Fantasia Barrino Deserved Her Flowers for ‘The Color Purple,’ Academy

The 2024 Oscar nominations have been released, and every time this happens, we have the snubs, people who did an incredible job but were still left out. One of the biggest snubs this year is Fantasia Barrino, the star of the remake of The Color Purple.

Many people were left out, including Margot Robbie, the actress who incredibly portrayed Barbie in 2023’s most successful film. The Best Director category alone snubbed quite a few women. These are very noteworthy, but I want to focus on Ms. Barrino. To put my biases out there, I have been a fan of Barrino since her original introduction to the country as the winner of season 3 of American Idol. She is also from a town about 75 minutes from me here in North Carolina. I have watched her success with much admiration and adoration. 

I am also a huge fan of the original The Color Purple. I was wary of a remake, but when I saw the people who would be included in the movie, I became very excited. I just recently watched the movie, actually, and was totally in awe of Barrino’s performance. Her voice and her emotion were spellbinding. To continuously compare their performances to the original cast’s doesn’t seem fair, but Fantasia made this role her own. Even if some people took minor issues with varying parts of the film overall, her performance specifically never wavered. 

Many people took note of the snub. One particular person on X summed up my thoughts perfectly, saying, “i knew it was coming but fantasia in ‘the color purple’ is one of the greatest, transcendent, most gutting performances i have ever seen on film and it is shocking she was mostly paid dust this awards season.” I totally agree! As I have watched the awards season transpire, I have also been upset by Fantasia getting glossed over.

I cannot say I am completely shocked, though. I felt that this movie would only get one or two big recognitions, because I think there may be some racial stuff at play. Sadly. And I knew most of the recognition would go to Danielle Brooks. Danielle Brooks, who was spectacular as Miss Sophia, earned the only nomination for The Color Purple, in the Best Supporting Actress category. She absolutely deserves her flowers, but I wish there were room for Fantasia, as well.

Back to the racial thing … The topic of diversity seems to be pertinent every year as we discuss the Oscar nominations. I think the Academy Awards have become more diverse over time, of course, but there’s still a major, pervasive problem of our culture viewing movies through a white perspective. There are people of color nominated, but it still remains true that the biggest movies and the most nominations by far are going to white people. 

I hope that this doesn’t deter Barrino from continuing to make movies (as well as music, obviously) because she is really a tremendous talent!

(featured image: Warner Bros. Pictures)

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