2006年VOA标准英语-Ground-Breaking Movie Something New Highli

By Alan Silverman
Hollywood
18 February 2006
 
  
  
A successful black woman unexpectedly falls in love with a white man and the rocky road of their relationship offers some fresh insights into changing attitudes and erasing¹ prejudice. That's the story of a film romance now at American theaters and Alan Silverman has a look at Something New.

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Kenya is a talented business manager whose career is on the rise, but feels stuck on the ground floor when it comes to her love life.

Her friends say she is being too picky, but Sanaa Lathan, who stars as Kenya, says the character's dilemma² is no movie invention.

Sanaa Lathan in scene from Something New  
  
"The writer's inspiration was the cover story for Newsweek a couple of years ago," she explains, "that said 42.4% of black women aren't married and it's because we're climbing up the corporate³ ladder so much faster and our male counterparts are either going to jail, dying or dating outside the race. So what do you do? What do you do if you want to have a family?"

What Kenya does is give in to a co-worker's offer of a blind date with a man she's never met before; and when they do meet, Kenya is shocked to see that his race is not what she expected.

Kenya is attracted to Brian, but, Lathan explains, it's her personal attitudes, not social pressure that make her hesitate.
 

Simon Baker⁴  and Sanaa Lathan in scene from Something New   
  
" We are so used to seeing this issue dealt with with a black man and a white woman and this is really one of the first times you see it on the big screen with a black woman and white man," Lathan says. "The difference is it's usually the couple against the world; but in this case it's really her. Her friends are really not against her. Her family is really not giving her too much [trouble]. It's really her own prejudices ... her own struggle with it. This could be a metaphor⁵ for doing anything outside of the box that you put yourself in. It could be a relationship with someone of a different religion or dating somebody outside of your class lines ... anything. When you step outside of your 'comfort zone,' how do you deal with that?"

Australian actor Simon Baker adopts an American accent to co-star as Brian; but Baker says he also had to learn about contemporary American racial attitudes to understand the character's plight⁶.

Simon Baker in scene from Something New  
  
"In the beginning it did limit me in a sense because I was afraid of offending people," he says. "I didn't know the politically correct terms: can I refer to myself as 'white' or do I have to say 'Caucasian?' Can I say that you're 'black?' What are the rules here? I don't want to make mistakes and, at the same time, I want the character to be true to a love story. When people first meet each other, it's a process no matter what race, color, gender⁷ ... whatever. It's about discovering each other."

Something New  makes something of Hollywood history as the first studio film with black women as producer, writer and director. It's the feature debut⁸ of veteran music video director Sanaa Hamri, who says the goal is to give audiences both entertainment and a true image of middle class black life in Los Angeles today.

Sanaa Lathan and Simon Baker on the set of Something New  
  
"The tone of the piece is to create characters that are true to us and also present African-American situations in a different light than Hollywood has been presenting," she says. " I was sick and tired of seeing movies that rely on punchlines and 'court jester' moments ... stuff that felt so broad that the audience is not invested emotionally into these characters. So it took a lot of work with the actors to create that environment so that when the presentation came, you felt that you had a piece that is "Something New," especially for us, when we don't have that many movies out there that really represent us in the best light."

Scene from Something New  
  
Something New also features Taraji Henson, Blair Underwood, Mike Epps and Alfre Woodard. It was shot on location in some Los Angeles neighborhoods rarely showcased on film.

1 erasing   

v.擦掉( erase的现在分词 )；抹去；清除

参考例句：

• He was like a sponge, erasing the past, soaking up the future. 他象一块海绵，挤出过去，吸进未来。 来自辞典例句
• Suddenly, fear overtook longing, erasing memories. 突然，恐惧淹没了渴望，泯灭了回忆。 来自辞典例句

2 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

3 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。

4 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

5 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

6 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

7 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。

8 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。