黑人演什么才能获得奥斯卡青睐

When the Oscar nominations were announced last month, revealing that not one black actor was in the running, the resulting furor touched on the performances that critics said should have been considered: What about Idris Elba in “Beasts of No Nation”? Michael B. Jordan in “Creed”? Will Smith in “Concussion,” or one of the stars of “Straight Outta Compton”?

上个月，奥斯卡提名公布，没有一位黑人演员获得提名，引发强烈抗议，人们纷纷谈论影评家们认为应该予以考虑的演员：比如《无境之兽》(Beasts of No Nation)中的伊德瑞斯·艾尔巴(Idris Elba)；《奎迪》(Creed)中的迈克尔·B·乔丹(Michael B. Jordan)；《震荡效应》(Concussion)中的威尔·史密斯(Will Smith)；又或者《冲出康普顿》(Straight Outta Compton)中的其中一位明星。

The uproar over #OscarsSoWhite made me curious. What does the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences value in black performance? Black artists have been nominated for best actress or actor on 30 occasions, for work spanning 28 films. Over the last few weeks, I watched all of them.

#OscarsSoWhite抗议活动的喧闹让我很好奇：美国电影艺术和科学学会(Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)是如何评价黑人演员的表演的呢？黑人艺术家凭借28部影片在30个奖项中获得最佳女演员或男演员提名。在过去几周里，我观看了所有这些影片。

These are movies with a lot in common, not least that most were written and directed by white men. Only three were written and directed by black men. None were directed by women. Perhaps these numbers aren’t surprising, given the well-known demographics of the film industry. Other numbers are more eye-opening.

这些影片有很多共通之处，相当重要的一点是，这些电影的编剧和导演大多是白人。只有3部的编剧和导演是黑人。没有一部是女性导演的。这些数字可能并不令人意外，因为大家都清楚电影业的人口构成。其他一些发现更令人吃惊。

Consider: In the history of the Oscars, 10 black women have been nominated for best actress, and nine of them played characters who are homeless or might soon become so. (The exception is Viola Davis, for the 2011 drama “The Help.”)

那就是：在奥斯卡历史上，有10名黑人女性获得最佳女演员提名，其中9名饰演的是无家可归或很快就要无家可归的角色（唯一的例外是维奥拉·戴维斯[Viola Davis]在2011年影片《相助》[The Help]中饰演的角色）。

The first was Dorothy Dandridge, for “Carmen Jones” (1954). That musical drama, like the opera from which it derives, is mostly known as the story of a sexually rapacious young woman and her obsessive, ultimately murderous lover. But it’s also the story of a wily, prideful human running out of places to go. Late in the film, Carmen and her fugitive boyfriend hide out in a seedy Chicago apartment. There’s no money for rent, and soon they’ll be evicted. Carmen, who’s spent the movie working hard to seem carefree and fierce, tries her best to summon that look again as she sets out to scare up food and rent money.

第一位是多萝西·丹德里奇(Dorothy Dandridge)，她出演的影片是《胭脂虎新传》(Carmen Jones, 1954)。这部音乐片改编自歌剧，它主要讲述的是一名在性方面很贪婪的年轻女子和痴迷并最终杀害她的情人之间的故事。但它讲述的也是一个狡猾骄傲、无处可去之人的故事。在影片末尾，卡门和她逃亡的男友藏在芝加哥一个破旧的公寓里。他们没钱交房租，很快将被赶走。在整部影片中，卡门都努力显得无忧无虑而热情，她出去张罗食物和房租时，也努力再次露出那副神情。

Nearly every black best-actress nominee has faced a similar plight, right up through “Beasts of the Southern Wild” (2012), in which Quvenzhané Wallis played a little girl about to lose her home to a flood. No black woman has ever received a best-actress nomination for portraying an executive or even a character with a college degree. (Though Gabourey Sidibe’s character in “Precious,” from 2009, seems likely to get one eventually.)

几乎每位获得最佳女演员提名的黑人女演员在片中都处于类似的窘况，一直到2012年的《南国野兽》(Beasts of the Southern Wild)，奎文赞妮·瓦利斯(Quvenzhané Wallis)在片中饰演一个即将因洪水失去家园的小女孩。从没有一位黑人女性因饰演高管或者哪怕是拥有大学学位的角色而获得最佳女演员提名（虽然加布蕾·丝迪贝[Gabourey Sidibe]在2009年影片《珍爱》[Precious]中饰演的角色似乎很可能最终获得学位）。

All 10 performances for which black women have received best-actress nominations involve poor or lower-income characters, and half of those are penniless mothers. Two of the portrayals — Diana Ross’s incarnation of Billie Holiday in “Lady Sings the Blues” (1972) and Angela Bassett’s depiction of Tina Turner in “What’s Love Got to Do With It” (1993) — are of singers who enjoy a measure of wealth at some point. But Holiday begins broke, and viewers know she’ll end up that way, while Tina Turner doesn’t have money of her own until the film’s last five minutes. The remaining characters are maids, sharecroppers, criminal-drifter types, impoverished housewives and destitute girls.

