I didn't watch the Oscars this year. Okay, that's not entirely true. I flipped over to watch Dwayne Johnson give out an award, and I watched John Legend and Common's performance of "Glory." FYI, Common was looking more dapper than usual. That, ladies is a gorgeous man. It was The Walking Dead Sunday, so I was all about the Rick Grimes gang opening a can...
Besides, I have more or less stopped caring about the Oscars. Sure, I could cite reasons like in the 87 years of the Academy Awards only one black woman has won the Best Actress Oscar (only ten nominations), only four black men have won the Best Actor Oscar (only twenty nominations), four black men have won Best Supporting Actor (seventeen nominations, FYI, Denzel Washington accounts for two those eight wins), and only five wins in Best Supporting Actress (nineteen nominations). 87 years, 14 wins for the top four acting categories. I won't even start with the Director and Picture awards.
It's not just black people though. There are no Native American or Asian-American nominees either. People of color are just not represented at the Oscars, but why should they? I know the argument. There were no good roles for people of color. This is true. This is why you are seeing more movie actors taking the plunge into television-the lack of good movie roles.
I haven't been to the movies in about two years. I didn't even go to see any of The Hobbit movies, and I love Tolkien and Peter Jackson. Although I'm a fan of the novels, I haven't really cared for The Hunger Games movies. The thing is there really hasn't been much I wanted to see. I have seriously grown tired of comedies. How many Madea movies can Tyler Perry possibly make? Do we need another Friday movie? Yet, these seem to be the movies geared toward African Americans. I haven't seen Selma yet, because it was barely in town before it was gone. Why doesn't the movie industry realize that diverse groups can sell tickets.
Look at the show Orange is the New Black, almost every race is represented, and just about every character has been given a back story, and the popularity continues to grow. One of the most popular characters on The Walking Dead is a black woman, and it hasn't hurt the show one bit. Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and Empire-if you give us interesting story lines, the people will come.
Most of the movies nominated this year is a smorgasbord of stuff I wouldn't play my hard earned money to go see. Sorry. I'm tired of prequels, sequels, remakes...Hollywood, here are some works that you could possibly turn into great movies I would be interested in seeing.
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck (desperately needs a remake), Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Jubilee by Margaret Walker Alexander, Sundiata: the Lion King, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse (needs a remake), The Epic of Gilgamesh, Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, Kindred by Octavia Butler, and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe...there is a tapestry of stories all over the world that would give actors of all races opportunities. They just need an opportunity...Not looking for debate, just my opinion...
Until next time, “If man is to survive, he will have learned to take a delight in the essential differences between men and between cultures. He will learn that differences in ideas and attitudes are a delight, part of life's exciting variety, not something to fear.”
― Gene Roddenberry
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