Halle

I have never watched the Academy Awards in their entirety. It's never interested me in the least to tune in to watch an orgy of Self Important Asses recite all of the politically correct bromides of the season (besides, that's what C-Span is for, and the doses can be limited). So I can't really comment on the goings on this year, aside from five minutes or so (the whole Poitier lovefest). But I was amused by some of the posts on the web.

Jay Nordlinger had this to say about Halle Berry:

Halle Berry’s identification of herself with her race — or rather, with her father’s race (her mother is white) — was complete. When she had gone on too long, and someone — or some mechanism — was obviously trying to get her to wrap up, she cried, “No, 74 years!” — meaning that she was the first black woman to win Best Actress in Oscar history. She clearly linked herself to racial pioneers in the past. Yet one of the things that the racial pioneers had in common was immense dignity: Their dignity, in fact, was crucial to their success. They were not emotionalist wrecks.

This may shock Halle Berry, but I — speaking for myself — do not view her as a black woman, as a racial emblem. I view her as someone lucky enough to be one of the most bodaciously beautiful babes on earth. If she thinks she’s disadvantaged . . . I will show her a little disadvantage.

Neither was John Podhoretz particularly impressed with Miss Berry:

Then there was Halle Berry. In an acceptance speech so out-of-control that you worried she might actually have to be carted off the stage in a straitjacket, Berry reduced herself to the status of a "vessel." Berry basically said she was worthy of winning solely because other black actresses hadn't won before her and because "nameless, faceless" women of color everywhere needed a role model.

It must therefore have puzzled the TV audience immensely to watch as Berry gave thanks to her mother, to whom the camera cut immediately only to discover that Judith Hawkins Berry is white. Halle Berry is not a representative black woman and not a vessel. She is very much herself, which is how it should be in America.

And Robyn (whom I owe a Pickle-O recipe) has serious criticism of a different sort for Hit-And-Run Halle:

I just hope that parents won't use Halle as a role model to their children. Because if they do, they are also teaching them that with a lot of money and a pretty face you can lawyer your way out of a hit-and-run -- and I don't care if you are an actress or a private citizen -- any way you slice it, it's just wrong. Still don't care? Then consider Mikey's closing words: "If she had hit you and fled the scene, would you be happy to see her win an Oscar?"

[Posted at 21:53 CST on 03/26/02] [Link]