Ok, here's the deal.
I just recently had a debate with many of my friends (it was like a 5 on 1 gang bang) about the 2001 Oscars (and I was the one getting the banging). If you don't remember, 2001 was the year in which both Denzel Washington and Halle Berry became the first African Americans (I'm not even sure if that term is considered PC these days) to win the best actor/actress awards.
Now here's where I had a problem with the 2001 Oscars: If either Halle or Denzel had won the best actor/actress award ALONE and only ONE of them had become the first African American to win the Oscar, then I would have no second thoughts about the outcome of the Oscar ceremony. HOWEVER, the fact that BOTH of them won in the SAME year, to ME, detracts from the grandness/greatness of the their accomplishments. Why? I will explain:
I was sitting in a class last year listening to a special lecture that was being given by a member of the
Gorilla Girls or
Guerila Girls (I'm not sure which spelling they use). The Gorilla Girls is a feminist organization that basically bitches and moans about anything and everything having to do with woman's rights or minority rights. The members of this group, including the one giving the lecture, all wear Gorilla masks to remain anonymous (probably because many people would shoot them on sight if they knew who they were). What bothered me was a claim that the woman made, saying that the fact that Denzel and Halle had won was partially influenced by her organization. How you ask? Well during the lecture she showed us a picture of a huge billboard that they had put up in 2001 in Hollywood. The billboard was entitled "The anatomically correct Oscar" and showed a picture of the "anatomically correct" award with descriptions on the side which included "white, male..." and some others I don't recall. It also had statistics on it that stated how many Oscars were awarded to African Americans/women in the past years as compared to white males.
This is the main reason for my suspicions of the 2001 Oscars (well and of course the fact that both of them won). Also, I thought Crowe's performance in A Beautiful Mind was far superior to Denzel's in Training Day. I can't speak about Halle however, because I haven't seen Monster's Ball.
I know my suspicions aren't very strongly supported, but I was just wondering if anyone else had the same feeling. Hopefully I'm not the only person in the world who feels this way. Did race have anything to do with it? Or am I just being irrational?
Someone give me my poll rights.
K-Dog 