Internal Conflict & Streep's Third Oscar
Monday, February 27, 2012 at 8:19PM My own personal history with the Oscar stretches back to the early 80s but there's so much self-mythologizing about it that I sometimes get confused about when I finally figured out What It Was. I know with certainty that the first ceremony I was aware of was in Spring 1983 because I had seen Gandhi, Tootsie and E.T. with my parents. But if I watched I remember nothing from that ceremony. My first sure Oscar ceremony memory was watching Shirley Maclaine win Best Actress for Terms of Endearment (which I hadn't seen). I remember being excited for Maclaine who I already loved but I don't remember why (probably TV airings of musicals?) and I remember being super excited by Meryl's Silkwood clip. Before I ever knew Meryl Streep as an actress -- her movies were always rated R and I wasn't allowed to see them -- I knew her as The Great Oscar Winning Actress. I think my first Meryl movie in the theater was Out of Africa (1985) and I desperately wanted her to win her third Oscar now that we were well acquainted.
Meryl finally wins her third
When they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going 'OH nooooo, oh come on. why Her? Again?' You know? But whatever.
First, I'm going to thank Don because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech they play him out with the music and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives you've given me. And now secondly, my other partner, 37 years ago my first play in NYC i met the great hairstylist and makeup artist Roy Helland and we worked together pretty continuously since the day we clapped eyes on each other. His first film with me was Sophie's Choice and all the way up to tonight when he won for his beautiful work on The Iron Lady thirty years later EVERY SINGLE MOVIE IN BETWEEN. And I just want to thank Roy but also I want to thank -- because I really understand I'll never be up here again -- I really want to thank all my colleagues, all my friends. I look out here and I see my life before my eyes. My old friends. My new friends.
Really this is such a great honor but the thing that counts the most with me is the friendship and the love and the sheer joy we have shared making movies together. My friends thank you, all of you, departed and here for this, you know, inexplicably wonderful career. Thank you so much. Thank you.
I waited and waited and waited and waited and waited. I waited through backlashes, box office poison, comebacks, astounding technical biopic work (Cry in the Dark), and mysteriously moving original creations (The Hours), through thrilling musical/comedy (Postcards from the Edge), improbable rebirth as box office mega-sensation (Devil Wears Prada), less thrilling musical/comedy (Mamma Mia!). I wasn't always rooting for her but I was always rooting for her if you know what I mean.
My heart danced a bit when she spoke, just a bit since I was upset. And I laughed at her psychic opening (you know that's true!) and teared up at what sounded like a lifetime achievement speech which is what it essentially was. Meryl finally won her third.
Be careful what you wish for.
Two great actresses. Only one statue.
Though I've desperately wanted Meryl Streep to have a third Oscar -- who deserved a third more? -- it became suddenly tied up with my single biggest Oscar pet peeve (the Academy's relentless all-devouring soul-crushing belief that biopic mimicry is the highest form of acting) and tied up with the defeat of a new(ish) actress who I genuinely think is one of the greats... just without the roles to continue proving it.
Though I find roughly half of the regular charges of racism levelled at the Academy tiresome and ill thought out (it has to be about the movies that are released and the performances inside of them or it holds no water -- that's all Oscar has to choose from!) it's hard not to look at Viola's loss and bemoan Oscar's (and Hollywood's) resistance to women of color.
Here we had a great actress headlining a major blockbuster hit, giving an astoundingly deep, moving performance and singlehandedly elevating her movie into the substantive kind that gets nominated for Best Picture (we can argue all we like about how "substantive" The Help is and how much other actresses contributed but it's Viola that gave the movie its only sharp edges and its soul and made it however substantive that it is). She also managed to win a few key awards and stay in the press for months and months and months on end.
It's hard to imagine all those plusses and still coming up empty-handed on Oscar night, especially in favor of a previous winner in a movie that no one likes. It's also hard to imagine a year like Viola had not being followed by major offers for major roles but so far... crickets. And this last is more anger-making than an Oscar loss, and something we'd all hoped an Oscar win might've helped to overcome... though this is perhaps wishful thinking; Hollywood is as resistant to great black actresses as the Oscars which reflect them.
In some ways you can argue that it's just the luck of the draw. Meryl was always going to win a third. It was just a question of when. But it's hard to look at the way Meryl's third was shoved aside for a Movie Star Queen doing her best but hardly statue-worthy work just two years ago, and it's hard to look at other performers who've sailed to Oscars with ease that aren't anything like Viola Davis's caliber.
In Halle Berry's Monster's Ball Oscar-winning speech she spoke movingly of her historic moment as the first Best Actress of color.
This moment is for Dorothy Dandrige, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It's for the women who stand beside me Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox, and it's for every nameless faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened."
