Slaves, nannies, and maids: Oscars value women of colour – in subservient roles

By Beatrice Loayza

 

Difficult for (white) conscience to ignore … Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman in Harriet. Photograph: Glen Wilson/AP

 

For Oscar voters, what makes a great performance has disturbingly narrow criteria for non-white performers.

 

The observation that people of colour are only ever recognised for playing slaves and criminals, that their stories are only ever seen as important when they deal with tragedy and suffering, does not strictly belong to the unenlightened past.

 

This week’s Oscar nominations prove that such judgments are planted firmly in the present.

 

The kinds of roles being written for people of colour over the past decade have begun to expand to encompass a wider range of experiences.

 

Full Story: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jan/14/slaves-nannies-and-maids-how-oscars-value-female-actors-of-colour

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