12 Years A Slave
Lupita Nyong'o
In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life. -TMDB
P.S.- You know someone really deserves an Oscar when you dislike them in real life, on SIGHT, just based off of a role you saw them in.
Mo'Nique plays an abusive, sadistic mother in this role, nothing short of whatever the exact opposite of 'vacuity' is. She is bitter, and addicted to cigarettes as well as hate, embodying the exact stereotype of Black mothers in the hood, of which Johnathan Higgins says, "To this viewer, the women's personas in many of these storylines exemplify elements of the angry black woman. What’s really sad is that this rhetoric, these stories, are not new. ... We saw Mo’Nique beat her daughter and throw a baby down the stairs in the film Precious, and Henson as a pregnant prostitute in Hustle & Flow. We saw a woman allow her children to die in For Colored Girls; and Octavia Spencer and Davis as domestics in The Help."
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"All of this raises the question: What does it say to us as a community that black male directors and writers participate in the creation of many of these storylines? When will sexism and misogyny be removed from such storylines?"
Mo'Nique's character Mary Johnston, is confessing the horrifying actions she has done to her daughter, and let be done to her, starting from infancy. This conversation is taking place with Mary, a social worker, and Precious who is holding one of her children.
"First, I'd like to thank the Academy for showing that it can be about the performance and not the politics."
Following her win in 2010, Mo'Nique has not had as much luck in the film and TV industry. She has only worked in 4 movies since, but has performed in the show Bessie, as Ma Rainey one of the Queens of Blues. Apparently, this is because she was blackballed for not playing the Game of Hollywood correctly.