NNPA Columnist
(NNPA) – The comedienne, talk show host and actress Mo’nique has become just the fifth African-American woman to win an Oscar. Her portrayal of Mary Jones, the revolting and depraved mother in Precious, was arguably masterful.
She now joins Hattie McDaniel (who played a maid), Halle Berry (who played a sex-starved fool), Whoppi Goldberg (who played a medium), and Jennifer Hudson (who played a singer).
Obviously, the roles African-American women get in Hollywood are too frequently stereotypical, and it is these stereotypical performances that are lifted up.
Sandra Bullock won Best Actress for her role in The Blind Side. She played a white mother who took a black child into her home and helped him reach football stardom.
Why no roles like that for black women? While The Blind Side is based on a true story, there are countless true stories of African-American women who take in relatives or other people’s children and move mountains for them.
This might send the wrong message about black women, though. It might suggest that we believe that it takes a village to raise a child, instead of highlighting the bestial way that Mary Jones treated Precious.
I know, I know, it’s all about the Benjamins, and those who have the power to “green light” films apparently don’t think that people will go see a movie with positive depictions of African-American people.
Precious, for all its pathology, didn’t have an easy time getting produced and, indeed, has 12 producers, including Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry. The movie had a small, $10 million production budget, and has earned only about $50 million, recouping production costs, but underscoring the modest level of resources available for this movie.
It rankles that an image of the fat, black, slovenly welfare cheat is lifted up even at a time when public assistance rolls have been drastically cut.
The myth of the welfare queen, strongly promoted by President Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California, reinforced in 1996 by President Bill Clinton, is one of the ugly urban legends that shapes perceptions of African-American women.
Ain’t I a woman? Sojourner Truth might say. Aren’t there positive dramatic roles for African-American women in Hollywood?
Not every character in Precious is a negative stereotype. Mariah Carey’s role as a social worker was a pitch-perfect depiction of an overworked and somewhat harried helping professional. Paula Patton plays teacher Miss Blu Rain in a way that reminded me of my best teachers. Yet there would have to be given the pervasive degeneracy of Mary Jones.
I would love to see someone green light the story of Madame C.J. Walker, our nation’s first black woman millionaire. There’s some glamour there, and some drama!
What about the story of Ida B. Wells, who had to flee the state of Tennessee because of her anti-lynching writing?
Why not tell the story of Cathy Liggins Hughes, the millionaire owner of Radio One who slept in her studio because she couldn’t afford rent and the cost of station operations?
These are dramatic stories, but they fly in the face of the stereotypes that were replete in Precious.