Lupita Nyong’o is gorgeous, charming, funny, fashionable, and a very good actress. In other words, she’s a lot like Jennifer Lawrence, but because she’s not Jennifer Lawrence, she’s Lupita, the 31-year-old star of 12 Years a Slave, she’s being fiercely pitted against fellow Best Actress nominee J-Law, and only J-Law, by Oscar prognosticators desperately seeking drama where there’s none to be found. Instead of “Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyong’o are young, talented actresses,” it’s “JENNIFER LAWRENCE VS. LUPITA NYONG’O ONLY ONE CAN SURVIVE.” Hunger Games, Oscars-style.
This comes via Crushable:
Lupita is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress based on her incredible work in 12 Years a Slave. Lupita reminds me of the version of Jennifer that we met after Winter’s Bone, who at this point has very little in common with the Jennifer from American Hustle. At least in my opinion.
That Jennifer was humble, still grateful and surprised to be garnering attention from the media, while this current version seems almost to expect it…Which is a big part of why watching Lupita is such a relief for me. Here is someone who who is devoted to her craft and doesn’t mind people seeing it. She didn’t stumble into an audition, she traveled to the U.S. to train at Yale. She’s here for a reason, and that reason is her life’s work, not a hobby that she happens to be preternaturally skilled at. (Via)
And some typically well-reasoned thoughts on Twitter:
Now, preferring one actress over another to win an award isn’t anything new, but it seems particularly fearsome this year, mostly because of the so-called Jennifer Lawrence backlash. Is she genuine? Is she fake? Is she pulling one on us? Probably all three! But that doesn’t mean J-Law isn’t awesome, and it also doesn’t mean you should be Team Jennifer or Team Lupita, as if one “deserves” to win the Oscar over the other not because of their skills as an actress, but because of who they are as a person.
Both Lupita Nyong’o and Jennifer Lawrence are awesome.
And most importantly, they’re not that BITCH June Squibb. Root for ’em both.