美国国家公共电台 NPR Actress Chloe Bennet Wants To Change The Narrative For Asian-Americans In Hollywood

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

And now we're going to spend a few minutes having a conversation about race and Hollywood. We've been having these conversations more and more these days. And one reason for that is that audiences, as well as performers, are starting to challenge the casting of white performers as non-white ethnic¹ characters. People call this whitewashing². Last week, British actor Ed Skrein, who's white, made news for quitting a project in which he'd been cast to play an Asian-American character in the reboot of the comic film "Hellboy."

Skrein's decision prompted Chinese-American actress Chloe Bennet, a star of the TV series "Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." to speak out. That's because Chloe Bennet was actually born Chloe Wang. She says she changed her name because that was the only way she could improve her job prospects³ in Hollywood. She's with us now to tell us more. Chloe Bennet, thanks so much for speaking with us.

CHLOE BENNET: Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: Now, when you praised Ed Skrein on social media about his decision to step away from his role in "Hellboy," somebody on Instagram challenged you on your decision to change your name. I want to read some of your response to that person. Here's what you said. You said, "changing my last name doesn't change the fact that my blood is half Chinese, that I lived in China, speak Mandarin⁴, or that I was culturally raised both American and Chinese. It means I had to pay my rent. And Hollywood is racist⁵ and wouldn't cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable. I'm doing everything I can with the platform I have to make sure no one has to change their name again just so they can get work," unquote.

So let me ask, how did you hone in on the name change? Was it something somebody said?

BENNET: No. You know what? It was really just a really organic thing. I - an uncomfortable amount of my feedback had to do with the fact that I didn't look like what they expected me to look like. A lot of it was - God, I had a casting director tell me, you're not quite white enough for the role, but you're not quite Asian enough for that best friend role. And I remember genuinely thinking, oh, oh, yeah, she's right. She's right.

Like, I'm not fully⁶ white so I couldn't possibly be the lead, even though there was no limitations on the breakdown⁷ of the character saying that this character needed to be any ethnicity. And also, when they see Chloe Wong (ph) spelled Wang, they, you know, when you're new as an actor and your agents are trying to put you out for different roles, they go, well, no, that's OK. We won't take her. We don't know who that is. We're not looking for someone like that for this role.

MARTIN: Wow.

BENNET: And that kind of continually happened. And my dad's first name is actually Bennet. And so in Chinese culture, your father's name is a really big honor. And my dad has been a huge supporter of my career. And so it only felt natural to take his first name, so I still honored him in that way.

MARTIN: I was going to - I was wondering how you came up with Bennet. So I take it that some people criticized you, saying that they thought you were trying to walk away from your Chinese identity. Is that true?

BENNET: Yeah. It's not true at all. It was genuinely me just trying to pay my rent, as I said in that comment, and get work. And I would be lying if I said that I didn't feel guilty about it at certain points in my career. And I have the same feelings that I think people bring up to me in comments.

And I try to compensate⁹ for that with the fact that I started, you know, this organization called RUN for Asian-American Pacific Islanders. And that's essentially¹⁰, you know, meant to boost and organize the Asian-American community in politics and in the media. And, you know, it's very personal to me.

MARTIN: On this whole question of how do you change it, I mean, a lot of people from different ethnic backgrounds have wrestled¹¹ with this. And, you know, some groups, like, for example, African-American and Latino actors have struggled with the whole thing, OK, you can be a drug addict¹². You can be a prostitute. You can be a gangbanger.

So there are those who would argue that that is the - I'm not - trust and believe I'm not judging you, but I just want to ask the question for those who think well, gee¹³, by changing your name, are you assimilating to it? Are you accommodating yourself to it, as opposed to fighting it?

BENNET: Part of it probably is. And as I said, you know, part of me does feel guilt⁸ about that at certain times. But it's my journey. It's what I did. And there's a certain point where you have to play the game. And I'm doing everything I can with the platform that I have now to make sure that no girl that comes to Hollywood now whose name is Lee or Wong or Chung or Wang has to do this again. It's really about changing the narrative¹⁴ and changing the content for Asian-American actors, you know.

MARTIN: Can I ask it this way? Can we look at it from a different direction though? When Ed Skrein pulled out of "Hellboy," he wrote a lengthy¹⁵ social media post about it. And I just want to read up a couple of lines from that. He said, it's clear that representing this character in a culturally accurate way holds significance for people and that to neglect this responsibility would continue a worrying tendency to obscure ethnic minority stories and voices in the arts.

But I wanted to ask it from a different direction, though. There are those who find this worrisome as a trend because as artists, they say, you know, minority performers have had to fight to be in "Swan Lake," for example, or in, you know, so-called, you know, classical roles. And then people say, well, gee, there were no black people in 19th century Russia, so why are they in those roles? The argument is that this is fantasy, that people should be able to cast whomever they want because this is fantasy. And what would you say to that?