Did the door quietly swing closed again?
Reader Comments (246)
\"Oh, we can totally give black actresses the supporting Oscar, but the lead Oscar is not the same.\"
That's how I feel. The difficulty of Viola getting the Oscar made it even easier for Octavia. Make sure the supporting actress gets it whether or not you think she's the best in the category so when the black actress doesn't win in leading, all is still politically acceptable. They've recently given it to Jennifer Hudson, Mo'Nique, and Octavia Spencer in supporting, but Gabby and Viola have come through and though Gabby didn't have much of a chance despite an amazing performance, Viola then came along with a fighting chance and still lost. It seems near impossible now. Is Halle Berry really the only one? Really?
I just thought Viola's goodwill and respect in the industry, her age, the movie being about equality for blacks, etc. - I thought it was working in her favor. But it still wasn't enough.
Brandz-Gold Derby cannot compete with Awards Daily when it comes to hyperbole. At least now we have a few months without Sasha coronating Rooney Mara the greatest thing to happen to humanity since the Renaissance. Brando, Streep, both the Hepburns, and Hitchcock-none of them could dream of doIng for film what Mara did.
And I Nathaniel isn't saying she should've won because she's black. He's saying that he felt she gave the best performance AND was a frontrunner, yet she still lost - what does that say about the conservatism of the Academy? Regardless of who you think deserved it (heck, you know some winners in the past have been highly questionable), she was undoubtably a frontrunner in a best picture nominee, with loads of goodwill and industry respect, and she still lost. So what does that say about the industry? I think it says a lot.
MIke M( or should I say Hepburn?)
What is the difference between acting and impersonation? Are you saying that Oscar voters do not know what good acting is? Are you saying that the Yale Drama School does not know how to teach acting? Are you saying that most actresses at the awards ceremony who place Meryl as the one who they want to emulate are wrong? IF anyone can lay claim to BEST ACTRESS...you just saw her win last night. And no one has oudone Sophie's Choice in 30 years. You do not end up with Meryl's career simply because you can impersonate...there is an emotional life in all that she does.
Amen, brian.
The actresses who look up to Meryl Streep do so because the media constantly bombards us with the message that she is the greatest living actor. Most people don't question that, because our culture equates excess with quality. If she does an accent, wears a wig, sports bad teeth, and shouts a lot, it's automatically a masterful performance.
Academy voters awarded Jessica Tandy for Driving Miss Daisy, Kathy Bates for Misery, Renee Zellweger for Cold Mountain, and Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side, among many other bad performances. Their taste is questionable, to say the least.
Meryl does give good performances while being interviewed and accepting awards. She pretends to be down to earth, gracious, and very appreciative of her peers' work. And yet, she campaigned her ass off for The Iron Lady, was always quick to remind people that she hadn't won an Oscar in nearly 30 years, and hogs all the good roles for women over 50 (even the ones she is clearly wrong for, like Violet in August: Osage County). She's totally full of herself.
Sorry Mike M...you are in the minority opinion tonight.
And if you have ever heard stories from her teachers at Yale or when she hit NYC in the 70's with a talent hard to contain...you would know that she was getting labels of being a phenomenon even before the media told us what to think. She is the real deal. That is all!
The door didn't close. It's just that it wasn't as wide an opening as we thought it was, and it never was all the way open.
Regarding the actual performance, yes, Davis should've won, but it's such a mild case of robbage (Streep was my very close runner up) that I don't want to get worked up over it.
And Mike M, you come across as a wee bit bitter in your comment.
Thank you, Jamie. I think Mike M is one of those haters.
I did want to say to Mayukh. I think this is a really interesting comment
It made me stop and rethink how I've felt about it. But I also do really truly fear that Viola won't get the roles you're referring to. I mean Hollywood THREW themselves at Carey Mulligan and Jennifer Lawrence whose \"breakthrough\" movies made under $10 million dollars. But Viola leads The Help (yes, with Emma Stone) and she's going to have to fight fight fight to stay in the game?I know people don't like racism to be brought up but jesus, it's obvious that it's an uneven playing field for actresses of color. Frankly, it's absurd.
But anyway. I guess I why i got so worked up is i go genuinely believe it's a great performance. I've seen The Help 4 times basically -- i've put it in at various times for pieces i was writing or for screenshots or whatever and every time she yanks me in and just totally moves me. I think it's kind of a miracle of a performance.
but yeah, the Oscars are tough. way more people lose every year than win.
Anyone who thinks no one complained when Sandra Bullock won her Oscar in February of 2010 must have been born after March of 2010. I mean...LOL.
