美国国家公共电台 NPR After Sexual Assault Allegations, Race Colors Stars' Reputations Differently

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST: 

Casey Affleck is a front-runner for a best actor Oscar for his performance in "Manchester By The Sea." Allegations of sexual harassment¹ by two female crew members have surfaced from his past, but these accusations³ have not derailed his career at all. In contrast, Nate Parker, director, writer and star of the film "The Birth Of A Nation," was accused of rape⁴ in 1999 when he was a student at Penn State. Parker was acquitted⁵. His accuser later committed suicide. And the story clouded the promotion⁶ of his passion project earlier this year. Anne Helen Petersen, senior culture writer for BuzzFeed, wrote about the public images of these two actors.

ANNE HELEN PETERSEN: Well, one of the interesting things about Nate Parker is that his image was somewhat unformed until this film, "The Birth Of A Nation," was released at Sundance last January. He was well-known amongst the black movie-going public and had been in several, you know, mainstream⁷ Hollywood films, including "The Great Debaters" but still wasn't a household name.

Casey Affleck has been a household name almost since the late '90s. He was in a supporting role in "Good Will Hunting," which was the movie that made Matt Damon and Ben Affleck household names, and it was a very memorable⁸ role. He was kind of a smart aleck-y (ph), backseat brother. And then as Ben Affleck got more famous, Casey Affleck's career was developing, you know, not nearly in the same way, but he was still someone that people knew who he was. He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in "The Assassination⁹ Of Jesse James." So he's been part of this Hollywood cognizati for a very long time.

CHANG: Yeah.

PETERSEN: And I think that, you know, the way that either of the Afflecks or Matt Damon, like, the likelihood of a white, working-class guy succeeding in Hollywood is just more than a black guy. There are more roles for white people. There are more ways to find connections, find mentors¹⁰, become producers - all these sorts of things. Even though we think that there's no barriers in Hollywood, absolutely there are.

CHANG: When you look at celebrity¹¹ profiles in trade publications like Variety and Hollywood Reporter, they barely mention the allegations against Casey Affleck. But that is not the case for Parker, who has had entire articles devoted¹² to the allegations. Is this about, also, the PR strategy on behalf of these two actors? Did Parker's PR team just fail?

PETERSEN: I think Parker's PR team decided¹³ that they were going to meet the allegations head-on right away. This movie comes out at Sundance. It's a huge hit. No one really knows about this guy. But if you even look at his Wikipedia page, it's like - oh, he was accused of rape. So what are we going to do? We're going to put it out in the open and say, you know, there's nothing to be ashamed of here. This is - you know, he was found not guilty. Let's put it behind us and talk about the movie. And that was their strategy that started in late August. And it just completely backfired on them.

CHANG: How?

PETERSEN: Because they made the conversations about the rape front and center. I don't think they had fully¹⁴ considered that the accusation² and the trial and everything that was endured by this woman who accused him of rape would become part of the public record, would be readily accessible online. There's no way you can spin that. And Casey Affleck's PR strategy has been, let's just not talk about them at all. You know, maybe people will feel like they need to put a paragraph in there about them or ask one question, but by decentering them from the conversations that he's having, that also decenters them from his image.

CHANG: Would that have worked for Parker?

PETERSEN: I don't think so. Affleck has enough things to talk about with this film. You know, there's all of these conversations about your craft in this film - right? - and how did Kenneth Lonergan end up casting you instead of Matt Damon? There's these larger conversations of, you know, tortured artists and that sort of thing, whereas Parker, because his image was so unformed and also because "The Birth Of A Nation," the film that he produced and directed and starred in - you know, the plot of it hinges on the rape of a woman.

CHANG: Right.

PETERSEN: Rape is central. Sexual violence is central to this film.

CHANG: So Casey Affleck is married to the sister of Joaquin Phoenix¹⁵, a famous actor. He is the little brother of another famous actor, Ben Affleck. And he grew up a block away from another famous actor, Matt Damon. To what extent is his success - and the treatment of him after all these allegations - a product of privilege?

PETERSEN: I think it's all about privilege and its very myriad¹⁶ manifestations¹⁷. So a lot of people, right after this article came out, would respond to me on Twitter or something. And they'd say, the difference between these two allegations is so simple. It's all race. And absolutely, race is part of it. But it's about white privilege but also all of the privileges that are clustered around being a powerful person in Hollywood.

CHANG: And to what extent is this also about women's place in society? Is it easier to dismiss behavior when the behavior is allegedly targeted at women?

PETERSEN: Oh, absolutely. And I think it's also easier to dismiss this sort of behavior when it doesn't involve rape because one thing that was said to me a lot in the aftermath of this article was that well, of course, you know, people aren't mad at Casey Affleck. He's just doing what guys do, locker¹⁸ room behavior. He is excused because that's just how patriarchy works. And I think that within that scenario¹⁹, women are taught over and over again that this is just the way things are.

CHANG: Anne Helen Petersen, senior culture writer for BuzzFeed, thank you so much for speaking with us.

PETERSEN: Thank you so much.

1 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

2 accusation   

n.控告，指责，谴责

参考例句：

• I was furious at his making such an accusation.我对他的这种责备非常气愤。
• She knew that no one would believe her accusation.她知道没人会相信她的指控。

3 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

4 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

5 acquitted   

宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现

参考例句：

• The jury acquitted him of murder. 陪审团裁决他谋杀罪不成立。
• Five months ago she was acquitted on a shoplifting charge. 五个月前她被宣判未犯入店行窃罪。

6 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

7 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

8 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

9 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

10 mentors   

n.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友，比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
• These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网

11 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

12 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

13 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

14 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

15 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

16 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

17 manifestations   

n.表示，显示（manifestation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• These were manifestations of the darker side of his character. 这些是他性格阴暗面的表现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• To be wordly-wise and play safe is one of the manifestations of liberalism. 明哲保身是自由主义的表现之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

19 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。