Scarlet Diva

I love Asia Argento. Admittedly, when I saw XXX, I didn't like her that much, but like Pam Grier, words fail me when it comes to expressing how much I admire her. Mostly, I admire how brave she is. She's a very beautiful woman but she is not afraid to be ugly. In fact, she embraces being a freak and everything ugly, but she can still be elegant and sexy.

I think that's why it's so hard for me to name any recent American actresses I like. With us, everything has to be so cute and glamorous, whenever an actress does her job and delves into a role, no matter the "ugly" transformation, there's a big deal made about how harrowing and brave it is. Why, because she's actually playing someone else? Not just with a different hairdo or accent? I mean, that's how most actresses "act" anyway.

Asia changes so much and charges at full speed, never caring if she shatters on impact. I guess, she's sorta like Gary Oldman, if he was an Italian woman with a nice behind and crooked teeth.

Google her. NOW.

She's the "GODMOTHER" of them all

So, if you didn’t know, today is Pam Grier’s birthday. And if you didn’t know that, SHAME ON YOUR SORRY ASS! Now, if you know me, you know I absolutely LOVE Pam Grier. What she means to me is so hard to articulate because she’s so awesome to me that words just kinda fail. I guess the thing I admire most about Pam Grier, what everyone should admire most about her, is that she was one of the most popular black actresses in the 70’s and was actually one of the first black action heroines, along with Tamara Dobson. It’s funny to me that the 70’s might not have been the most politically-correct decade, but it was definitely the most progressive in the sense that there were movies with black action heroines as the top-billed stars. Nowadays, it’s very rare to see an action film with a lead heroine, let alone, one of color.

Pam Grier never planned on being an actress; she was actually a receptionist at American International Pictures when Roger Corman asked her if she wanted to be in The Big Doll House, the first of his two women in prison films. From then on, she exploded on screen playing characters that were fiercely strong and beautiful, but still vulnerable and realistic.

What really separates Pam from her blaxploitation counterparts is that, she is able to transcend blaxploitation and cross over into different genres very easily and it’s a true shame that those who work in mainstream entertainment never quite recognized that. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for Jackie Brown and the fact that she did not win gives me an angry headache. She is such a raw talent.

There was talk of remaking Foxy Brown (a damn tragedy) with Halle Berry (a GODDAMN tragedy), but fortunately, for now, that kind of talk has ended. I don’t care what others may have you believe, but there will never be another Pam Grier. No one even comes close, especially NOT Halle Berry. And I’m sorry, but Halle Berry is not the only black actress in the world and thank God for that. But that’s a discussion for another day…

Not only is Pam tough in her films, but in real life as well. For most of her early films, she did her own stunts, what actress does that now? How cool is THAT! She was diagnosed with breast cancer and given 18 months to live. That was in 1988, and now, twenty years later, she’s still here, still fighting, turning 59 years old today.

These days, there are those, I’ll call them assholes, who say shit like, “Oh, Pam has gotten tragically fat, she's not nearly as hot as she used to be.” BULLSHIT on that bullshit, for a woman who’s damn near 60, she ages with beauty and class. I guess the good thing about not being used by Hollywood is you get to keep your natural beauty and Pam has plenty of that.

Pity for me though, I have none of her movies readily available for viewing, but I guess that’s what YouTube is for.

Again, this is just a small piece of my admiration, but I think it’s a pretty nice piece to share.

REQUIRED VIEWINGS:
COFFY
JACKIE BROWN