It’s a good dress.... We just have this thing about this sort of design, where all the embellishments are concentrated right at the waist of a gown. Even if it’s all well-placed and chic, it still looks like one of those visual tricks to fool the eye into seeing a waist smaller than it is. We like the “falling leaves” quality of the skirt, but we dislike the way the bust is completely white.....Yes. Optical illusions are wonderfully useful, but the illusion is blown when we fixate on how it is an illusion.
The Harriet Tubman quote was: "In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line. But I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line." Davis's take on that was downright conservative: "The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity." And a deft strike at Hollywood: "You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there."
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I was not aware that Harriet Tubman quotes ever came off as pretentious or grandiose, let alone being noticed at all.
She looks like an athlete, not an actress. Beautiful dress, though. Can't understand why the show won, unless this was a very weak year.
"Get your cotton-picking hands off my gin." - Eli Whitney
Films with black actors in leading roles don't sell well outside the United States. It's a well known but little talked about phenomenon. And that alone suppresses a lot of Hollywood casting that should be more colorblind.
What's his name Morgan Freeman is good. Probably he's won something.
Except for Morgan Freeman's washed-up tough guy who had a drinking problem working as bodyguard to a little white girl in Mexico, which plot seemed to involve too much drinking.
This theatrical difficulty-device is so boring that you can't finish the film. Just stop drinking or get out.
It's like watching Lloyd Bridges in agony crawling up 22 consecutive flights of stairs.
It means no writers.
Morgan Freeman is the master of bemused.
You don't see that in Harriet Tubman films.
"You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there."
There are plenty of blacks in movies, probably more than their proportion in the population, so I gather she was complaining on behalf of Amerindians and Asians.
Part of the problem is that all black Hollywood actresses look alike.
This may be because Tyler Perry plays most of them.
I am Laslo.
Then there's Halle Berry. I don't like her but she turns up all over.
Hugh Grant makes the most entertaining films, usually. There's some wit in the dialogue. This even gives the female lead to measure up, which is great.
Imagine your female lead playing against Hugh Grant, to see how good she can be imagined to be.
Hugh Grant is even better with English subtitles.
"Films with black actors in leading roles don't sell well outside the United States. It's a well known but little talked about phenomenon. And that alone suppresses a lot of Hollywood casting that should be more colorblind."
That may explain why so many of her roles have been on television.
The Emmy, of course, was for television.
I don't know her show. I am thrilled for Crazy Eyes, though.
""Films with black actors in leading roles don't sell well outside the United States."
Reminded me of the hacked Sony emails from a few months back.
According to emails from the execs, two-time Oscar winner Washington should not be cast in films that will get play overseas — because he is black...
The producer who sent the e-mail to Sony Chairman Michael Lynton said he or she hoped the incredible statement wasn’t “inappropriate or provocative.” But the producer — whose name was erased from the emails — suggested Sony should avoid casting black actors to appeal to an international market that the producer deemed “racist."
“No, I am not saying The Equalizer should not have been made or that African American actors should not have been used (I personally think Denzel is the best actor of his generation),” the producer wrote.
“Casting him is saying we’re ok with a double if the picture works,” the producer wrote, using a baseball analogy. “He’s reliable at the domestic [box office], safe, but has not had a huge success in years. I believe whenever possible the non event pictures, extra ‘bets’ should have a large inherent upside and be made for the right price. Here there isn’t a large inherent upside.”
Washington’s The Equalizer grossed $191 million at theaters worldwide, with 47% of the ticket sales coming from outside of the United States. Still, the e-mail chain suggested that the overseas box office percentage was not good enough. Other films should expect 65% of the sales abroad, the analysis said. The reason for the disparity? According to the producer, it was Washington’s race.
“I believe that the international motion picture audience is racist — in general pictures with an African American lead don’t play well overseas,” the producer wrote. “But Sony sometimes seems to disregard that a picture must work well internationally to both maximize returns and reduce risk, especially pics with decent size budgets.”
I am Laslo.
(1) Sheldon Cooper wore a T-shirt with swarming bats on it that I thought was pretty cool.
(2) Duvel glass by Eley Kishimoto.
(3) "The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity."
Well, there's pigmentation, maybe, and the vagina thing, possibly, and maybe a few other things, but I think I get her general point.
In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line.