Yavor -- if that's what i was saying you'd have every cause to be disappointed. But that's not what i was saying. I hate empty charges of racism as much as anyone ... honestly though i was happy for halle berry (who wouldn't be with that speech?) i really don't think she deserved the win that year and I openly said so. I've never said anyone should win an award based on the color of their skin.
but i think you can argue that people do win awards and roles and acclaim with ease because of the color of their skin, so long as the color is white.
I was saying Viola should've won because she's the best in the category (and i personally think by quite a lot) and when frontrunners don't win, it's usually because something is holding people back from voting for them. What that is we can't ever fully know but who knows maybe it's as simple as age and lack of big stardom. Oscar is very Globey with Best Actress. They like you to be a full fledged celebrity. Or be young. Or be a living legend.
I'm not trying to be contrary, but the bloggers and film journalists, I think, are the main causes for this so-called \"deflated\" feeling they are having post-Oscar. They've been campaigning hard for Viola ever since The Help opened back in August, and they thought if they said it enough--Oscar Winner Viola Davis--it would happen. They tried to elevate her to the frontrunner position when in reality Meryl was a HUGE force to be reckoned with this year and honestly, the cards were firmly in her favor, too. I mean, a Golden Globe Drama Award, a BAFTA Award, NYFCC Award, and countless other critics prizes...this was a VERY, VERY close race the whole season and I feel like many sort of blithely ignored the fact that Meryl was potentially going to go the same way as Cotillard and Kidman and win the Oscar without the all-important SAG award. Not to mention that Davis was performing in a CO-LEAD role which (ask Meryl) doesn't always go in your favor when you're trying to win BEST ACTRESS.
And this is absolutely not directed at Nathaniel, who genuinely has supported and loved Davis' performance for the master acting class that it is...but I feel like many pundits have championed Davis simply on a racial-basis without giving any credence to the quality of her performance. I find this incredibly counter-productive. Not that it's wrong, but I always get a little unnerved when people try to heighten factors OTHER than meritocracy. The same could also be said for Meryl Streep and her status as \"overdue\" so it's a fine, delicate balance. Frankly, I'm ecstatic for Streep and it's so incredibly rewarding for me (who's 22 years old) to finally see The Greatest Actress FINALLY win an Oscar during my lifetime. At the same time I'm hoping Hollywood recognizes the immeasurable talent that Viola Davis has (as well as other brilliant minority actors such as Shohreh Aghdashloo, Michelle Yeoh, Adriana Barraza, etc.,) and gives her meaty, gritty, legitimately LEAD roles to show her impeccable skill.
I'M REALLY HAPPY FOR MERYL STREEP! SHE IS THE GREATEST AND TO BE HONEST...
I DO NOT FEEL SORRY FOR VIOLA...
because HER TIME WILL COME, of that I'm sure, she is great and I really like her, but it wasn't her year.
CONGRATS MERYL!!
Great piece Nat to move on after a year filled with uncertainty and speculation. I am very glad Meryl finally got her third Oscar... What a wonderful debate this has generated! The comment that most resonated with me refers to how difficult it is to determine what is the right role... Jason Travis said <Because what exactly is the RIGHT role for her to win for? [Meryl is] versatile and amazing, she won for a role she imbedded from frame one. Bravo Meryl.> You are right Jason. It's a very subjective decision.
Was just about to write but Aaron summed it up perfectly!
\"I mean Hollywood THREW themselves at Carey Mulligan and Jennifer Lawrence whose \\\"breakthrough\\\" movies made under $10 million dollars. But Viola leads The Help (yes, with Emma Stone) and she's going to have to fight fight fight to stay in the game?\"
Also, there's an ageist component to this. Viola is not an ingenue anymore like Mulligan and Lawrence. Hollywood likes their leading ladies YOUNG, unfortunately (unless your name is Meryl, Julia, or Sandra). Race does have an inexplicable factor to this as well, but Zoe Saldana is doing pretty damn well these days...but she's also young and beautiful. Hollywood is not like France, who respects their living female legends. It's sad, but true.
It took me a while to figure out how I felt about this, and it's come down to two things. First: I loved Meryl Streep basically since I've loved movies (which has been for most of my life), and I can't deny that it made me really, really happy to see her with that Oscar in her hand. And as some other commenter said, could she ever give a performance that we'd all deem to be \"good enough?\" When you've got a career like hers, it's essentially impossible to step out from behind your own shadow. But, secondly: I hate that her third Oscar will always come with an asterisk. \"Well, she won for The Iron Lady, but...\" because, unfortunately, that film is just a stinker. No way around it. She's fantastic in it, of course, but the movie didn't deserve her. And though I'm no fan of The Help, either, what Viola was doing in that movie was (I thought) fairly undeniable. I don't know. I always thought Meryl's third win would make me unbearably giddy, and am quite sad that it's making me feel all conflicted and whatnot instead. Oh well. Just makes me hate Sandra Bullock's win even more. Incidentally, there've been plenty of commenters saying that no one was hating on Bullock and The Blind Side in 2009. Luckily for those commenters, they weren't around me in 2009. Seriously, I had a \"why the Blind Side sucks and Sandra's oscar is ridiculous\" monologue that I would launch at anyone who paused near me for more than 5 seconds.
