电影讲述的故事——心理健康和贫穷

Movie Tells Story of Mental Health, Poverty 电影讲述的故事——心理健康和贫穷

Director Maya Forbes tells about her family and its struggles with depression, poverty and sex discrimination in her new film, “Infinitely Polar Bear.” The film is not like other Hollywood movies that have a happy ending. Instead “Infinitely Polar Bear” tells about an American family and how it reacted to events -- some of them humorous, and others serious -- back in the 1970s.

VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke¹ recently with Maya Forbes about how her childhood struggles helped her become a successful film writer, producer and director.

Actor Mark Rufallo as Cameron Stuart: “We can go to the Museum of Fine Arts and look at great-grandpapa’s portrait.”

Actress Imogene Wolodarsky as Cameron Stuart’s daughter Amelia: “Why is his portrait hanging in a museum?”

Mark Rufallo: “Because a very important artist named John Singer Sargent painted it.”

Imogene Wolodarsky: “Why?”

Mark Rufallo: “Why? Don’t you know who we are?”

Actor Mark Rufallo plays Cameron Stuart, a member of a once-powerful family. His ancestors had a lot of money many years ago, but now the family has very little.

Cameron Stuart has a severe mental condition. He suffers from manic depression, also known as bipolar disorder².

This is how his younger daughter describes the disorder:

“Our dad is totally Polar Bear.”

Mr. Stuart’s older daughter, Amelia, corrects her sister:

“Bipolar.”

Maya Forbes used her family’s story as a model for the Stuarts.

“My father was manic depressive, my mother is African-American, my father was from a wealthy New England family, but we didn’t have any money. My mother wanted to send us to great schools.”

Cameron Stuart’s mother Pauline reacts to her son’s wife’s decision to get a job in New York City to support the family: “No, no! Maggie Stuart. You cannot leave your family.”

Actress Zoe Saldana as Maggie Stuart: “Pauline, I’m desperate. We have no money.”

Like Maggie, Maya Forbes’ mother left her husband to care for the children. She went to work in New York City, but visited the family every weekend.

“My sister and I were very embarrassed of our situation. We were ashamed, I mean, my father, we, our apartment was a disaster, a mess, my father was embarrassing³ and a mess and he at some point he said to us ‘You don’t need to be, you don't need to hide and you can tell people that I’m manic depressive -- that’s who I am.’”

Ms. Forbes says people like her film because mental illness has affected⁴ them in some way.

“People are coming to share their story with me. And most people are affected by mental illness with somebody they love, whether its a parent of a child or a sibling⁵.”

Her film also deals with sexual⁶ and racial discrimination. Her mother was well-educated. But Ms. Forbes says she could not get a high-paying job in Boston because she was a black woman.

“My mother going into the world of finance⁷ -- there are not a lot of black women in finance, you know, today. I mean, it's not like we've made huge strides⁸ in that arena⁹. And everyone feels that we, we solved the problems because Obama is our president. We’re post-racial. That is not true.”

The director also says that she, like other women, has dealt with sex discrimination in Hollywood.

“I don’t know why there aren't more women directors. I just think they aren't handed the big movies, they aren't handed the big movies and those are the movies where you can actually make some money.”

She says it was not easy making a film while raising a family. But she says her childhood helped her to become independent and strong.

Words in This Story

portrait – n. a painting, drawing or photograph of a person that usually only includes the person’s head and shoulders

manic depression – n. a mental condition in which a person experiences periods of strong excitement and happiness followed by periods of sadness and depression

ashamed – adj. feeling guilty

mess – n. a very dirty state or condition

embarrass(ing) – v. to make someone or something look foolish

sibling – n. a brother or sister

strides – n. a change or improvement¹⁰ that brings someone closer to a goal

arena – n. an area of activity, interest or competition

handed – v. informal – to be given (a chance)

1 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。

2 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

3 embarrassing   

adj.使人尴尬的，令人为难的v.（使）窘迫，（使）局促不安( embarrass的现在分词)

参考例句：

• His jokes didn't even raise a smile, which was embarrassing. 听了他讲的笑话，都没人笑一下，真是太尴尬了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was in the embarrassing position of having completely forgotten her name. 当时我完全忘记了她的名字，很是尴尬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

6 sexual   

adj.性的，两性的，性别的

参考例句：

• He was a person of gross sexual appetites.他是个性欲旺盛的人。
• It is socially irresponsible to refuse young people advice on sexual matters.拒绝向年轻人提供性方面的建议是对社会不负责任。

7 finance   

n.财务管理，财政，金融，财源，资金

参考例句：

• She is an expert in finance.她是一名财政专家。
• A finance house made a bid to buy up the entire company.一家信贷公司出价买下了整个公司。

8 strides   

裤子； 大步( stride的名词复数 )； 步法； 步态； 进展

参考例句：

• The child could not keep up with his father's strides. 那个孩子跟不上他父亲的步子。
• That 70-year-old man walked into the park with vigorous strides. 那位七旬老人健步走进公园。

9 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

10 improvement   

n.改进，增进；改进之处，改善的地方

参考例句：

• The doctor noticed a gradual improvement in his patient.医生注意到病人在逐渐恢复健康。
• I can detect signs of improvement in your thinking.我可以察觉出你思考问题方面的进步。