Saturday night I was watching "Baisden After Dark" and legendary comedian Paul Mooney was one of the panelists. He gave legendary actress and co-panelist Sheryll Lee Ralph a genuine compliment about her staying power in show business. He said, "there's no substitute for class." Then he went on to talk about how (another legendary) actress Liz Taylor has "the biggest breasts from here to England - but you never saw them. You saw a pretty face, some cleavage, diamonds and rubies." WOW ... ain't that the damn truth? Then I got to thinking? Why is everybody so proud of Halle Berry being the first black woman to win the Best Actress Academy Award? Personally, I think she prostituted herself for that award. How we went from Esther Rolle demanding that a strong black man be cast as her husband in Good Times, to the Huxtables, to black college life in "A Different World," to Billy Bob Thornton bangin' Halle is beyond me. On that note, Denzel Washington has two Oscars on his shelf. Did he get either of them for playing Steven Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Melvin B. Tolson ("The Great Debaters"), or Herman Boone ("Remember the Titans")? NO ... He got the Best Supporting Actor Oscar from the movie "Glory" for playing a runaway slave who died fighting in the civil war (after being whipped but only shedding a tear), and the Best Actor Award for playing a dirty cop in "Training Day."
So what message does that give to young black children, teens, and aspiring actors and actresses? The only way to rise to the so-called top is to be the bad guy or the "mammy" type character? Lest we not forget that the first black performer ever to win an Academy Award, Hattie McDaniel got that award for playing "Mammy" in "Gone With the Wind," and could not even accept her own award because blacks weren't allowed in the building!
It saddens me to see so many beautiful women of color prostitute themselves in these videos and to see strong young brothers be nothing more than thugs, pimps, and convicts thinking that's their only way to make it to the top. Think of actresses the caliber of a Lena Horne, or an Angela Basset. Look up to actors the likes of Paul Robeson, Ossie Davis, Bill Cosby, or Avery Brooks.
Paul Mooney got it right ... There's no substitute for class!
1 comment:
So right. Paul Mooney is always on point with his social commentary. If you want to win an award from the Academy who have to be what they want you to be either a 'N' ,and I don't mean that in a nice way, (for the men) or some kind of Dependent house slave for the females. It's also the reason why you won't find too many movies about positive reform or actions by people of color. It's impossible to find 1995's Panther because they stopped making copies of it.
Class is something this younger generation will not have if the positive role models of today ,from the ages of 20-50, don't make it paramount to be a guiding light for the youth.
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