Frank Longo Member since Nov 18th 2003 86672 posts
Tue Oct-23-07 04:21 PM
"The "Let's Make a Beautiful Woman Ugly and Make Her Suffer" Films"
Charlize Theron in Monster Nicole Kidman in The Hours Salma Hayek in Frida Felicity Huffman in Transamerica Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry
Also, there's the "Let's Make a Beautiful Woman Look Like She's Poor/Working Class and Make Her Suffer" Films.
Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby Halle Berry in Monster's Ball Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich (yes, they talked about it back then) Holly Hunter in Thirteen
Add on to these, I guess. This also highlights the odd spike in the trend of women getting noticed in the Academy for "ugly roles". Does this reflect something in society? Was the Academy trying to seem more daring/independent-film minded by beginning to reward these risks with increased frequency? Is it just all politics and why the hell would I try to make sense of the Academy Awards anyway?
Just some thoughts.
NOTE: This is not meant to criticize ALL of these performances. Charlize Theron was extraordinary, I thought Hayek showed chops she'd never shown before, and Swank was the best part of Million Dollar Baby. But some of them (*ahem*NICOLE*ahem*) are clearly exercises in begging to the Academy, "Please! Just because I'm beautiful doesn't mean I'm not a serious actress!"
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