Octavia Spencer took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, as widely expected, for her role as Minny Jackson in The Help. Octavia swept this awards season, winning at the SAGs, Golden Globes, Critics Choice and BAFTA Awards. It would have been an upset if any of the other worthy actresses won in this category.
It seems like Octavia’s speeches have been becoming more polished as she’s getting more experience taking home statues, but she got overwhelmed tonight. She was crying and you could tell how overcome she was in the moment. It was touching. Octavia told Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet that she “didn’t have a speech.. you only have a speech if you win.” Well she won! Here’s part of her acceptance speech:
Thank you academy for putting me with the hottest guy in the room. I have to thank my families, my family in Alabama, the state of Alabama. My L.A. family watching at Stevens. Tate Burnson, Catherine, Allison Janney… I share this with everybody. Thank you Steven Spielberg for changing my life. Please wrap up, I’m freaking out… I love you, thank you I’m sorry!
Congratulations to Octavia on a well deserved win! We’ll have to see if her co-star, Viola Davis, wins for Best Actress. I’m hoping it goes to Viola, but there’s also a strong chance that Meryl could win this year.
I’m also hoping that all these accolades really translate to a solid upswing in Octavia’s career. Judging from her IMDB, that’s probably the case as she’s got a lot of work coming up.
Update, Oscar Photos: In terms of Octavia’s fashion, she was gorgeous in Tadashi Shoji, a designer that has not let her down this season. The style of that dress was just incredible, it was simple yet striking and sophisticated. I love the gathered starburst pattern. She was in Jimmy Choo shoes, carried a Judith Leiber clutch, and had on Neil Lane jewels. Octavia told both Ryan Seacrest and Robin Roberts that she had her hair done by the hairdresser for The Help, Camille Friend. She told Robin Roberts “When somebody does you well, you tell everybody.” I love her! Oh and Viola’s date was Tate Taylor, the producer and director of The Help. He’s old friends with the writer of the novel, Kathryn Stockett.
I’m sooo Happyy for herr ! She deserved it. She seems humble. Her speech thanked everyone!
Awesome!
She was the best part of that movie. I’m not a fan of the film at all, but I can’t complain about this win.
Couldn’t agree more!
I thought so too. She was really good in the movie, but it definitely wasn’t in my top movies of the year.
Congratulations to Octavia I loved how moved she was for winning.
totally agree.
You are not going to be attacked. There are very few roles for Black women even the ones who look like Megan Good. What was the last film Megan Good was in? Probably a straight to DVD. Quite frankly Megan Good isn’t that good of an actress.The only films where you see actors playing professionals are in Tyler Perry movies. The roles for Black women are very limited, whether they are fat or skinny. That’s it.
Kim Kartrashian is not getting offered any better roles than any other black woman. To be quite honest, I agree with you about the offers for black women though. I think it is disgusting that she is winning for this type of role but am happy for her none the less.
YAY for Octavia though.
What in freakin’ hell does Kardashian have to do with acting?
Wait, does Kim Skanktrashian think she’s black now? Isn’t her mom white and her dad Middle Eastern?
Wonderful lady, bless her. Very sincere speech too, I believe she didn’t expected (although she sweeped so many awards) the win and was spontaneous. They better recognize!
Good point…
I think it’s good she gets rewarded for her work though, even though her work is stereotypical and the thing people love to see as the truth. The Help wasn’t exactly a great film but individual performances must be lauded. Spencer deserved it.
Also, the Acadamy is not fooling anyone, everybody knows why the nominate and let black women win but their reverse psychology always blackfires. It’s bad enough to be a woman in Hollywood, to be a black woman means you’re pretty much scr*. Oh and I think (black) men get treated better because they are men and they always get rewarded plus they do get better roles than (black) women. I read somewhere (here?) that if their would only be a “best actor” categor (applies to men and women), only men would win. Best actress is merely there because otherwise their sexism would be too obvious.
But to end, you’re right. It’s very hard however to change a system that is ruled by white old-fashioned patriarchy for so long. It is also supported by outsiders so you want to change an instituion that is accepted, respected, supported by the industry itself (as if the people inside are going to bite the hand that feeds) and society and the fact that it’s ruled by money and power makes it hard for any regular individual to stand up and “fight”. That’s why we can use the crumbs (Davis, Spencer) the Acadamy throws at us. Mabye starting a blog would help? Ask help from other blogging sites etcetera? How do you change such a system from the outside?
I agree.
Mel, I’m with you if you start the channel or blog! It can be a blog made by a group of people or setting up a forum, just something. I’m studying social sciences and have a great interest in (black) feminism, media, gender…so it would be a great way to bring awareness or just share thoughts. I would also love to start a blog in May but am scared I’m not educated enough to actually bring something interesting on the table. I could ask my fellow classmates to turn it in a project?