Long story short? Yay Meryl, boo The Iron Lady, sorry Viola.
Would we be listening to all these race conspiracies if anyone OTHER than Meryl or Viola won?
Just saying, I think there is way too much anti-Streep venom all over the blogosphere, and I am just sick of it. The academy isn't racist, the audiences are.
Love Nate and Sasha's sites (and Kris from InContention), but in a nutshell these three are mad because they predicted Viola Davis to win the Oscar, and she lost. And they're burned by it. Pure and simple. Two days ago I went on InContention and was horrified when Kris and his partner in crime Anne Thompson went on and said Viola Davis was winning hands down, and Meryl had no chance. When I tried to tell Kris that Meryl has had momentum for quite some time, he boldly told me \"Meryl never had the momentum. It was Viola from day one.\" Really? And look who won Sunday night. Meryl Streep. And he can't handle it.
And all the whiners and bitchers out there who keep saying \"It hurts, it hurts\"- now you know what WE as Streep supporters have gone through for YEARS! Watching her year after year lose (not that she deserved it every time) but you get the idea. And it seems that many take her for granted (\"Oh, she's so humble, she'll be back next year\"). Yeah well I think the academy (and Meryl herself) got tired of playing that lame game, and finally decided that it was time to start giving the award to the best performance of the year- which was Meryl Streep. And it was time to finally end the foolishness of watching her lose to others strictly because of the politics. Sucks it had to Viola to end that train, but oh well. I'm happy to say that it was about damn time Ms. Streep took her crown back.
I am ecstatic that Streep won her third Oscar and her performance was an acting clinic which set a new level of excellence in acting. I think it was the best performance and was rewarded accordingly. I look forward to August Osage County.
In the lead-up to the ceremony, I remained a full supporter of Meryl as the Best Actress, but I was a) certain that Viola had the statue locked up and b) nervous for the backlash Meryl would endure should she win (\"steal\") the award she deserved. And look at it go -- bloggers didn't wait for the speech to end before complaining left, right, and center about the travesty of Viola's loss.
Here's the deal: if this award really were stolen, if the door really was shut closed, if this is to be Viola's FINAL chance to take home the Oscar, then we are in a much sadder state of affairs than we were to start with. Wasn't the point of this film's success, of Ms. Davis's positioning as a box office-tested, critic-approved movie star, of a female-ensemble top 20 hit, to ensure that more of the same could be expected and expounded upon? Surely all of Ms. Davis's fans must hope that, in twenty years, \"The Help\" will not be remembered as her greatest screen role. I hope for the sake of her talent and stature, it might not even rank among them by day's end. If any of her stage successes could make their way to the big screen, they would outshine Aibileen by leaps and bounds. Please, let us channel a narrative in which \"The Help\" is not the outlier, the outstanding once-in-a-career moment. Please, let this Oscar loss not be the disappointment, but be long overshadowed by two things: the crowning achievement of Ms. Streep's career and the significant affirmation of Ms. Davis's place among serious actresses with the eye and ear of a national audience.
Finally, I am just offended and sickened by how horribly people are denigrating Ms. Streep for her win last evening. How horribly, horribly catty and dismissive. Really makes the narrative of \"The Iron Lady\" take on a new poignancy for this viewer...
*Moreover, I do believe that Margaret Thatcher DOES importantly rank as one of Streep's greatest challenges and most important achievements. I think it echoes brilliantly a duo of both her previous wins. It is a technical feat on par with Sophie's Choice and celebrates her ability to truly lead a film, while also remarking importantly on an underserved, underobserved portrait of a woman truly shunned by society, as in her win for Kramer v Kramer.
This might be the new \"Patrow VS Blanchett\" debacle of this decade.
I don't know if I love Meryl Streep as much as her most rabid fans but I had the good luck of seeing her on stage when she was quite young in a musical called Happy End and she was astonishing. And as I've followed her career she has rarely disappointed. The thing is, Streep has been nominated for other performances when she should have won the Oscar -- for better roles. And though I didn't particularly like The Iron Lady, I found Streep riveting in the film -- and its a huge part.
So I can't say it's undeserving. Though my hunches tell me that she will be even better in August: Osage County which is a much better role. And she'll probably lose to the next big thing.
Streep said after the show last night that winning was a crap shoot and that any of the nominees deserved to win. I felt that way about the best actor performances this year as well.