获得最佳女演员提名的10位黑人女演员所饰演的都是贫穷或低收入的角色，其中有一半是身无分文的母亲。有两位饰演的是一度拥有巨额财富的歌手——黛安娜·罗斯(Diana Ross)在《难补情天恨》(Lady Sings the Blues, 1972)中饰演的比莉·哈乐黛(Billie Holiday)；以及安吉拉·贝塞特(Angela Bassett)在《与爱何干》(What’s Love Got to Do With It，1993)中饰演的蒂娜·特纳(Tina Turner)。但是，哈乐黛一开始一文不名，观众知道她最终也会破产，而蒂娜·特纳直到影片最后五分钟才有了自己的钱。其他角色是女仆、佃农、罪犯游民，以及贫穷的家庭主妇和女孩。

A few more commonalities to note: Seven of the 10 best-actress nominees played characters with absent or incarcerated husbands, boyfriends, or fathers. And six of the characters suffer physical abuse, with five of them being raped.

还有其他一些共同之处：这10个角色中有7个没有丈夫、男友或父亲（或者在狱中）。其中6个曾遭受暴力虐待，有5个曾遭强奸。

The academy has tended to honor black men for different sorts of roles, and it has honored them more often. Black men have been up for best actor 20 times, with four nominations going to Denzel Washington, three to Morgan Freeman, and two each to Sidney Poitier and Mr. Smith.

奥斯卡似乎更青睐黑人男演员饰演的各种角色，而且更经常给予他们荣誉。黑人男演员共获得20次最佳男演员提名，其中，丹泽尔·华盛顿(Denzel Washington)曾4次获得提名，摩根·弗里曼(Morgan Freeman)3次获得提名，西德尼·波蒂埃(Sidney Poitier)和威尔·史密斯各获2次提名。

Thirteen of the recognized performances involve being arrested or incarcerated. Picture Chiwetel Ejiofor as the newly kidnapped Solomon Northup in “12 Years a Slave” or Mr. Washington behind bars as Malcolm Little, soon to change his name to Malcolm X. (His other nominated characters all face arrest, even his corrupt detective Alonzo Harris, before he flees in the last few minutes of “Training Day.”) Picture the police bursting through the bedroom doors of Jamie Foxx’s Ray Charles in “Ray” (2004) or James Earl Jones’s Jack Jefferson in “The Great White Hope” (1970). Most of the films deliver these men into bondage with the best of intentions — so we may identify with them, and hate the injustices done them. Nevertheless, the images seem endlessly — and sadistically — repeated.

获得提名的角色中有13个曾被捕或遭到监禁。比如，切瓦特·埃加福特(Chiwetel Ejiofor)在《为奴十二载》(12 Years a Slave)中饰演刚被绑架的所罗门·诺瑟普(Solomon Northup)；丹泽尔·华盛顿饰演的马尔科姆·利特尔(Malcolm Little)被关进监狱，很快把自己的名字改为马尔科姆·X(Malcolm X)（他获得提名的其他角色都曾被捕，甚至连他在《训练日》中饰演的堕落警探阿朗佐·哈里斯[Alonzo Harris]在最后几分钟逃脱之前也曾被捕）。还有，警察冲开《灵魂歌王》(Ray, 2004)中杰米·福克斯(Jamie Foxx)饰演的雷·查尔斯(Ray Charles)的卧室门，或者《拳王奋斗史》(The Great White Hope, 1970)中詹姆斯·厄尔·琼斯(James Earl Jones)饰演的杰克·杰斐逊(Jack Jefferson)的卧室门。在影片中，这些角色大多是出于善意而被捕，所以我们可能会同情他们，憎恨他们遭遇的不公。但是，这些形象似乎在不断地施虐般地重复。

In 15 of the 20 films, the nominated performances involve violent or criminal behavior. It’s often justified or victimless — or, as with the boxers in “Ali” (2001), “The Hurricane” (1999) and “The Great White Hope,” part of a day at the office. These characters tend to end up in jail anyway. (When the crime is not victimless, as in “Training Day” or “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” the perpetrators often never see the inside of a jail cell.)

在这20部影片中，有15部涉及暴力或犯罪行为。这些行为通常有正当理由或者没有侵害他人，或者像《拳王阿里》(Ali, 2001)、《飓风》(The Hurricane, 1999)和《拳王奋斗史》中的拳击手那样，暴力是他们日常工作的一部分。不过，这些角色最后似乎都进了监狱（如果犯罪行为并不是没有侵害他人，比如在《训练日》或《与爱何干》中，那么犯罪者通常从没进过监狱）。

Ten of the characters have a white buddy or counterpart — or, when it comes to “Lilies of the Field” (1963), a whole convent full of them. In most cases, the white counterpart is the apparent protagonist. Think of Tim Robbins in “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994), Jessica Tandy in “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989) or Ethan Hawke in “Training Day.”