Also sidenote, how many females in Hollywood go naked to win an Oscar? It’s sad really.
Oh don’t get me started with the having to get naked to win a best actress award. You only get supporting if you don’t get naked. If you guys get a blog going I think my friend L*** would be interested. She’s an African American teacher, poet and artist out here in LA and has a huge interest in feminism from the African and African American perspective. I’m interested in feminism over all.
We can try. I’ll link my blog to to my name when I start one so people will know.
I would be very interested. I think you have interesting ideas and I love hearing other views on things I may not always agree with. It keeps us sharp! It’s clear to me you are very intelligent and you are one of my favorite posters!
I agree with you. We need to stand up for ourselves again since it looks like the first two times: Suffrage and the 70s didn’t take.
You say black men are treated so much better than black women and I agree with you. It’s much more blatant than in my White/Latina experience. Latino men can be quite old fashioned(see Santorum) but society does not differentiate as much between us.
However, men are treated as superior by society regardless of race. During the 2008 election my BFF and I wondered… is our country more racist or more sexist?
It turns out that it’s more sexist. When given the choice between a young inexperienced black man and an older experienced white woman; who did we choose? The man. I plead guilty and so does my BFF. We are both pretty feisty on feminist issues (regarding women of any color) which ironically is why we both chose Mr. Obama. We did not want Ms. Clinton, her cookies and Tammy Wynette songs representing Gen X and Y women. Any woman under 40 I spoke to during the election agreed. There was a huge age gap there. Now we regret it, especially looking at the other options – more old clueless white men. Experience and cookies might have been a good thing.
What does Kim K have to do with Black women in film? Megan good is very pretty,but sometimes it’s substance over style. I haven’t seen her in anything that blew me away. Angela Bassett isn’t mixed and she’s a great actress. However, like Megan Good there just aren’t the roles out there for black women. Angela Bassett has two strikes against she’s a black women in her 50’s who is gorgeous. It has nothing to do with black women being too pretty.
Mel, I’m not sure what movies you are watching, but I haven’t seen any recently where black women who were leads played maids. I’m starting to see you may be a Megan Goode fan, but IMO, she’s not exactly the best choice to base your argument on. She was very good in Eves Bayou but that was over ten years ago and I haven’t seen anything great from her since then. Now if you want to say Kerry Washington, Sanaa Lathan, Regina King, Sophie Okendo…I’m sure I spelled her last name wrong, Nicole Beharie, etc… I can go on and on about black women who have showed on more than one occasion that they are good actresses that deserve leading roles. Unfortunately, Hollywood is not ready for that yet. And I don’t think black women should be criticized too harshly when good roles are practically non existent.
Good roles do exist but like you said, Hollywood won’t accept change. I mean, out of the top of my head: Jolie playing a woman with a brown complexion, that was a meaty role and somehow they wanted a white/pale woman for it?
Another one, I remember Berry pleading to play that role besides Del Toro, it wasn’t a “black” role:
“Because the role wasn’t written for a black actress — an issue she says she has faced throughout her career — Berry assumed her race might be the reason the studio was hesitant. It wasn’t until she met with director Susanne Bier (After the Wedding) that she got the opportunity to ask.”
http://www.cinesnob.net/archives/halle-berry-things-we-lost-in-the-fire/
Since when do black actresses fall in a different category? Women are women. Why must their be a distinction? And the director was a woman btw!
Anyhoodle, getting tired but loved the reactions.
YES.
I was pissed by AJ playing Marianne Pearl. I was not sure what race Marianne is. I thought she was maybe biracial like Halle. Unfortunately, I don’t think she has the gravitas to play Marianne. They could have tried harder. Marianne was not American. French??? They could have looked in Europe or the middle east for someone who could have pulled it off.
I’m so happy for her. She had me crying too. Congrats Octavia!
Like it or not, “The Help” accurately represented life as it was in the early 1960’s … in the South and many other places in America. I’m old enough to remember that, and young black women should not be embarrassed or ashamed to remember that (or feel that they are being forced to witness it). Whether you were born in the South, North, East, or West … that period of time in America is part of our heritage.
If you young black women feel that good roles aren’t available for black women, then write some. 🙂
Because of those incredible people who found the courage to speak out, protest, endure spit and rocks and unspeakable abuse to shatter color barriers, you young women have the freedom to do anything your hearts desire. I encourage you to write, produce, direct, and edit screen plays with positive roles for black women.
hmmm
Oh honey no…
I have no problem with this movie being about black maids in the south.
This film got on my last nerves for various other reasons. Okay, so they allude to Octavia Spencer’s character being abused by her husband, but then there are absolutely no white husbands abusing black maids or even their white wives.