As far as the race issue goes, it's hard as an Asian American watching American movies and TV shows in general and not seeing Asian or Asian American actors getting their due, getting good roles and hardly ever being nominated for anything. So I don't know how to react to the white vs. black actress winning an award thing. At least they are both in the game. Asians are often completely invisible.
been a fan of yours forever Nat, but I am extremely disappointed with your view on this one. It's cheap to cry racism. Streep deserved this award just as much as Davis did. Aside from the haters, the racism argument, and Harvey, Streep won her third Oscar because she's phenomenal, and her performance was incredible. It's evident that you're sore about last night since your grasping for any kind of argument that will give you a reason why Viola lost, but it's just the simple fact that Meryl was better.
Oh, and your Oscar winner banner on top is missing someone by the way.
Could we all quit the bitterness? Both were great, and Meryl deserved and wanted the 3rd Oscar that she dressed up as one. Stop the arguments people.
Nathaniel, your piece was therapeutic for me as I'm both ecstatic and conflicted.
Did anyone happen to read what Meryl told ET before she entered the Governor's Ball? I can't decide how I feel about La Streep reading Oscar blogs. I feel as if she's watching my every move now...
She said, \"I had been reading the blogs in the awards run-up and I had a fairly full sense of how the momentum was going. I felt that 'Oh, God, half of America is really mad now that I won.'\"
Does this humanize her? I do admire her awareness.
Again, Mr. Nate and all the other \"Davis\" supporters weren't crying racism when Sandra Bullock beat Gabby Sidibe in 2009, even though MoNique won supporting. Same thing this year right? Black woman takes supporting, lead black woman loses to white woman. Is this the picture you want to paint?
Sounds more like a case of sour grapes. Just pissed because you followed the train and jumped on the bandwagon with every other wannabe know-it-all and decided you would go with Davis too, even though it was clear that Streep was a STRONG frontrunner with Drama Globe, BAFTA and New York. Any other actress who had those going into the Oscars would be called a frontrunner, but because it was Streep you took her for granted and decided since she didn't win the SAG, it was over. Well in yo face, she won anyways! Embrace it instead of crying fake rivers because you think Davis was in such need to win because of the color of her skin. So I guess everytime a black woman is nominated, she has to win otherwise it will look racist? Give me a holy break. You're usually way more rational then that, but this truly boggles my mind.
Time Magazine hailed Streep's performance the best of the year, and it will go on to be one of the best wins in history. IF Time had, instead, hailed Davis's performance the best of the year, you would have tried to use that to validate her. But again, because its Streep- and you have something against her- you act like the comment means nothing. \"I would have preferred if Streep won for this instead...\" well guess what? SHE LOST! She lost all those times you \"wish\" she would have won, but honestly I bet if she had won for your favored performance of hers, you still would have been bitter because some people simply cannot fathom her winning another Oscar. Every year she lost, these same people would try to soothe the \"Streep fans\" by saying 'Don't worry, she'll be back next year.' Totally being fake supporters as secretly I'm sure they were glad she lost. It totally reflects in last night's result, because now they can't handle that the woman who always is taken for granted actually WON!
Viola can wait. She's a good actor and she will be offered good roles if not better ones.I am not the least worried for her. Viola robbed? Imagine how Meryl would have felt yr after year being nominated, going home empty handed. Why would we be surprised that she won this yr? Cos Viola won the SAG? Meryl won the SAG in 2009 for Doubt but she lost her Oscars to Kate Winslet . Did anyone feel she was robbed? Winning an SAG does not mean you are dead locked for an Oscar! . She was truly deseving in The Iron Lady with her perfomrance at top notch. So why should she be penalised & critised in a not so great movie despite brillaint performance? Meryl was nominated for a acting category not for best director or best screenplay. Is it fair to say we want Meryl to win, but just 'not this yr' or 'she can wait till she gets a better role\"..... well the time is now! Viola can wait till she gets a better role ..... another yr.
I was rooting for Viola (though not passionately) because I liked her performance and I wanted Meryl to win for something else. But I can't not be happy that she won. I wanted her to get a third (though, WHY NOT FOR PRADA??) and she did. And I loved the speech. I do believe she was both glad she won and sad that Viola didn't.
And I do hope that Viola (as she's practically said she wishes herself) will eventually get a great role that has little to nothing to do with how much black women suffered while keeping their dignity etc. Not that movies about minorities suffering should stop being made, but, as Mayukh said, are these kinds of roles the only way for a talented black actress to win an Oscar?
But also, I think people have come to care about the Oscars a bit too much. (I can't believe I'm saying this)
I mean, I don't think we cared that much ten years ago. Why now, with all the shit that is happening aroung the world?
