I was beyond thrilled to see Halle Berry hold that Oscar and acknowledge that the moment was "bigger" than just her winning the award that night. The sheer rawness of her speech was so moving. And I say this as a HUGE fan of Moulin Rouge and Nicole Kidman. I haven't seen Monster's Ball but my friends who have raved about her performance and followed it always with, "Shame she won't win the Oscar." We all shrieked when her name was called. And then to have that followed by Denzel was just momentous. Re: Bisexuality and "A Beautiful Mind"
I haven't seen A Beautiful Mind. Nor do I like Russell Crowe. But while this board has been buzzing over issues of lgbt representation on TV/film, and the importance of presenting "positive" images, I have to admit that I have come to truly dislike the binary of good images/bad images that we all seem to speak from. (Please note: I am not speaking here of recent BUFFY spoilers).
As a writer/artist and a viewer/reader, I am much more invested and interested in promoting complex representations of queers and POCs and women. Representations that depict and make room for the contradictions and complexities inherent in a human being's life and character. The positive/negative framework, in this respect, is terribly limiting. And I am really troubled by your post, Genea, which doesn't take into account the reality that there are mentally ill people who are lesbian, gay, bi, trans.
There are lgbt people with mental illnesses who probably wouldn't appreciate hearing themselves referred to as "one can short of a six pack" or hearing that it's a good thing to erase any mention or trace of queerness from a mentally ill character on film because this hurts "gay people."
There are always homophobic people who will try to say that gayness is about mental illness. Do we really want to create art from such a defensive and narrow vision? Aren't lgbt people with mental illnesses as deserving of representations of their lives onscreen?
EDITED TO ADD:
And I thought Whoopi did a great job as host but was so offended by how she chose to introduce "A Beautiful Mind." What a juvenile and disrespectful portrayal of schizophrenia.
[This message has been edited by judy (edited March 25, 2002).]