美国国家公共电台 NPR After A Year Of Reckoning, Can Hollywood Change?

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now to Hollywood, where the first major awards ceremony of the season, the Golden Globes, is being held tonight. For weeks now, it's been obvious that the evening will reckon some way or another with one of the major stories of the past year.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

SETH MEYERS: Hi. I'm Seth Meyers, and I'm hosting this year's Golden Globes. And I'm very excited because everyone is going to be there. What's that? Oh, he's not going to be there. Well, that's good. Nobody wants him there.

MARTIN: That, of course, is a commercial for tonight's show. And Seth Meyers was making a reference to the scandal that started with allegations of sexually abusive behavior by producer Harvey Weinstein that has since implicated² many other top names. And with Meyers' reputation for politically charged comedy, it seems obvious that the scandal will be addressed somehow. Also, a number of stars have promised other moves to draw attention to the issue, such as wearing black.

But beyond the symbolism and the hashtags and the statements of solidarity³, the bigger question is whether a powerful industry that's been run by rich white men acting⁴ with impunity⁵ can actually change. Dana Goodyear is a writer for The New Yorker magazine, and she examined that question in her latest article for the magazine. And she's with us now from NPR West in Culver City, Calif. Dana, thanks so much for joining us.

DANA GOODYEAR: I'm so happy to be here. Thank you.

MARTIN: I'm going to go back to this one anecdote⁶ from your piece that just haunted me. And it was a conversation that you had with an actress that you described as being quite elderly at this point - you know, in her 90s, a former contract player who had been a child star. She told you the sickening story about how when she just turned 16, she was expected to start sexually servicing one of MGM's top writers. And she reported this to one of the top executives at MGM who told her, quote, "you'll get used to it" and threatened to destroy her career if she didn't go along with the writer's proposition. It was an explicit⁷ quid pro¹ quo. And what she said was very clear. She said, this has been going on forever.

GOODYEAR: Yeah, she said it's not a bit different than today. And I think it is something that has been so internalized by everybody working in the industry that many, many things have either been repressed or been brushed off because it is systemic and it's so built-in. And what has been going on in the last several months is an upwelling of kind of we have to reconsider what that interaction was, what that - quote, unquote - "affair" was. What was the nature of that relationship? So there's this reframing, and I think that pretty much everyone is going through that.

MARTIN: Well, can I just ask you, though - I mean, a lot of the men you spoke⁸ with became - seemed to be really concerned that they were going to somehow be tainted⁹ or falsely accused. I have to wonder about the women. I mean, do the women then wonder whether people - women who are successful - do they worry that then people will assume that the origin of their success is that they were sexually coerced¹⁰ and sexually servicing somebody?

GOODYEAR: There are women with real stories to tell who still feel quite reluctant to come forward because of what the career repercussions¹¹ might be. And one of the things that's really tricky¹² about the issue is the repercussions don't have to be overt¹³. I mean, in the case of the actress in her - now in her 90s - who told me the story of having turned down the quid pro quo offer when she was 16, it was quite clear. Do this, and you get the part. Don't do this, and your career is over. And another really dangerous and insidious¹⁴ form of retaliation¹⁵ is the one that you don't know is happening - when you just don't get that job or you can't sell that pitch or you are somehow isolated¹⁶ professionally. And I think that people have a very legitimate¹⁷ reason for being worried about speaking out - that those kinds of things will still happen.

MARTIN: So what are some of the things that are happening that people are trying to do to bring about a change in this culture that, as you've established and as other people have testified, has gone on for a very long time?

GOODYEAR: Well, this is what I think is exciting about the moment - is that there is an opportunity. And in spite of all of the obstacles that women have faced in Hollywood, there are a lot of women who have amassed¹⁸ a lot of power - financial power and star power, the ability to get things done. And a lot of those women are getting together.

I don't know if you saw on New Year's Day there was a full-page ad in The New York Times taken out by a group calling themselves Time's Up, which is a group of women in Hollywood who have been meeting since October. I referred to it a little bit in my piece. But they're saying to the studios and - well, actually starting with the agencies - you need to make structural¹⁹ changes in the corporate²⁰ makeup²¹. And the catchphrase is 50/50 by 2020. That means 50/50 representation - gender²² representation - on the corporate level by 2020, which is two years from now, so that's a pretty rapid pace of change that they are mandating²³. And my guess is that it's - you know, if you want me as a client, you will put this in place.

MARTIN: That was Dana Goodyear. Her latest article "Exposure: In The Wake Of Scandal, Can Hollywood Change Its Ways?" is in the new issue of The New Yorker. She was kind of to join us from NPR West in Culver City. Dana Goodyear, thanks so much for speaking with us.

GOODYEAR: Thank you very much.

1 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

2 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

6 anecdote   

n.轶事，趣闻，短故事

参考例句：

• He departed from the text to tell an anecdote.他偏离课文讲起了一则轶事。
• It had never been more than a family anecdote.那不过是个家庭趣谈罢了。

7 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

8 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

9 tainted   

adj.腐坏的；污染的；沾污的；感染的v.使变质( taint的过去式和过去分词 )；使污染；败坏；被污染，腐坏，败坏

参考例句：

• The administration was tainted with scandal. 丑闻使得政府声名狼藉。
• He was considered tainted by association with the corrupt regime. 他因与腐败政府有牵连而名誉受损。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 coerced   

v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• He was coerced into making a confession. 他被迫招供。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

13 overt   

adj.公开的，明显的，公然的

参考例句：

• His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

14 insidious   

adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧

参考例句：

• That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
• Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。

15 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

17 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

18 amassed   

v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He amassed a fortune from silver mining. 他靠开采银矿积累了一笔财富。
• They have amassed a fortune in just a few years. 他们在几年的时间里就聚集了一笔财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

20 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

21 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

22 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

23 mandating   

托管（mandate的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Current requirements mandating that committees keep minutes are too general. 目前对委员会要保持详细记录的指令性要求，还是太过一般化了。
• Mandating that workers who quit without permission forfeit a month's wages. 规定工人私自离岗将受到罚没一个月工资的处罚。