Were people that upset that Huppert wasn't even nominated for the Piano Teacher?
People are acting as if Viola might drink herself to death because she didn't win the Oscar.
I think she is happy her friend won and quite pleased that she has had that much success, in addition to all the success she has had in the theatre world.
(I didn't like the tone of this post. Imagine it sweeter :) )
adelutza - LOL
Nathan's favorite is Michelle Pfeiffer. He adores Streep but Michelle's the one he wants to marry. It's a sore subject--Michelle's Best Actress loss to Tandy. The signs were there. Streep's film had a separate nomination outside of her bid for Actress. It was Makeup--the same prize Jessica Tandy's film won. Terry Gilliam remarked--Best Makeup? Morgan Freeman's black. Jessica Tandy's old. How is this best Makeup?--I could say the same thing here. I won't ever tease you again about it. No matter how good natured I thought it was.
Wow. There are some oddly childish and reductive statements being made right now, but all I'm want to say is that I really enjoyed this piece. I found it to be thoughtfully introspective and it pretty much sums up my thoughts exactly. It's funny because I didn't know how much I wanted Viola to win until she lost, but there is a part of me that's happy for Meryl. Viola deserved it, she was the best this year despite being in a film that was only OK. Meryl has done better and has deserved the gold several times before, but this was not one of those occasions. For people to act like there were no politics involved in this win, like she got the Oscar based solely on the merit of this performance, is a joke. I'm not sure there's ever been a case of politics not being involved, regardless of how deserved the win may have been. I'm not saying there's something wrong with celebrating her win if that's the outcome you wanted, but stop acting like children and ignoring that there are other factors that contributed to the outcome of Sunday's festivities.
\"Sounds more like a case of sour grapes. Just pissed because you followed the train and jumped on the bandwagon with every other wannabe know-it-all and decided you would go with Davis too\"
Uh no, lol. Some people genuinely felt she was the best and had great chances.
\"So I guess everytime a black woman is nominated, she has to win otherwise it will look racist?\"
Who said that? Lol.
I think this is far from a bad outcome in such circumstances.
For one, high profile loss can make performances even more enduring, can't they? Bill Murray and Mickey Rourke's come vividly to mind.
Here is hoping that somebody doesn't just give Viola a movie, but roles rich enough to match her \"gigantic gift\".
Oh, one more wish, just one more, that Viola and Meryl share a scene again!
lol now people have the balls to call out others on their delusions* now that their favorite won!
Hey Philip- LOL, guess what? Meryl still won. LOL.
Let's be quietly hopeful for Viola's bigger and better roles for , say, three years and get behind an asian nom in the meantime. If things aren't looking up let's reconvene and complain to our hearts content.
I believe the backlash has already come. And it's well deserved, in my opinion. I know many people who think what Streep has done is atrocious. It's not just that The Iron Lady is an abysmal film. It's also, most importantly, that Streep's performance is a ridiculous pantomime, and that she agreed to take part in the hagiography of a despicable woman just because she was desperate for a third Oscar. It's very sad to see a good actress in this situation, but she has no one but herself to blame.
I am glad Meryl won the oscar for maybe one of her best performances. She was technically good at impersonating Thatcher but she did more, she gave depth to a hated, caricatured women. I thought she was splendid as the demented Thatcher, having demented family myself it was very convincing and realistic. I hope Viola Davis will be given great roles, but I'm glad she didn't win for this one. It would have been something to have a black actress win for playing a maid more than 70 years after Hattie McDaniel won for playing a maid. To me that is not progression.
On a side note, I do feel bad for her but so do I for Close who needs to win an oscar even more!
It never is and never will be about \"the best (anything)\". It's mostly Hollywood giving prices to themselves. They are extremely conservative: resistant to believe that new faces can actually give better (anything) than familiar ones, that comedies and comic performances can be better than drama, etc.
Yesterday I read about Agnieszka Holland's (director of \"In Darkness\", foreign language nominee this year) comment on this year's Oscars. She said she was in a much better situation than Martin Scorsese, who lost to an \"empty\" movie, because she at least lost to a good one.
:|
Must say, I thought Meryl was absolutely extraordinary in The Iron Lady - an Oscar worthy performance if ever there was one. It was a film that rested entirely on her performance and she was superb. The scene in which she has to be reminded that her son lives in South Africa and that she isn't Prime Minister anymore is heartbreakingly well done. Absolute stillness that conveys a great depth of emotion. And I loath Margaret Thatcher and everything she stands for.
Which isn't to say that Viola wasn't great or that she isn't one of the best actresses around at the moment - but I really don't think her race had anything to do with her not winning. Racism does play a huge role in her career, of course, and you are right to point that out - but up against a woman with seventeen previous nominations who gave a landmark performance - I don't think we can cry racism at this particular moment.
