Author: Amy Nicole
The Golden Globe Awards aired on Sunday night and everyone is still discussing Taraji P. Henson’s acceptance speech. Henson won an award for best actress in a tv series drama for her role in Empire. Although her speech was humorous, it also revealed a subliminal message behind the types of roles that black actors are recognized for in Hollywood.
In her speech she said, “Who knew that playing an ex-convict would take me all around the globe, I thought I would have won for Queenie (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) or my character in Karate Kid but it’s for Cookie, who spent 17 years in prison for selling crack. Okay so the world loves real!”
Many speculate that the actress was referring to film industry executives who have been accused of primarily awarding black actors for stereotypical roles like criminals or domestic roles.
This same discussion was brought up several years ago when Halle Berry and Denzel Washington both won Oscars for their roles in the movies Monster’s Ball and Training Day. In Monster’s Ball, Berry portrayed a single, poor mom who became a widow after her husband was executed in prison. Denzel Washington received an award for his character in the movie Training Day in which he portrayed a corrupt cop and drug dealer. Both Washington and Berry have a plethora of amazing films which left many people wondering why they awarded for the portrayal of characters depicted in a negative light.
Not sure if the awarding to black actors for stereotypical roles is intentional or not but there is definitely a correlation between how black people are perceived in society and how we are portrayed in films.