Quote of the Day

"Unfortunately Hollywood is still a system that doesn't produce a lot of great parts for black women and doesn't produce a lot of parts for women who aren't conventionally beautiful. And that's not going to change overnight."—Casting director Mark Bennett, on whether the film industry can find a place for Gabby Sidibe after Precious.

I find it profoundly depressing that this woman is not considered conventionally beautiful:

I am not surprised, naturally; I am well-versed in the bigotries of the image-makers driving the dominant/oppressive culture. But I still find it depressing.

Later in the same article, casting director Eyde Belasco (who cast Sidibe in another film, Yelling to the Sky) says: "Gabby does have a very specific look. But, hopefully, filmmakers and casting directors will want the best actress for the role."

A very specific look. The look of the women I see reaching for cereal at the grocery store, buying popcorn at the movies, waiting for their names to be called at the doctor's office, ordering food at a restaurant. The look of women at the other end of my phone. The look of women who are my friends and colleagues and neighbors.

Unconventionally beautiful women, all of them.

I live in a world that is impossibly full of unconventionally beautiful women.