其中有10个角色拥有白人搭档或对手，或者像《野百合》(Lilies of the Field, 1963)那样，黑人主角的搭档是一整座修道院的白人修女。在大部分情况下，那个白人对手是明显的主角。比如《肖申克的救赎》(The Shawshank Redemption, 1994))中的蒂姆·罗宾斯(Tim Robbins)、《为黛西小姐开车》(Driving Miss Daisy, 1989)中的杰西卡·坦迪(Jessica Tandy)，或《训练日》中的伊桑·霍克(Ethan Hawke)。

Seven of the actors’ films feature no major black female characters. Seven of the characters abuse or mistreat women.

这些影片中有7部没有主要的黑人女性角色。有7个角色虐待女人。

I shared these numbers with Dr. Todd Boyd, the author and professor of critical studies at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He wasn’t impressed, but he also said the focus on the Oscars was misplaced. “The Oscars are a symptom,” he said, and not the illness itself.

我把这些发现分享给南加州大学(University of Southern California)电影艺术学院(School of Cinematic Arts)的批评研究教授兼作家托德·博伊德博士(Todd Boyd)。他没有感到震惊，不过他也说把焦点放到奥斯卡身上不合适。他说：“奥斯卡只是症状”，不是疾病本身。

The academy president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, in announcing changes intended to address #OscarsSoWhite, cited the film industry’s failure to produce movies with diverse casts, and Dr. Boyd made a similar point: “You have to backtrack and look at the kinds of movies that African-Americans have been cast in.”

电影艺术和科学学会主席谢丽尔·博恩·伊萨克(Cheryl Boone Isaacs)在宣布针对#OscarsSoWhite做出的改变时，提到电影业没有制作选角多样的电影是根本原因。博伊德也表达了类似的观点：“你必须回溯和研究非裔美国人演的那种电影。”

And what kind is that?

哪种电影呢？

These 28 films are full of enormous characters, men and women of world-historic or pop-cultural significance, people who face seemingly intolerable oppression with nigh-unimaginable resolve, characters who are victimized or who encounter and occasionally inflict cruelty.

这28部影片充满各种人物，讲述的是具有世界历史意义或流行文化意义的男女，他们以不可思议的决心面对似乎难以忍受的压迫，他们受到迫害或残酷对待，有时他们也残酷地对待别人。

What they’re not full of is characters who resemble ordinary people. And when such people do make an appearance, the camera tends to linger on the parts of their lives most likely to interest white Americans struggling to reckon with their country’s racist past. We learn all about Miss Daisy — her son, her childhood, her politics. But we hear only a sentence or two about the family of her driver (Morgan Freeman). Similarly, there’s a lot of information about Billy Bob Thornton’s Hank in “Monster’s Ball.” But watching Halle Berry as the bereft Leticia Musgrove, we see only her wretchedness, and her eventual rescue by a white man.

这些影片所缺乏的角色是普通人。当这样的角色确实出现时，摄像机似乎停留在他们最可能引发美国白人反思美国种族主义历史的那部分生活。我们非常了解黛西小姐——她的儿子、童年和政治立场。但我们只听到一两句台词是讲述她司机（摩根·弗里曼饰）的家庭。类似地，《死囚之舞》(Monster’s Ball)中有很多关于比利·鲍勃·桑顿(Billy Bob Thornton)饰演的汉克(Hank)的信息，但是关于哈莉·贝瑞(Halle Berry)饰演的失去亲人的莱蒂西娅·马斯格罗夫(Leticia Musgrove)，我们只知道她很不幸，最后得到一个白人男性救赎。

These are largely isolated characters, said Dr. Miriam J. Petty, an assistant professor in the department of radio, television and film at Northwestern University. “And they’re bound to the destinies of the white people with whom they appear in these films.”

西北大学(Northwestern University)的电台、电视和电影系助理教授米利娅姆·J·佩蒂博士(Miriam J. Petty)说，这些角色大多很孤独，“他们与影片中出现的白人的命运紧密联系在一起”。

It is not entirely surprising that so many of these nominees have portrayed the poor, imprisoned, great or tragic. The history of African-Americans contains many such people, and the academy loves history. Of the 10 most recent best-actor nominees, eight played historical figures. But the academy has never nominated a black leading actor for a role like Woody Grant in “Nebraska” (for which Bruce Dern was nominated in 2014) — an idiosyncratic person who is both fictional and unexceptional.

这么多获得提名的演员都是演绎伟大或悲惨的穷人和犯人，这并不完全出人意料。非裔美国人的历史上有很多这样的人物，而奥斯卡很喜欢历史。最近获得最佳男演员提名的10位演员中有8位是饰演历史人物。但是，在奥斯卡提名过的黑人男主角中，没有一位是《内布拉斯加》（Nebraska，2014年，布鲁斯·德恩[Bruce Dern]凭借在此片中的表演获得提名）中伍迪·格兰特(Woody Grant)这样的角色——这个角色很独特，但同时也是一个虚构的普通人。

“If you had a film about an ordinary black guy — well, that might mean that he knows other black people,” Dr. Petty said. “Those black people might need to be in the movie, too. And then it’s a black film.”

“如果一部影片讲述的是一个普通黑人——呃，那可能意味着他认识其他黑人，”佩蒂说，“那些黑人可能也需要出现在影片中。然后它就变成一部完全是关于黑人的影片。”