I read an interesting article about an interview with Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer where they talked about their recent Oscar nominations. The moderator, Tavis Smiley, opened the discussion with a telling question that has been the elephant in the room when dealing with their nominations. How hard is it for actresses of color, black actresses in particular, to get roles in Hollywood that don't fall to stereotypes of maids or magic Negroes? The actresses did kind of a good job in answering the question, and the article walked the line of being pleased their work was recognized and lamenting that in this day and age the role they had to get was maids.

The comment area proved to have as many mixed reactions as the article. They were almost evenly split between those who thought, no matter what, they were working actresses and to get Oscar nominations was a positive step and others who felt in this day and age being rewarded for demeaning roles is terrible.

One theme I would like to address that constantly came up in comparison was how white actors don't have to deal with this conversation. Both the actors and people leaving comments mentioned how there was no outcry about Anthony Hopkins for his role in Silence of the Lambs, for Charlize Theron playing a serial killer and others who have one for playing bad types. The question doesn't have to do so much with the quality or type of role but the opportunity one might have and the example that might be set.

As a telling example, when I turn on the TV tonight, which is a Monday, and I watch a certain station, I will see two teachers, a maid, two waitresses and a newscaster. All are portrayed by white women. On all those shows, that's two hours of television on four comedies, if you see a black woman, or any minority woman for that matter, they will either be a guest star or a background person with no lines. If I'm a young minority girl, there is no one like me on any of those comedies that are constantly shown. To add insult to this, two of the shows take place in New York, one in Los Angeles and one in Chicago.

Let's also think about another telling sign of the times. Viola Davis has been acting for a long time, but you would be hard pressed to come up with another film she has been in other than The Help, unless you did a Google search. The same could be said for Octavia Spencer. Katherine Heigl, like Jennifer Aniston, is an actress no matter how meager her talent might be, seems to get job after job in Hollywood even when her movies have proven not to be box office successes. Heigl was recently on The View to promote her latest film One for the Money. One of the host of The View, Sherri Shepherd, is also in the movie playing a prostitute. I know there will not be tears for Shepherd because she has a job in front of millions of people every week, but you would think with that pool of people it would be more likely Shepherd would be the one with a myriad of film roles offered to her instead of Heigl.

The whole question about parts in Hollywood is a tricky one, because an example of a few successful minorities can always be used to represent the greater number that are not successful. People have used the success of The Help to illustrate how there are a lot of roles for minority actors today, just as the same example was used for Red Tails, the WW2 drama about the Tuskegee airmen. To me, it would be nice to see more minorities in contemporary leading roles other than in Tyler Perry movies.