Producer and screenwriter Gary Hardwick, who is best known for writing on the films’ Deliver Us from Eva and The Brothers as well as being the executive producer of the popular 90s television show “In the House, ” has created a thought provoking meme about the African-invasion into Hollywood.
As you can see from the picture above, the meme is a board of two rows of six faces: the top row has pictures of blacks actors and actresses with African names and the bottom row is comprised of black folks with…well you know how creative us American blacks can be. (But it’s from the Bible though!) Anyway, the collage’s caption reads as follows:
“Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong’o and Barkhad Abdi are nominated this year for acting Oscars. They are all African. Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, Octavia Spencer and Michel B. Jordan were not nominated. They are all American. I have never liked the term African American. I want to thank the Academy for finally separating the two words.”
What Hardwick is referring to is the recently announced nominations for the 86th annual Academy Awards, which appears to be honoring lots of color this year. In particular, the Steve McQueen film 12 Years A Slave, has received 9 nominations including: Best Film; Best Actor for UK-born Nigerian Ejoifor; and Best Supporting Actress for Mexican-born Kenyan Nyong’o. Captain Phillips, a film inspired by the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking, received six nods including Best Supporting Actor for Abdi, who was born in Somali. However missing from the nominations were expected favorites like Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker and Michel B Jordan from the films Fruitvale Station and The Butler. Many critics are calling the lack of critical nominations for both films (as well as Mandela) Oscar-snubs. And like those critics, Hardwick meme’s implies that Hollywood has a bias in favor of native-born blacks. But what is not clear from the meme is why though?
Source: madamenoire.com
You might also like:
Related posts: