Uncomfortable truth in the Oscars’ ‘12 Years a Slave’ joke查阅版

Uncomfortable truth in the Oscars’ ‘12 Years a Slave’ joke

令人不悦的事实--奥斯卡颁奖礼戏谑《为奴十二年》

Sunday night, as the 2014 Oscars got underway, host Ellen DeGeneres艾伦·德杰尼勒斯joked that the night could end in one of two ways. “Possibility number one: 12 Years a Slave wins best picture最佳影片,”DeGeneres said.“Possibility number two: You’re all racists.”The uncomfortable truth令人不快的事实of DeGeneres’s joke is that the Oscars can be as much about what the overwhelmingly white film industry wants to say about itself as it is about the quality of the films themselves. The film industry is a place where the stories of people of color are still rarely told through narratives they themselves create.12 Years a Slave is a film adapted from a uncomfortable truth written by Solomon Northup所罗门·诺萨普, a free black man who was captured and enslaved. That memoir回忆录was adapted by the Oscar-winning black American screenwriter John Ridley约翰·莱德利, and directed by Steve McQueen史蒂夫·麦奎因, a British black man of Grenadian 格林纳达的descent血统. It is a story that was told and shaped by black artists like no other Oscar-winning best picture film.

周日晚上，随着2014奥斯卡颁奖礼拉开帷幕，主持人艾伦·德杰尼勒斯开玩笑说今晚的颁奖礼将会以两种可能之一拉下帷幕。“第一种可能是：《为奴十二年》获得最佳影片，第二种可能是《你们都是种族主义者》获得最佳影片”。令人不快的事实是艾伦·德杰尼勒斯开玩笑说就像奥斯卡注重具有压倒性优势的白人电影工业怎样诉说自己一样，它同样注重影片本身的质量。电影业鲜有有色人种通过故事讲述他们自己。他们创作的《为奴十二年》是根据所罗门·诺萨普令人不快的的真实故事改编，它曾经被抓捕并被迫为奴。电影剧本作家、美国黑人、奥斯卡奖项获得者约翰·莱德利根据回忆录改编，由具有格林纳达血统的史蒂夫·麦奎因指导拍摄。这部由黑人艺术家讲述制作的电影获得了奥斯卡最佳影片奖。

Despite the film industry’s reputation for cultural liberalism自由主义, the films about the catastrophes大灾难灾祸惨败of history it most recognizes are those in which a heroic white figure redeems vt. 赎回；挽回；兑换；履行；补偿；恢复the sins of others.

不管电影界在对待文化自由主义方面的名声怎样，这部关于历史灾难的电影承认了白人英雄人物救赎了它人的罪恶。

We have films like Schindler’s List, which celebrate Liam Neeson’s尼姆连森Oskar Schindler – the Nazi who used his power to save some of his Jewish workers.

我们有尼姆连森在《辛德勒的名单》中主演的奥斯卡辛德勒—纳粹使用他们的力量去挽救他们的犹太工人。

We have Kevin Costner’s Lt. John Dunbar 凯文·科斯特纳的约翰邓巴中尉in Dances with Wolves, who tries to save the Lakota拉科塔Indian people from inevitable必然的，不可避免的genocide 种族灭绝；灭绝整个种族的大屠杀.

我们有凯文·科斯特纳在《与狼共舞》中主演的约翰邓巴中尉，他尝试从不可避免的种族灭绝中挽救印第安人拉科塔。

We have Amistad断锁怒潮, a film about a revolt vi. 反抗；反叛；反感，厌恶vt. 使反感；使恶心n. 反抗；叛乱；反感on a ship carrying enslaved human cargo that somehow turns into a story about the benevolent 仁慈的；慈善的；亲切的white American abolitionists who prevent the kidnapped诱拐，绑架（kidnap过去时形式）Africans from being convicted of murder.

