美国国家公共电台 NPR 'The Bachelorette' May Have A Black Star, But It's Still Set In A White World

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Our TV critic says you need to know about this season of "The Bachelorette." For the first time, a black woman is the star of ABC's dating show. And here's why Eric Deggans says last night's episode was important, even if you don't like reality TV.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE¹: As a TV critic, I've spent years complaining about how "The Bachelorette" and its parent show, "The Bachelor," present romance as a contrived², materialistic³, princess fantasy. The focus on physical attributes over most everything else for both men and women has always bothered me.

So why did I find it so important to see Rachel Lindsay, the first black "Bachelorette," doing stuff like this?

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

RACHEL LINDSAY: I haven't even started this journey and I've gotten so much support from people.

You're so sweet. Thank you so much. I mean it.

Like, I feel like I'm supposed to right here, right now, in this place.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And don't sleep with all of them. (Laughter).

LINDSAY: Oh, never.

DEGGANS: Part of the show's princess fantasy involves building up the star as an archetype of beauty. She's shown being smart and personable, an all-American woman ready to pick from a bunch of guys who look like they just stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch ad. And this time, for the first time, that woman is black.

Check out how the guys vying⁴ for her attention, known as suitors, describer her.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: She looks gorgeous.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: Oh, my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Like, the TV does not do justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: Her justice.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: Like, oh, my God. That dress was killing⁵ it, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: Yo (ph), oh, my God. That dress.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: She's wicked hot, man.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #6: And smart, too.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: And smart, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #6: It's quite a combo.

DEGGANS: Lindsay had to sort through 31 different suitors in the first episode. Previous recent editions only featured about 25 or 26 guys. About 11 of them were black men and only a few Asian-American and Hispanic guys. But given how much white men have dominated past shows, I wondered if producers offered up more guys so they could have more diversity while maintaining lots of white men in the mix to retain an audience used to seeing mostly white people.

Many of the types of guys Lindsay met in Monday's show fit into easy categories. There was the overconfident guy.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #7: I have that confidence in that it's going to be her and I, and that's exactly what it's going to be. I'm No. 1 seed in the bracket for Rachel's heart, right here, the champion.

DEGGANS: Yeah, he probably won't last long. And there was the guy with an annoying, loud catchphrase.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #8: (Shouting) Whamoo (ph).

DEGGANS: Yes. He said it about 15 times during Monday's episode. Spoiler alert - he was among the 23 guys Lindsay passed through to the next round. I guess he was just too telegenic to send home early. There was even a guy who showed up with baked goods.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE BACHELORETTE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #9: As you can see, I have this brownie right here.

LINDSAY: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #9: I just want to let you know the blacker the brownie, the sweeter the dude.

LINDSAY: (Laughter) Very cute.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #9: That's very cute, right?

LINDSAY: Very nice to meet you.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #9: Same. Take care.

DEGGANS: But aside from that awkward joke, what the show didn't talk about much directly was race. And for some, that might be a great development, highlighting the universality of everyone's experience in a way that seems colorblind. Lindsay, who's already said publicly she ends this season by getting engaged, has downplayed the idea that race was much of a factor for her.

But "The Bachelorette" and "The Bachelor" have always glorified⁶ an ideal culture that is upper-middle-class and white. And it has rarely articulated or addressed that, in the same way we often avoid similar discussions in the general culture.

I was probably expecting too much to hope that "The Bachelorette" might change its basic messaging on culture, class and race in its very first episode with a black woman at the center. But I hope we eventually get to see a show that doesn't just paper over people's differences or mostly show black people assimilating into a predominantly white world because the real value of diversity in television is widening that world to include a range of experiences and cultures on equal footing. I'm Eric Deggans.

(SOUNDBITE OF "THE BACHELOR" TV THEME)

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 contrived   

adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的

参考例句：

• There was nothing contrived or calculated about what he said.他说的话里没有任何蓄意捏造的成分。
• The plot seems contrived.情节看起来不真实。

3 materialistic   

a.唯物主义的，物质享乐主义的

参考例句：

• She made him both soft and materialistic. 她把他变成女性化而又实际化。
• Materialistic dialectics is an important part of constituting Marxism. 唯物辩证法是马克思主义的重要组成部分。

4 vying   

adj.竞争的；比赛的

参考例句：

• California is vying with other states to capture a piece of the growing communications market.为了在日渐扩大的通讯市场分得一杯羹，加利福尼亚正在和其他州展开竞争。
• Four rescue plans are vying to save the zoo.4个拯救动物园的方案正争得不可开交。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 glorified   

美其名的，变荣耀的

参考例句：

• The restaurant was no more than a glorified fast-food cafe. 这地方美其名曰餐馆，其实只不过是个快餐店而已。
• The author glorified the life of the peasants. 那个作者赞美了农民的生活。