Beyond a ‘Just’ Syntax: Black Actresses, Hollywood and Complex Personhood

To be sentimental, powerful, and Black: Affective agency in Viola Davis’s award speeches

“…In her speech, Berry emphasized the opportunity her win opened "for every nameless, faceless woman of colour" and evoked the names of Black actresses that came before her, as well as her fellow Black actresses, dedicating her win to all of them. She spoke to the tradition of exclusion of Black actresses and limited opportunities the film industry offered them (Wanzo 2006). Both of their speeches can be perceived as examples of negotiations of personhood, representation of Black people, and self-definition as Black subjects within institutional contexts (Wanzo 2006: 149).…”

Storm and the Angels of History: Blackness and Star Image in the X‐Men Films

“…Not only did Berry play Dandridge, but her Oscar acceptance speech cited Dandridge, Carroll, and Horne. As Rebecca Wanzo observes, Berry omitted “the Black women who won Best Supporting Actresses before her who were not acclaimed as beautiful” and instead invoked “a tradition of actresses who were acclaimed as beautiful Black women but were limited by an absence of opportunities to be glamour girls” (“Beyond” 146). I would add that not just institutional racism but also colorism has structured Berry's opportunities.…”

Ambiguous Mr. Fox: Black Actors and Interest Convergence in the Superhero Film

“…As Robin R. Means Coleman has argued, most media presentations of racial difference “do not lend themselves necessarily to dichotomies between negative stereotypes and positive images,” so “good‐bad representational queries” do not exhaust the meanings that media texts contain (83). I therefore seek to avoid what Rebecca Wanzo calls “‘just’ syntax.” “Too often,” she writes, “cultural analyses from varied political positions rely on a ‘just’ syntax: ‘Isn't she just a mammy,’ ‘just a prostitute,’ ‘just cooning,’ ‘just a welfare queen,’ or ‘just a sellout?’” (136‐37). Even in the superhero genre, not known for profound characterization, the reductive “‘just’ syntax” can obscure contradictions that illuminate the cultural work that blockbusters perform.…”