I'm still feeling sorry for Glenn Close. I know she didn't deserve to win for this particular film, but I re-watched Dangerous Liasons the other night and can't believe that a woman who can act like that hasn't won an Oscar.
I wanted Glenn to win. Part of me still does. But looking at the number of indivduals who have a single Oscar, I am beginning to think that it might be better if she doesn't win. Ever. Part of the reason we remember Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter amazing level of nominations is that they never won. Geraldine Page is simply oscar winner instead of being remembered as an 8 time nominee. If Glenn can't become a dual or triple winner then I would be happier thinking of her as a seven or eight time nominee.
First of all, let me say that I am a stage director and I live in Europe (actually Paris where everyone is nuts about \"The Artist\"'s success, so much that it almost takes something from it), I've been reading this blog for a long time. I might have a different view than the average (American) film audience normally does. I have pondered about posting a comment here, but I feel like I need to, because I think this debate is pointless.
How can one make a hierachy in art, how can one decide what performace (or what film) is better? It is such a personal thing and I believe that when we think we have the ONLY key for that we're completely in the wrong. Something I might like someone else might not. Something that touches me might not register at all with a different person. So, I just wanted to say, basically, that all this fanatic pros and cons over one actress or the other just seems so out of place for so many reasons, at least for the futility of the enterprise, because the prize is given and it will stay that way. Another reason is that winning prizes for an artist is a bit like lottery. Do we, artists, like to have that recognition? Of course we do, anyone who says otherwise is lying. Every single artist who lost an award to someone else is (somewhat) disappointed. Even though you might find that whoever got the award deserved it. And most of the time the recognition doesn't even come for your best work. It depends on who's up against you, so many other contextual things that are constantly brought up to the front and being made up as important - race and age were this year, for instance. And, of course, it might help to have the right people cheering up for you before...
But that being said, I put myself in the shoes of someone trying to vote, trying to decide what seemed better for him/her that year. I'll do it hoping that it will give you an indication on what happens when someone like me has to vote. So, I must say that I would have voted for Meryl Streep. Just based on her performance alone and the complexity and controversy of the character she portrayed. Yes, it is a great role, although the film is not what some might have expected. It is not the only time when an acting part is much better than the film, nor is it the first time such a performance gets credited. And you need a big role to win, you need to bring something that will make the difference, and if the role is not striking enough it will not register as being important. And she does an incredible job. To reduce it to mimicry is really a shame, and it doesn't reflect the reality. It is so much more than that. I was touched by the elderly part too, I loved the commanding presence in the Thatcher glory days, but something very few people noticed was the bittersweet irony that Ms. Streep put into that role whenever she had the chance, which I found very refreshing.
I wouldn't have voted for Viola Davis not because I don't think she did a really wonderful job, nor because I didn't think she is as fine an actress as any, but because it is a much smaller role and a more conventional one, and it touched and impressed me less. I just found that it didn't have the range of the character of Thatcher. At some point you need to choose somehow, and that would be how I would choose. And that is very subjective and personal. And it doesn't have anything to do with the external things that the media puts into that, it's just based on the acting (both outstanding in my opinion) and the parts themselves.
The rest is superfluous. And yes, one has the right to think that awards are unlucky for some people. And making an hierarchy based on numbers alone is really just a statistics approach that has very little to do with art. As much as I like Katharine Hepburn (because I do) I doubt seriously that she's the best actress ever, not because she isn't a good actress, but because I prefer others. And yes, I am really really upset that actresses like Glenn Close or Michelle Pffeiffer didn't get an Oscar at all, especially because there are many roles in which they are great and in films that have always been all-time favourites (Dangerous Liaisons is probably the film I have seen most times in my life - stopped counting at more than 20 - and they're both great in it). But life isn't fair and a career is also made by luck, getting the right role at the right time, and by the choices we make. But I wouldn't like any of these ladies to \"finally\" get an Oscar, just because it's time to give it to them (and I really don't think that's why Meryl Streep won), I would really like to see them in good strong roles for which they will give other unforgettable performances. So I was happy to see Glenn back into the light and I hope she (and others, including Viola Davis, Tilda Swinton and so, so many others) will get more interesting roles in the very near future. After all, it's such a great, great, great joy to see these superb actresses on screen. Why not just be happy about it? Why do we have to fight over who is best? Because everyone has his favourite, and it is normal that it is that way. And no one will convince anyone else.
yeah, that too, how about mentioning Glenn Close and her FASCINATING performance?
The whole world cries about Viola Davis, while Close's masterclass is being forgotten in North Korea.
and this is her 6th loss...
I liked that film and loved her in it.
