Was 12 Years a
Slave, Lupita N’yongo’s 12 Minute of Fame? As beautiful as she is, the over sensualisation
of her in the media is becoming quite suffocating. Has the mainstream media never seen a
beautiful dark African woman? They’ve
always existed and will continue to exist before and after Lupita N’yongo. Her sudden rise to fame has made her become a
product of the media’s ploy.
This
sudden frenzy with Lupita seems as if maybe, just maybe she may have broken
into the Hollywood status quo and has paved the way for darker skinned (or
African) actresses who are so underrepresented in Hollywood to be in its limelight
which suggests to us that the mainstream media are beginning to embrace dark
skinned sisters and they can now be equal in winning awards for their
outstanding performances.
Sadly,
this is not entirely true because being equal and equality is not the same
thing in the mainstream media. Equality has that we are all given the same
opportunities to fulfil our potential but we are not all actually equal
(whether that be biologically or socially) in doing so. In other words being
black or African has limited so many great actresses in winning awards such as the Oscars or Golden
Globes compared to their white counterpart because there is not a demand of
roles for dark skinned actresses in Hollywood and those that have won (i.e
Halle Berry) have some form of whiteness to them.
‘We
need to celebrate Lupita because it is very rare we find dark skinned women in
the media who are comfortable in their skins. Let us shout her praises from the
rooftop because she brings a change from the Beyonce’s and the Rhianna’s’. These were the words of a fellow dark skinned
sister when I expressed to her my exasperation with seeing Lupita everywhere.
It wasn’t so much to do with her skin colour but more to do with the motives of
why every Western media all wanted a part of her.
The
irony of her role as Patsy in Steve McQueen’s ’12 Years a Slave’ movie and the
reception she received from it is a stark contrast to the reality of what other
black African women go through and seems as if the media saw her as a temporary
smoke screen to cover up and distract us away from the real issues of what that
movie is about or other issues facing black people and Africa such as poverty,
western extortion in Africa and racism. It was if the media was saying, ‘Look
we love Africa , we’re not racist. Look how we’ve
esteemed Lupita so highly!’ That’s almost like saying ‘I’m not a racist because
I have a black boyfriend’ and we all know how outdated that statement is. The way she is over sensualized appears as if
the media has used her as compensation for certain violations. The recent
murders of Mark Duggan in the UK and Trayvon Martin in the US caused a lot of
racial tension because in both cases many felt that justice was not served and
blamed racism as a factor, so Lupita’s sudden rise to fame and her appearance
on so many western media just after these events could be said that it has come
just at the right time to pacify the situation because she’s not just black,
she’s African, therefore it can’t be that bad can it?
Let
me clarify that I truly do respect Lupita as an actor and she is beautiful
indeed, and by all means let her be an inspiration for other African young
girls. Her beauty is exquisite, refreshing and not the typical booty shaking
ones we see in the media everyday that
has no connection to the motherland and
she has no trace of ‘whiteness’. Her dark exotic complexion and natural hair
for all to see should be an encouragement to other African women who feel
insecure in their skin to embrace themselves.
Yes, let us celebrate her, but is it Hollywood or the Western media that
will give us our status before we celebrate being black or African? If it’s the
same media we accuse of failing in their portrayal of black people, whose
responsibility is it to uphold our image?
We
all thought Alek Wek ‘paved the way’ for other African women in modelling but how many women with distinct
African features since AleK have reached her status in the mainstream? AleK was
token and sadly I see Lupita will be also if we acclaim a wholesomely African
figure so highly only when the West gives their nods.
Is Lupita set to become token African in
There is not a high demand for dark skinned
African women in Hollywood
Does the name Gabourey Sidibe ring a bell? She
was the lead actress in the movie ‘Precious’ with her dark skinned features
weighing at over 300 pounds. We all applauded her for walking the red carpet
and doing it for all the ‘big girls’ , however, after all that praise, where is
she now in regards to starring in movies as big as Precious? It seems as if, if
you don’t fit in to the typical light/fair skinned or white complexion the
media will esteem you and credit you for your outstanding performance then drop
you back down again once you’ve ‘served your purpose’ and I fear Lupita could
go down that same role.
Typical image of black women in Hollywood
Can this be the face of black Hollywood
‘The Western media controls the world and
sadly to be able to be as big as Lupita is, you have to go through to their
media’, a friend told me. I couldn’t have disagreed more with this because it
seems to me that black people are the only ones who strive so hard to fit in
with the Western media’s perception of success and beauty. Asians seem to be
doing just fine without having to rely on the West’s perception of what is
deemed ‘successful’ or beautiful. They’ve
gained their right to stand equal with them within themselves without having to
change their image or culture but yet we black people have.
It’s
sad to see that our self perception is still governed by what the West deems to
be acceptable, hence the fascination with skin bleaching, having the long
European hair etc. For many black people slavery is still prevalent in their
minds because of western ideologies. We have a very distorted view of ourselves;
we want to be out of the fields and accepted into the master’s house but fail
to see that like Lupita’s character Patsy in ‘12 Years a Slave’ discovered, no
matter how many cottons we pick, it will only be good for a while, but never
good enough because of the way we look so we could never come into the
‘massa’s’ house unless we begin to look like them.
