Viola Davis

[narm]

I finally watched The Help last night and I hope she wins, too. She is absolutely lovely.

[Ladybug]

I'm so disappointed she didn't win. She was phenomenal in The Help.

[OnyxRose]

I wanted her to win so badly. Meryl will be nominated until she dies but this may very well be Viola's only chance.

Oh well. At least it wasn't Rooney Mara. That would be intolerable.

[incognito]

I'm conflicted. I loathe The Help, but as OnyxRose says, this could very well have been Viola's only chance. Well, for a Best Actress award, anyway. I can see her getting future noms for Best Supporting Actress.

[Deleted]

I guess I don't see how saying Viola should have won because it might be her only chance is any different from saying Meryl shouldn't have won just because she hasn't won for 30 years and has been nominated all the time.

I would have been happy with either of them winning, because they both delivered stellar performances. I think at a certain point, it's tough to actually say someone was "better" than someone else. I do think that Viola has really distinguished herself, though, and as a two-time Academy Award nominee, I would be very, very surprised if she were never nominated again.

[Mutagen]

Feb 27, 2012 11:13:04 GMT -4 @kungfuwaynewho said:

I guess I don't see how saying Viola should have won because it might be her only chance is any different from saying Meryl shouldn't have won just because she hasn't won for 30 years and has been nominated all the time.

I would have been happy with either of them winning, because they both delivered stellar performances.

As someone who was pulling for Viola, I agree with all of this.

[incognito]

Well, I'm not saying that Viola ~deserved the Oscar more than Meryl did. But the way I see it, Meryl will have a bigger and better shot than Viola when it comes to snagging similar awards in the future. And since they're both equally great (IMO), I would rather the award have gone to the one who likely won't have as many opportunities through no fault of her own. It's just a preference.

And, anyway, I'm conflicted in that I'm sad for Viola, but happy that The Help didn't get another Oscar to its name.

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2012 11:16:46 GMT -4 Mutagen said:

Feb 27, 2012 11:13:04 GMT -4 @kungfuwaynewho said:

I guess I don't see how saying Viola should have won because it might be her only chance is any different from saying Meryl shouldn't have won just because she hasn't won for 30 years and has been nominated all the time.

I would have been happy with either of them winning, because they both delivered stellar performances.

As someone who was pulling for Viola, I agree with all of this.

Ditto. They gave the two best performances of the year, and were equally deserving. Having two Oscar nominations in a short period of time should be a nice boost to Viola's career.

[Witchie]

She'll be nominated again, but it probably won't be for Best Actress. That's just the truth. Black actresses are not usually offered lead roles that are Oscar bait. This was her best shot.

Someone on Roger Ebert's blog said she knew Viola wouldn't win when Octavia did because the Academy wouldn't put 2 black women up there with 2 white men (paraphrased). TBH, our pessimism isn't unwarranted or unusual. Not when in the history of the Oscars there have only been 1 Best Actress/3 Supporting Actress wins by black actresses.

[luthia]

It was a big upset. Most every critic I saw on tv said that Viola would win. I can't recall another actress who won all or most of the major awards leading up to the Oscars who did not win the Oscar. It makes no sense to me.