Michael here from Serious Film. I’ve been posting analysis of all the Oscar categories one at a time so when the Supporting Actress category came up I naturally had to compose variations on the phrase "supportive girlfriend/wife" (Amy Adams and Helena Bonham-Carter) so as not to get repetitive.
Supportive Gals = Oscar Traction
You don't have to break out any such phrase for the guys. Just how lopsided is this situation? Do the fellas ever get nominated for staying home and cheering on the ladies?
I looked up some stats, and long story short, I didn’t think it would be that lopsided. Going back over the last twenty years there was only one, count em one, nomination for the traditional supportive husband/boyfriend role, Jim Broadbent for Iris. (He won.) If you want to stretch you can push it up to three by including John C. Reilly’s doofus husband in Chicago and Christopher Plummer’s Tolstoy in The Last Station, but if you ask me those don’t fit the type. After that…nothing. Just villains and character actor parts as far as the eye can see. Of course a few of the others play husbands but their wives have equal or lesser roles (Think Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry Maguire)
I’ll leave it to you to draw conclusions about the diversity of female roles in Hollywood but one conclusion I can say for sure: If you’re a guy looking to win an Oscar avoid playing the husband.
P.S.Remember Nathaniel's Illustrated Chart of Supporting Actor 'Types'? (click to embiggen)
Tangled begins as so many Disney fairy tales do, with literal storytelling. But rather than opening a book --are they too antiquated for the kiddies *sniffle* ? -- it's simple narration as Flynn Rider begins to tell us the tale of Rapunzel. The first character he introduces us to is Mother Gothel, obsessing over the healing power of a golden flower.
Oh, you see that old woman over there? You might want to remember her. She's kind of important.
No joke. That's true of character and actress. Gothel's voice belongs to Donna Murphy, one of Broadway's most formidable stars. She seizes the richest opportunity of her sparse screen career as forcefully as Mother Gothel grabs at her chance at immortality.
"blah blah blah blah blah"
In the first seconds of this introduction when we see the hunched crone-like woman with darting eyes, the animators are doing the heavy lifting. But soon enough Donna Murphy's spectacular voice creeps into the picture and we have one of the all-time best villains in Disney's already estimable rogues gallery.
"Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine," she sings with ancient cracked weariness. As her magic flower does its healing work, Murphy's more familiar superstar pipes emerge, newly coated in honey "Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine, what once was mine." No wonder she can't let go of this power once it's in the human form or Rapunzel. Who'd want that voice to whither, never mind the beauty.
Murphy's enormous gift for musical comedy is a huge assett in crafting Disney's most disturbing parent/child relationship without alienating its intended audience. Tangled isn't a horror film after all. We have to understand that Mother Gothel is dangerous for her adopted daughter, but we also have to enjoy the emotional games which are played at Rapunzel's expense. Little "Flower", as Gothel calls Rapunzel, doesn't even understand the rules.
Murphy's quickfire comic delivery is filled with florid theatricality (perfect for both the stage and the animated film) but the actress can ground it just as quickly with softer tones. So when she teases Rapunzel in the mirror. "I see a confident beautiful young woman. [beat] Oh look you're here too!" and then laughs at her own mean joke, you're both giggling and apalled. Then you want to forgive her when she hugs her daughter because she's funny and vibrant and she sounds like she means it whenever she drops the teasing. She cushions those blows with kisses and endearments "I love you most" and though not all of them sound 100% genuine, moments of emotional authenticity pop up to catch you unawares. What kind of woman is this? Murphy flips Gothel's switch constantly: loving mother, flamboyant diva, charming confidante, dangerous villain, exhausted single parent, selfish bitch; who can keep up? Certainly not Rapunzel!
a dramatic pose in "Mother Knows Best"
Even better, whether she's working the book scenes or singing, you can hear in Murphy's delivery both the anticipatory manipulations (when she doesn't want to deal with her daughter's neediness) and the lags in response time (when Rapunzel surprises her).
Though it's not the least bit surprising if you've ever seen her on stage, Murphy absolutely nails Mother Gothel's big number "Mother Knows Best" which is a character song, an illustration of emotional backstory (you know she's sung this song before and you can imagine how it's shaped her "daughter"), a comic interlude and dramatic showstopper. At least it is with Murphy playing it. The most hilariously self-aware moment is in the climax. She sings
Skip the drama Stay with Mama Moooooooooother Knows Best.
"Skip the drama," sings the drama queen with total flamboyance. That's rich. Mother Gothel is laughing at her own killing joke even while sliding into the next witty lyric.
Later while bargaining with her daughter about a trip, she drops the comedy for more earthbound familiar parent/child friction but Murphy's still working it like it's her big showstopping song and the spotlight is on. "Enough with the lights," she yells with scary force at her persistent daughter (Dangerous Villain) having reached her breaking point. "Great now I'm the bad guy" she sighs, collapsing with self-deluding comedy (Selfish Bitch). Rapunzel switches gears herself in response and wants a different gift. "And what is that?" Murphy says with genuine inquisitiveness peaking through her annoyance (Exhaustive Single Parent). Murphy doesn't oversell this last line at all, though she might have. The actress is softening with the character so your attention can flow back to Rapunzel, who is trying her hand at the manipulation game from her mother who knows it best.
Murphy's spoken dialogue is as musically fluid and emotionally incisive as her singing is dramatically and comedically assured. This is why you cast already great musical stars in musicals, Hollywood! They sing beautifully even when they're just acting and they act dramatically even when their voices are carrying a melody.
Consider this a reboot. A retooled second (third?) season, if you will. With a brand new website, awesome technical support (aside from blog import issues -- still working on it -- Squarespace has been a dream thus far), and the countdown to Oscar, it's time for the lost podcast to return home.
Katey, Joe and Nick have returned to help me kick off this year's audio Oscar-madness. Having been quiet for too long, our conversation spilleth over. Second part coming up shortly.
Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 12:30PM 
Supportive Gals = Oscar Traction
Supportive Guys ≠ Oscar Traction