Oh, and one of the maids has to be dishonest (see white people — your suspicions are confirmed!), one of the maids has to get even with a horrid woman by baking her a shit pie (oddly enough the same actress who wins the Oscar, yet again, reinforcing negative impressions of black women).
Ugh.
Octavia was incredible but I agree that movie was not the business for all of the reasons you listed, which is why I didn’t buy, but watched it at a friends house.
Yeah, homegirl stole the ring and had her life ruined, but she did the brave thing first by asking for a loan, was turned down with the rudest response ever and that bitchy ringleader had a nerve to claim that black folk had diseases so they needed separate toilets. Was that a true representation of white people? Well, I’ll leave that one alone.
Sorry, but that wasn’t a true representation of how black women were in the day but maybe moreso how they were treated. My grandmother grew up in Florence, South Carolina and the Davis-Bartells took shit from no one. Even when they tried to shut my great great grandpa’s grocery store down by burning it to the ground wasn’t nobody budging and they rebuilt. And they weren’t afraid to defend themselves or all meek and mild or trifling enough to put shit in someone’s pie even if it was justifable.
That movie had a Captain Save A Negro feel to it and I think some black folks just wanna see someone get a Oscar that didn’t mean they had to be a drug dealing cop, a poor black chick fucking a white racist, a slave or a maid, or a poor black abusive mother who also molests her child (although Mo’Nique was on fire). I don’t know about all that for myself. A good role is a good role and lot of actors no matter what color get Oscars for movies they shouldn’t have over ones they should’ve so…
Last night I ended up watching something called Coach Carter on AMC. It had Sam Jackson and I hated the Smash thing on NBC so I was like whatev.
I got all excited when Octavia came on in a bit part as one of the player’s mom. Her face is very expressive. It was a teeny part but she held her own with Mr. Jackson.
I still haven’t seen the Help… I really was expecting my lovely ex-job to give it to me for free like they used to. My opinion is based on her interviews and red carpet appearances. The girl rocks.
I *loved* Minnie in the book so she has to be fab to embody the great and fabulous Minnie. She won an award for playing one of the best female characters ever… life is decent in Hollywood.
She looks gorgeous in that dress !
Well, it was expected, but very well- deserved nonetheless.
I haven’t seen The Help and have no desire too. But I’m happy for Octavia!! And happy to see the update on her fashion. She looks great. 🙂
Eve’s Bayou was in 1997 and she should have done more quality work from ’97 to 2011-12. No one is settling. I’m saying to you very succinctly that there are no diverse roles for black women. no matter what they look like. As for Kim K, Tyler Perry can cast who he wants. He does have white people in his films. I seriously doubt Kim K will win any awards for that role.
Which film is Tyler casting the Kimmy PeePee? I want to be sure not to choose that movie as my introduction to his work. I’m going to see if he’s got something on Streaming so I can see what his movies are about and if a black man also being a minority represents the women in his films differently. I’m curious because I do see from stuff some of my friends post about African American women – that black women sometimes get the shorter end of an already short stick and that makes me mad. Especially, after last week, I think we may have to take to the streets like our moms and grandmothers did in the 70s.
This is the issues I have with the Oscars – Even though I do think she was the clear winner, I also think it is unfair to put a comedy performance in the same category as a drama. Comedy and drama performances can be equally as challenging and difficult to pull off but the Academy has always stuck with the drama roles and movies for the big win. They need to separate the two types of performances to allow for recognition for great comedic performances.
Have you seen Melissa McCarthy? Looking all fat and old and shitting in a sink?
Yeah I didn’t either but I have heard.
If we are going to play the race card, when did an Asian or a Latina win an Oscar.
Hollywood is a sexist place and it’s hard for ANY woman to get a decent role. The fact that what I described above was nominated proves that – really shitting in a sink? I’m sorry but I’m almost a lady. I don’t want to sink to men’s levels to be “funny”
I’m not black but my mom WAS a maid at one point. What is wrong with being a maid. Did you see the movie (I didn’t) or read the book (I did). Minnie is a wonderful character. She is strong and sassy and she ain’t takin’ shit from no one. I loved Minnie whatever color she is. It was a a girl-power role within a limited social sphere with limited opportunities. White women in the 60s had more money but would you want to be Betty Draper? She has a cheating husband and a boring life that is so bad she has Conversion Syndrome (when her hands start to go numb). She and her peers are being constantly judged left and right.
Women of any color are still very limited by society. Look at what is going on in Congress. We can’t testify about our own healthcare.
I’m sick of black women vs. white women vs. purple women. I want us all to start sticking together and put those men in their place where they need to be.
