美国国家公共电台 NPR When The Kids Grow Up, Motherhood Becomes A State Of 'Otherhood'

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Mothers of sons may know the feeling when their little boy isn't so little anymore and feels far away. That's what drives the new film "Otherhood." Three longtime friends have sons who grew up together, moved to New York and, well, don't call as often as they should. So the moms take a trip in an attempt to reconnect, and things don't go quite as smoothly¹ as they hoped. Angela Bassett stars as one of the mothers, Carol, whose husband has recently passed away. Bassett, acclaimed² for her roles in films like "Malcolm X," "What's Love Got To Do With It" and "Black Panther," says that over the course of this movie, her character comes to understand otherhood.

ANGELA BASSETT: We say otherhood is that stage after motherhood. Her husband has passed away. She was a wife. Her son has gone off. She was a mother. And while they were growing together, she, in an essence, you know, as women do sometimes, nurtured³ them, put herself on the back burner, her desires. And it's about getting back to that, if you can, you know, once they've gone on.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I want to play a clip from the movie now where Carol has just been out on the town after crashing her son's work party - yeah, that happened. And she's getting some late night pizza with her friends when the topic of aging comes up. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OTHERHOOD")

PATRICIA ARQUETTE: (As Gillian Lieberman) By the way, you have incredible new beauty products.

FELICITY HUFFMAN: (As Helen Haston) Yeah, it's all anti-aging.

BASSETT: (As Carol) Why is everyone anti-aging? You know what's anti-aging? Death. Let's be happy we're aging.

ARQUETTE: (As Gillian Lieberman) Yeah.

HUFFMAN: (As Helen Haston) Yeah.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You will turn 61 in August, and I have to tell you, in this film, when you put on that dress for that party, you look like you could be the man (ph) who plays your son's girlfriend. You look amazing.

BASSETT: (Laughter).

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, extraordinary. And I normally don't talk about the way women look, but do you think in this era of #MeToo and a lot of the discussions that have been happening in Hollywood around women, around pay equity⁴, that the stigma⁵ against aging for women in Hollywood has changed at all or not?

BASSETT: I think it feels as if it's expanded a little bit. I remember when first coming to to Hollywood it seemed like 40 was the death nail age (laughter). And I don't feel that so much anymore. You know, it felt as if you, you know, had to be that ingenue forever. You couldn't - I mean, having a family, getting - becoming pregnant was a stigma. Forty was a stigma. I think it's relaxed a bit. And what we see on the screen is more entertaining when we see what life really looks like.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I want to ask you about race. You've been outspoken⁶ about the fact that your own kids have confronted racism⁷ and that word, as you know, has been in the news lately. How do you navigate⁸ this climate right now as a mother and as a black woman and as a person with a big voice?

BASSETT: You know, it's interesting. It's not easy. It's - sometimes you feel a little bit schizophrenic, you know, because when I grew up you remember the history. It's not too far from separate this, that and other thing. And now with my kids growing up, they don't have that same sense that I have. But yet sometimes the ugliness of it does pop up. So you're trying to educate them that it does exist and give them the history of. And at the same time, you're not trying to put a thing on them. You want them to accept people as they come to you and as they present themselves, you know, and give folks a chance.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Your co-star in this movie Felicity Huffman has pled guilty to her involvement in a college admissions scandal. And I'm wondering your reaction to that and if you've spoken to her since it happened.

BASSETT: No, I haven't spoken to her. Working on "Otherhood," that was my first opportunity to know her, to know her, to be around her. So I was very pleased to hear her statement of remorse⁹. Of course, I understand that you'll throw yourself in front of a moving train for your kids. But also you always trying to be a good example for them. We're all - none of us perfect and have things that we've done that we wouldn't want anyone to know, probably. None of us are. But I'm so glad to see that she was remorseful¹⁰ and that she's willing to accept the consequences that come along with those actions.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'd like to also say that you are up for an Emmy. You have been nominated in the best narrator category for the film "The Flood" and you've never won an Emmy before. And if you win, you will be in the exclusive club of Emmy-winning couples. Your husband, of course, is Courtney B. Vance. You've been married for a quarter of a century. He has an Emmy already. And I guess it brought to mind this question, what makes a good marriage? Tell us your secret.

BASSETT: Oh, child.

(LAUGHTER)

BASSETT: Oh, marry the right person. That's the secret (laughter). Marry someone who understands what you're doing, allows you to be you. Say follow your muse¹¹.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Angela Bassett's new movie is "Otherhood."

Thank you very much.

BASSETT: Oh, thank you.

1 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

2 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

3 nurtured   

养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• She is looking fondly at the plants he had nurtured. 她深情地看着他培育的植物。
• Any latter-day Einstein would still be spotted and nurtured. 任何一个未来的爱因斯坦都会被发现并受到培养。

4 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

5 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

6 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

7 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

8 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

9 remorse   

n.痛恨，悔恨，自责

参考例句：

• She had no remorse about what she had said.她对所说的话不后悔。
• He has shown no remorse for his actions.他对自己的行为没有任何悔恨之意。

10 remorseful   

adj.悔恨的

参考例句：

• He represented to the court that the accused was very remorseful.他代被告向法庭陈情说被告十分懊悔。
• The minister well knew--subtle,but remorseful hypocrite that he was!牧师深知这一切——他是一个多么难以捉摸又懊悔不迭的伪君子啊！

11 muse   

n.缪斯（希腊神话中的女神），创作灵感

参考例句：

• His muse had deserted him,and he could no longer write.他已无灵感，不能再写作了。
• Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President.很多报纸都在揣测总统的命运。