Halle Berry’s growing frustrations with making history: “I’m still eternally miffed”
Another awards season has passed, with the Academy choosing an interesting selection of artists to give the coveted golden statuettes to. From first-time winner Mikey Madison to repeat offender Adrien Brody, who has again affirmed himself as one of the most insufferable people in Hollywood, the recipients of the prestigious award have perhaps revealed something about the inner workings of the business and Hollywood’s ulterior motives.
During the voting process, some members of the Academy revealed that they would not vote for Ralph Fiennes, who was nominated for Conclave, because he had “been nominated before”. However, Brody famously won for his performance in The Pianist, causing quite a stir after he kissed Halle Berry on stage without her consent in celebration of his win.
By voting for Brody, perhaps the Academy are making a statement that this year, it is less about talent and the performances of the nominees and more about how they want to control their public image and the causes they want to align themselves with to boost their reputation. The Brutalist is about a Hungarian immigrant in pursuit of the American dream, and the ‘Best Picture’ winner Anora is about a sex worker in pursuit of her own dream of financial freedom and independence.
However, while these are worthy subjects and eerily reflect the political landscape of our current world, it is very revealing that while the Academy deems it important to amplify certain issues, they remain blithely unaware of other glaring injustices within their own system, with only one Black female actor winning for ‘Best Actress’ in the last 20 years. This highlights a massive disparity in Hollywood, with countless white actors winning in each category and an alarmingly small number of Black artists being given the same critical recognition.
Only three Black women have won an Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’ in the history of the ceremony, with Whoopi Goldberg winning for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ after her performance in Ghost and Hattie McDaniel becoming the first Black woman to win a ‘Best Actress’ award for Gone With the Wind in 1939. After Goldberg, Haller Berry remains as the only Black woman to win for ‘Best Actress’, something that she has expressed her frustrations over.
When discussing this, Berry said, “I’m still eternally miffed that no Black woman has come behind me for that ‘Best Actress’ Oscar. I’m continually saddened by that year after year. And it’s certainly not because there has been nobody deserving,” referencing Andra Day’s role in The United States vs Billie Holiday and Viola Davis’s lead in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom as examples of this.
Many stellar performances over the years have been more than worthy of this level of recognition, with Cynthia Erivo being another prime example of a performance that the Academy has recently overlooked. Hollywood claims to be focusing on diversity and making the film industry more inclusive, but their so-called work feels futile when there is still such a disparity between actors whose voices are elevated and critically recognised and those who are continually forgotten and disregarded compared to their white counterparts.