I’m going to play they race card now. I have never seen a Tyler Perry movie. I have no clue who Meagan Good is. Why is that, because I don’t feel welcome at those films. I went to see Waiting to Exhale and the Angela Basset character made me feel bad for existing. She doesn’t care her husband cheated as much as that he cheated with a WHITE woman. He’s a no good pig no matter who she cheated with.
I Googled Meagan Good. She’s kind of obvious looking. She reminds me of Traci Bingham but Traci was prettier before all that surgery.
Bash away…
It is all women. Lovely post.
Great post, preach on. Regarding the Waiting to Exhale comment,. It’s a complex social dynamic that makes it worse if it’s a white woman. When any woman gets left for a much younger woman – there is an extra sting. you may not understand this either if ou are under 40.
i remember loving watching WAITING TO EXHALE, especially Angela Bassett’s character, until it turned out she seemed more upset [in that one general conversation with her girlfriends] by the fact that the lying dbag of a husband had cheated on her with a white woman. I was stunned because it seemed to me that her husband was a d-bag cheater, period. The race of his mistress was irrelevant to me. i think also because right up to that moment, the mistresses race had not seemed a big deal to her, and it came from left field!!!!
I still don’t get it.
It ruined a perfectly good film for me.
RE: Waiting to Exhale
I loved that book and was excited to see the movie when it came out. I believe that it is playing on tv now b/c the way the do when someone dies i.e. Whitney Houston. I will probably re-watch it soon. Favorite line is when the heavy woman is walking away from Gregory Hines saying to herself that she hoped he wasn’t watching and then realizing that , of course, he was watching! Makes me smile everytime. Hines is sexy in that role.
Didn’t give much thought to the fact that Angela Bassett’s character was upset about being cheated on with a white woman. I just figured, hey, whatever kind of woman her husband cheated on her with would be spoken of in an insulting way. If she’s skinny, skinny beyotch, if she’s heavy then fat beyotch, since she was white then white beyotch.
I’m at 40 but when I was younger I thought it would be a bigger sting if it was an older woman. That hits you in the looks and unfortunately we are socialized to believe our looks are what matters. This is why I get so annoyed at Melissa McCarthy. She is in a place where she can show people that larger women can be attractive. She probably had to work her ass three times as hard to get where she is due to her size yet she chooses to attend these things in a tent. She *can* look beautiful. Allure did a makeover and she was totally glamourous. This is why I love Octavia – she works it without showing what we all know should not be seen. She is a beautiful confident woman.
you’re making a very good point
You don’t feel comfortable at Tyler Perry films yet POC will watch anything regardless of who’s in it. Interesting. Anyway I agree with your point that we’re all women and we all get the short end of the stick but unfortunately my reality is that as a Black woman living in the UK I’m Black before I’m a woman and to this day Black women are still at the bottom of the totem pole…unless of course we’re light skinned with blonde hair. Then we’re a little bit luckier. Btw what is it with this website and their love of the phrase ‘playing the race card’ whenever the topic of race is brought up. I find it pretty insulting since the race card has been playing me my whole life (that’s just my opinion though) Whenever someone brings up race you can guarantee on the following phrases…
8. I’m colourblind/Oh I don’t see colour
7. I have Black/Asian/Hispanic/Eskimo friends/ex-boyfriends
6. Why are people talking about race its 2012
5. Get the f*ck over it
4. Oh jeez, this again ???
3. I don’t care if you’re Black, White, Purple or yellow (my favourite)
2. I’ve suffered from racism myself
1. Black people can also be racist
And last but not least everyone’s favourite…Obama’s president so race relations have obviously improved.
Um. No.
Anyway this site is miles better than HuffPost where people there (Black AND White) have a serious case of denial when it comes to race.
Regarding the Waiting To Exhale comment. I haven’t watched that film in a while but I can see why you would have been uncomfortable watching it. If it was the other way around and a White woman was going on and on about the fact that her husband left her for a Black woman, I would have felt just as uncomfortable.
rolls eyes—
Streep won again, I wasn’t impressed w/her performance but..whatev
I enjoyed Albert Nobbs MUCH better than her performance.
Glenn Close was very good-sigh
Beautiful stunning dress!!
Great dress!! Bravo Octavia, you’re a class act!!
i loved this dress! and she was so sweet and emotional. good for her. 🙂
Her earrings are beautiful!
That dress did flatter – the pattern at the waist really does it. Still not crazy for the short sleeves/round neck combo on her.
Her speech made me cry (the only real emotion the show got from me, other than PAIN from hearing BC sing!).
Agree with everything NM said.
Hi! Does someone knows who is the girl with the blue dress behind Octavia Spencer in this photo? http://www.celebitchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/wenn5800649.jpg
Thanks 🙂
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She looks lovely. Tadashi Shoji knows how to cut clothes for real women.