BENNET: I think there are certain things that lend to authenticity¹⁶. And there are certain stories and projects that do make sense for all white people to be in, if that's the story, and if they want to make the film with true historical accuracy. And then there's 90 percent of projects where that's not necessary. And I think what's really dangerous about what continuously is happening to Asian-Americans specifically in Hollywood is there is a narrative that white Hollywood, or just any other ethnicity really in Hollywood, gives to Asian-Americans which is that you're kind of the butt¹⁷ of the joke. They're determining that we're the nerds, that we're the shy girls or the guy that can't be sexy because he's an Asian man.

And when you're continuously giving a different ethnicity their own narrative without giving them the chance to actually represent themselves or write something that's true to them, then that's really dangerous. It really seeps¹⁸ into the psyche¹⁹ of, like, young Asian-American kids. And I know it did for me. You know, I didn't see anybody that looked like me growing up on TV. I genuinely, genuinely to my core thought that I didn't - I would have no chance of being an actor because my dad wasn't white. And the more I became aware of, like, my thinking, the more I thought, oh, this is because I look this way or I feel this way.

You know, part of the reason why I started RUN is because I really want to encourage Asian-American, you know, teens and kids and anyone, really, to start telling their stories because we do have such a unique - and there's so - there's such a diverse community within the Asian-American community in itself as well. And there's so many unique and interesting dark and sad and funny stories that haven't been told because we haven't gotten the chance.

MARTIN: We're not putting you on the spot, but would you ever consider changing your last name back to Wang?

BENNET: The funny thing is I'm still Chloe Wang. Everyone's like, you're not Chloe Wang. You're not Chloe Wang. I definitely - I didn't legally change my name, so I still am Chloe Wang for 80 percent of my life. It might be confusing for some people. Like I still don't know, like, what Diddy wants to be called right now. Is it Puff²⁰ Daddy? Is it Diddy?

(Laughter) So I think I might just stick with Chloe Bennet and then do as much as I can on this because again, you know, it doesn't change the fact that I am who I am. It was just a decision made by 18-year-old me, not really thinking much of it but just thinking, oh, I'd like to just be me. And I think once Asian-American actors are just cast for being themselves, rather than being a we-need-an-ethnic hire, we-need-a-diversity hire, then I think things will be really changing.

MARTIN: That was Chloe Bennet. You can see her in "Marvel's Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." Chloe, thanks so much.

BENNET: Thank you for having me.

1 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

2 whitewashing   

粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的现在分词 )； 喷浆

参考例句：

• Tom went on whitewashing the fence, paying no attention to Ben. 汤姆没有理睬本，继续在粉刷着篱笆。
• When whitewashing the wall, he painted with a roller in his hand. 刷墙的时候，他手里拿个辊子，挥舞着胳膊。

3 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

4 Mandarin   

n.中国官话，国语，满清官吏；adj.华丽辞藻的

参考例句：

• Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
• Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。

5 racist   

n.种族主义者，种族主义分子

参考例句：

• a series of racist attacks 一连串的种族袭击行为
• His speech presented racist ideas under the guise of nationalism. 他的讲话以民族主义为幌子宣扬种族主义思想。

6 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。

7 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

8 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

9 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 wrestled   

v.（与某人）搏斗( wrestle的过去式和过去分词 )；扭成一团；扭打；（与…）摔跤

参考例句：

• As a boy he had boxed and wrestled. 他小的时候又是打拳又是摔跤。
• Armed guards wrestled with the intruder. 武装警卫和闯入者扭打起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 addict   

v.使沉溺；使上瘾；n.沉溺于不良嗜好的人

参考例句：

• He became gambling addict,and lost all his possessions.他习染上了赌博，最终输掉了全部家产。
• He assisted a drug addict to escape from drug but failed firstly.一开始他帮助一个吸毒者戒毒但失败了。

13 gee   

n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转

参考例句：

• Their success last week will gee the team up.上星期的胜利将激励这支队伍继续前进。
• Gee,We're going to make a lot of money.哇！我们会赚好多钱啦！

14 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

15 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• 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。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

16 authenticity   

n.真实性

参考例句：

• There has been some debate over the authenticity of his will. 对于他的遗嘱的真实性一直有争论。
• The museum is seeking an expert opinion on the authenticity of the painting. 博物馆在请专家鉴定那幅画的真伪。

17 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

18 seeps   

n.（液体）渗( seep的名词复数 )；渗透；渗出；漏出v.（液体）渗( seep的第三人称单数 )；渗透；渗出；漏出

参考例句：

• Water seeps through sand. 水渗入沙中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Water seeps out of the wall. 水从墙里沁出。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

19 psyche   

n.精神；灵魂

参考例句：

• His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.他对这个神话的探讨揭示了美国人的心理。
• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche.她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。

20 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。