I also thought that the \"Albert Nobbs\" ensemble did a better job than \"The Help\" ensemble.
pre-The Kids Are Alright, Annette Bening had nothing to do with overdue
post-The Kids Are Alright, I do agree that she is, since I can give the 2010 Oscar to her, Natalie or Nicole - all three were phenomenal.
I really hate what is to follow and how the whole world will label Viola Davis as overdue from now on. BUT HEY! Streep's more-than-deserved win was the best possible slap for so many people who more-than-deserved it!
I also don't get the racist/ageist problem.
In the last 10 years we have Helen Mirren, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep (if it had not been Streep it was going to be Viola).
That's 3 out 10, and I think it's not bad at all.
Jennifer Hudson, Mo'Nique, Octavia Spenser - all winners, all black, and all within the last 5 years. There's been this crazy opinion on a site I do not wish to mention that Penelope Cruz is somehow a woman of color, if you want to believe that and throw her in the mix, it turns out that AMPAS are not as messed up as people want them to be. Rube Dee and Taraji P. Henson are black too.
Before crying about all of that, I personally want to see Cate Blanchett win a Lead Actress Oscar, so anyone who happens to know powerful studio executives please force them to add that 10-15 million to the \"Indian Summer\" budget with the one and only Joe Wright.
OK, now it's time to start predicting next year.
How about:
1. Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina (long live 1985)
2. Carey Mulligan, The Great Gatsby OR Inside Llewyn Davis (long live 1985)
3. Meryl Streep, Great Hope Springs
4. Laura Linney, Hyde Park On Hudson
5. Amanda Seyfried, Lovelace (long live 1985)
I had a comment to do, but then i read that from zig and 'im going to repost it:\" I would much rather see her win for a complex role that didn't require the accompanying excuses for its source material.\"
And, yes, I'm absolutely agaisnt giving prizes to actors in bad movies. It encourages them to go on working with people like Lloyd or Taylor. Both The Iron Lady and The Help were embassingly bad movies.
The real shame of this season is not see Streep winning against a very good performance in a shitty movie: it's not to see more ambitious, complicated and complex performances like your FB nominees (except for Viola).
If Viola had won, we'd still have the same situation. Let's wait for Viola to win an Oscar for a role that is worthy oh her talent.
Some people are not seeing the forest for the trees. Nathaniel is not talking about the Oscars being racist - he is talking about the loss of chance. Sadly this could be the last time Viola gets a juicy lead performance. Look at how many films in 2011 were headlined by woman, then look at how many of those were headlined by women of colour.
The percentage is extremely low - films centring on black women are hardly made - and then you have to take into account when they are, are they good enough to be considered for awards?
An Oscar win opens doors - it puts your name at the top of casting agents lists and it even makes people produce movies for you (ala 'The Iron Lady' was for done for Streep). With the way things are currently going in the movie industry the chances of Viola making another movie that gets awards attention is slim, especially in a leading role.
Personally speaking, I wanted Meryl to win a 3rd (she should have had at least 4 or 5 by now) but had she lost I would have been confortable in the knowledge that she has 2 lead roles coming up in high profile films, ‘Great Hope Springs’ in 2012 and ‘August: Osage County’ in 2013 where she could win. Viola does not have that luxury.
Meryl wanted Viola to win, because Streep knew how the win would open up other opportunities. As Meryl said “Yes, oh yes. I love her (Davis) and think she’s amazing” Meryl confirmed, when asked by a journalist if she’d rather Viola win. ”She deserves and should be at the forefront of our business. She's a friend and we've worked together and I'm really fond of her. So we want the best for our friends.\"
I think we all win when amazing talent is allowed to shine, sadly the white male centric movie industry does not provide that opportunity often enough.
Michael Parsons
Jason -- really? You really think i was mad because my prediction was wrong? I know you know better. I've seen you around here often. I have never cared about my prediction stats more than my own feelings about who is deserving. N-E-V-E-R. I think my site every year proves that. Predictions are fun but it's for entertainment discussion purposes only. I have never once cared about \"stats\" in anything other than a \"sidebar\" way.
I'm here for the movies/actresses.
That door never opened. Although it's quite sad, I agree with Steve Martin when he said that Halle Berry's victory was only a triumph for incredibly hot-looking women. Cynical and misogynist, but true.
In the Davis vs. Streep battle, I was Glenn Close all the way! Sorry, now seriously, Viola lost a huge opportunity the other night. We all know it and that's why it hurts to the ones -myself included- who believe she's phenomenal.
Regarding Meryl, which I also love, I'm with Hayden. The notion she's overdue has always been hard for me to swallow considering that whenever a meaty role comes along, she's always the first on the list to play it. That's quite a recognition per se. If she really had to win a third, then I would have preferred anything else rather than that sloppy hagiography.