Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Minority actresses in Hollywood
Hollywood has recently been exposed for the many discriminatory issues that have been happening there for decades. Most of these issues (like the many cases of sexual harassment or lack of female and minority award winners and nominees) have sparked movements and change in the industry. Interestingly, the issue of lack of female minorities in film is one that is decades old and still does not get nearly as much attention as it should. As the video in the presentation showed many of these women are trying out for the same role in which they’re a secondary character or represent a certain community. Typically these women would play girls from an inner city or lower class area and aren’t very high in importance to the film. After hearing this i realized how much it rung true when I thought about the films I had seen in recent years (both box office hits and ones with lots of critical acclaim). I can’t imagine the hard realization these women face when they realize that the only way they will get to work is by confirming to a few types of characters and repeatedly play the same ones. This unfair standard is probably related to the low number of African American females in the industry in the first place. The article Black Actresses are still waiting for star roles from 1991 has a quote that I think is still relevant: “Either it’s the Fat Mama on the Couch syndrome or the Sassy Sister on the corner syndrome. Where is that woman in the middle who is your doctor, your lawyer, you’re friend?”. Although I think these woman aren’t only moms or sisters, I think the part about their lack of being doctors, lawyers, or friends is till somewhat true. When’s the last time I saw a Latino or African American female doctor or lawyer? I can’t think of many times at all. Thinking about this fact, it was interesting to me that Dr. Palmer said those were the only acting gigs her agent would allow her to do. This could possibly be because they were not as famous or as big as major films or national commercials. It’s also interesting to see the age difference between famous and successful white and black female actresses. An article mentioned the difference between successful white actresses like Jennifer Lawrence who went on the cover of Vogue at age 23 as opposed to Lupita Nyong’o who graced the cover of Vogue at age 31. This is also apparent in awards ceremonies where white actresses like Lawrence, Stone, and Larson are winning and being nominated (deservedly so) for Oscar and Academy Awards in their twenties while it takes black actresses like Henson, Davis, and Spencer til their forties or later to accomplish the same feat. Looking at the presentation, the actresses discussed were also much older and had only become household names in recent years. This late success is a clear example of the difference between being a white and black actress in Hollywood. Altnoght this isssue doesn’t directly effect me necessariily because I am not into acting or actresses, it does effect me as being an African American women and noticing that later on in life if I want to pursue acting, it might be harder for me because of something out of my control, This talk has definitely opened my eyes to the issue and shown me how different the perception of the life of these famous celebrities can be from reality.
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