Harriet Tubman was a lesbian who dug white chicks?
I did not know that.
Put her on the $20!
I thought Viola Davis quoting Harriet Tubman was feisty.
I am Laslo.
International distribution is a big deal in film production fundraising. The combination of pre-sold international distribution rights and state tax credits is a huge part of the 'margin of safety' that film investors look for when they figure out which projects to back.
Headlining actors and actresses aren't employees. They're 'brands,' in every real sense of the word. You can't force people to like one brand over another because JUSTICE. And you can't make math go away by thinking happy libtard thoughts.
The Sony emails are correct.
If anything even more so for black actresses.
Asian audiences in particular.
There's certainly been several successful TV shows with black women as leads or co-leads in recent years. For example: Revenge, Sleepy Hollow, and Empire.
Hollywood's ideal black actress would look just like Angelina Jolie, with slightly darker skin and slightly smaller lips.
I am Laslo.
I had a crush on Julia, as a kid. Not only a knockout, but a nurse! But I guess since I was a white kid, that means that show must have been racist.
I am so tired of Black faces and Black culture being kept off of TV. America is so damned racist! The Black President should do something about this! Or maybe the Black Attorney General can use the RICO statutes to stop this bullshit! Now that I think about it, that last Black Attorney General shoulda done sumpin! We can't depend on liberal Hollywood to fix this!
Not sure why that sounded like a conservative quote to you, Professor Althouse. The quote is practically trademarked by Democrats in 2015. It has been used in at least five or six different speeches by five or six different prominent political liberals. It goes like this; "Talent is distributed equally in our society, but opportunity is not." The lack of "opportunity" in that formulation is due to bigotry, oppression and historical racism. Or so they say.
Anyway, Bill Clinton used the line. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has used the line repeatedly. Google it. You'll get thousands of pages of quotes. It is the new pet-quote of the liberal/techno/millennials. It's a way of griping about all of the old left-wing shibboleths without using any of the old language, and instead talking in the bright multicolored language of the tech boom.
I once had sex with Angelina Jolie, but then Brad Pitt came into the room and kept trying to fuck me in the ass.
I said "Pitt, stop with that shit", but he kept coming back and trying again.
Thank goodness George Clooney came by to fuck him.
Hollywood.
I am Laslo.
Laslo Spatula said... [hush][hide comment]
""Films with black actors in leading roles don't sell well outside the United States."
Reminded me of the hacked Sony emails from a few months back. ......etc....
Laslo Spatula: More than just another pretty face
At the moment of getting the award that says you have reached the pinnacle of your chosen profession she decided to say folks like her did not have opportunities. I did not think to count the black versus white nominees (sorry, not wired that way) in the various categories, but my recollection is that there was a lot of diversity.
Except, of course when the thundering herds of everyone connected to a show came on stage for an award. For example, the Daily Show must have had 30 people on stage. I recall only one or two minorities. But it is OK, he scolds the right people so he can't be part of the problem.
JAORE: What you describe is a "humble brag" wherein one expresses one's own wonderfulness by noting the difficulties everyone else in the world has, that one somehow has overcome to such an extent that one just won an award.
Marlon Brando's Oscar non-acceptance was the first example of this that made me conscious of the technique. Every speech Obama or Hillary has ever given is yet another example.
It is a stupid thing to do, and once recognized can be reviled appropriately.
You guys were watching the Emmys? The Packers/Seahawks game was way more entertaining.
Harriet Tubman . . . that gun-toting Republican, as Glenn ("Instapundit") Reynolds likes to point out.
It's a good rule of thumb, with Big Brother sticking his nose in almost everything, that if there's a line separating anyone from anything they actually have a right to (that lets out "other people's money" and "a job"), that line is invariably going to be Der Staat.
You guys were watching the Emmys? The Packers/Seahawks game was way more entertaining.
I was in bed asleep by 8:30. That's even better! What an exhausting day yardwork wise and you can't even tell. (sigh)
"The Emmy, of course, was for television."
Oh, my bad.
Without race, abortion, and feminism--but abortion at all costs, of course--the old lefty hippies got nuthin.
Oh, and gays now. Thank God for gays!
Though Viola did deserve that award. Thas a fact.
Anyone have a source for that quote? I was wondering about the context, so I went looking. I've searched various combinations of it on Google books and not gotten a single match.
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