我们有《断锁怒潮》，这部电影把在船上反抗用货船运输被奴役的人的故事，莫名其妙的变成了一个关于仁慈的美国白人组织被绑架的非洲人被指控谋杀的故事。

And let’s not get started on The Help.《相助》 Most films that tell stories of people of color are oftentimes时常地movies about the exceptional white people who ultimately adv. 最后；根本；基本上triumph n. 胜利，凯旋；欢欣vi. 获得胜利，成功against evil, and so people of color become vehicles n. [车辆] 车辆（vehicle的复数形式）；交通工具for white redemption n. 赎回；拯救；偿还；实践.

抛去《相助》这部电影不提。大部分有色人种的电影时常是优秀的白人最终彻底战胜邪恶势力，有色人种通常变成了白人救赎的工具。

They are exploited twice over两倍– in history, and again in cinema n. 电影；电影院；电影业，电影制作术n. (Cinema)人名；(意)奇内马.他们被历史和电影院过度渲染。 What sets 12 Years a Slave apart is that it is utterly uninterested in redeeming anyone, or in making anyone feel better about slavery. Northup, portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor切瓦特·埃加福特 , and the other enslaved persons remain at the center of the film from start to finish.

《为奴十二年》完全没有讲到救赎任何人，或者使任何人感到奴隶制的好。由切瓦特·埃加福特描绘的诺瑟谱和其他被奴役的人从电影的开始到结束始终是电影的中心。

The audience never gets an opportunity to avert避免its eyes from Northup’s struggle to maintain his sanity n. 明智；头脑清楚；精神健全；通情达理and sense of self as he endures the unimaginable cruelty n. 残酷；残忍；残酷的行为and desperate loneliness of enslavement.

观众没有任何机会避免看到诺瑟谱在忍受不可思议的残忍和被奴役时绝望的孤独时为保持他的明智和自我感知所做的挣扎。

The moments of friendship, intimacy n. 性行为；亲密；亲昵行为；隐私, loss and terror shared among the enslaved are paramount adj. 最重要的，主要的；至高无上的n. 最高统. More than 70 years ago, Hattie McDaniel哈蒂·麦克丹尼尔became the first black person to win an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role in Gone With the Wind. McDaniel was a tremendously gifted actor,whose choices were limited by the institutionalized adj. 使成惯例的；有组织的；遭受收容机构所产生的不良影响的v. 使成为惯例（institutionalize的过去式和过去分词racism of her time. She won the award for playing Mammy n. 妈咪；保姆, an enslaved person so devoted to her benevolent white mistress n. 情妇；女主人；主妇；女教师；女能人that when villainous adj. 罪恶的；恶棍的；恶毒的；坏透的Union troops联合部队burn vt. 燃烧；烧毁，灼伤；激起…的愤怒vi. 燃烧；烧毁；发热n. 灼伤，烧伤；烙印n. (Burn)人名；(英)伯恩the plantation n. 栽植；殖民；大农场adj. 适用于种植园或热带、亚热带国家的where she is enslaved, she remains rather than seeking freedom.McDaniel breathed more life into Mammy than the filmmakers n. 制片人（filmmaker的复数could have intended. But this was slavery as America wanted to see it in 1939, as the Jim Crow South种族歧视的南方existed in a state of racial apartheid n. 种族隔离: Happy, loyal, enslaved people who loved their masters. It was slavery as mere anachronism n. 时代错误；不合潮流的人或物, rather than crime against humanity. When the Academy was done with its celebration of McDaniel, she returned to her segregated table in the back of the room. As Lupita Nyong’o露皮塔-尼永奥emerged from the audience to claim her award for best supporting actress for playing Patsey, more than just years stood between12 Years a Slave and Gone with the Wind. Where Mammy’s loyalty ran so deep that she rejected a chance at freedom, Patsey would prefer death to the daily, soul-splintering violence of enslavement. It is the difference between a story meant to whitewash the evil of slavery, and one meant to bear witness to a terrible crime.

“It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else’s, and so I want to salute n. 致敬，欢迎；敬礼vt. 行礼致敬，欢迎vi. 致意，打招呼；行礼the spirit of Patsey, for her guidance,”Nyong’o said. “When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that, no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.”Not just their dreams, but their stories, and the way they want to tell them.