Academy Awards.
The only sights they faded out of were those of people who paid them no mind simply because they were black.
See what I'm saying? I think I have a right to point out some inconsistencies in the argument here. Whether or not I or anyone else disagrees with another person really has no bearing on our tolerance for other people. Please. Now, name-calling I won't agree with in any case. Just as I was repulsed by Stern and his partner making all those nasty comments about another human being, I wouldn't agree with anyone calling Kevin a racist. That's ridiculous. We don't know him personally. How can we know that? But do those sorts of arguments reveal a discomfort with those things outside the norm? Yes, it does, at least in this instance. I mean, honestly, why in the world does it matter, except to the actress and her family, how her career goes? But, for some reason, it does seem to be an issue, in terms of not believing she will continue to have success, because of her weight and the color of her skin. That's troublesome as a belief, to say the least.
His reasoning isn't on firm ground. Leeandra handed him his butt here on that. The name-calling, no. The observation that these beliefs are a problem, well, they pretty clearly are, aren't they? Otherwise, I'm assuming we wouldn't be having this conversation.
I made no personal attacks on Mr. Broccoli, I simply asserted that Ms. Nolting's post factually disputed Mr. Broccoli's indefensible comment. Given the facts, it is undeniable that African-American Academy Award winners do not "tend to fade out of sight once they win." Mr. Broccoli's own post belied his title. His title claims the actress will never work again, then he gives evidence in his post that she will indeed work again. This does add some difficulty to comprehending his post, if one is of a logical bent of mind.
I would prefer you base your comments to me on what I "actually" said, though of course you are entitled to your opinion. My initial comment was a vote for accuracy and fact specificity in making an argument and I stand, unashamed, by it.
Please see above.
Awkward looking? What's intolerant about that? Howard Stern appears to be tall, raw-boned and angular - it's a descriptive term, nothing more, and has been applied in many a novel to many a character.
For pity's sake the man has faced serious character and personal assassination attempts - and survived.
You're worried about 'awkward'?
{{walks away shaking head in genuine puzzlement}}
The independent film Sidibe was supposed to star in has been shelved. Her appearances on "The Big C" are limited, because she was never intended to be a regular on the show. They bumped her up to "Special Guest Star" to take advantage of her celebrity, but even now they haven't made her a regular as was initially reported in articles such as this one.
Also, she's book NO future roles in future projects.
I'd like to stand by the fact that I'm not a racist. I made a prediction that Hollywood is, however, full of not only racists but moreover, shallow people who don't care as much about talent as they do about waist size.
Twist it around however you like, but it looks like I was more on the money than you were.
Thanks.