VOA慢速英语--美国女性试图打破演艺界的壁垒

American Women Try to Break Barriers in Show Business

Chelsea Shorte is telling jokes on a cold Wednesday night at an eatery in Alexandria, Virginia.

Shorte tells the restaurant-goers, many of them women, about her decision to perform stand-up comedy instead of improvisational² humor.

"I got tired of being cast as people's moms even though I was 23 years old, she says. Shorte adds that men doing improve comedy think all women are mothers.

The women gathered at the restaurant understand her statement. Most of them hope to work as comics. They believe that by working with other women, they can get around the barriers set up by men in show business.

Long before the reports of sexual abuse by comedian³ Louis C.K., reporter Nell Scovell wrote a story for Vanity Fair magazine in 2009. Her story noted⁴ accusations⁵ against her former employer, television personality David Letterman.

"At this moment," her story began, "there are more females serving on the United States Supreme⁶ Court than there are writing for Late Show with David Letterman, [and competitors] The Jay Leno Show, and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien combined.”

She added that 50 writers were working for these TV shows, and none were women.

Comedian and businesswoman Victoria Elena Nones set up the Women in Comedy network, which provided support for the Alexandria restaurant event.

"I thought it was really important to provide a space for women to get together," Nones says.

She founded the network in Chicago in 2015. It now has groups in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.

Nones says she hopes the group will help women find and support each other as they make their own places in an industry that is often hostile to women.

Actress and comic Diane Chernansky says she was surprised to realize one of her own jokes talked about the way women are treated in standup comedy. She often finds herself the only woman telling jokes in a room where all the other performers are men.

"It's very difficult to sit there and listen to lots of men joke about women in general, and how horrible we are," Chernansky says.

The number of female writers on the top 250 films of any year from 1998 to the present has stayed about the same, at 13 percent. Of directors on the top 250 films of 2016, only seven percent were women. Only two percent of those top 250 films employed 10 or more women, noted the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.

Minorities do not rate much better. The heavily male culture of show business has a strong effect on what is expected of women -- and minorities -- in the industry.

Promises are an important part of Hollywood, says E.C. McCarthy. She recently wrote a story for The Washington Post newspaper. It noted that bad behavior in show business is not limited to sexual abuse, or to performers. The promise of support often opens the possibility for other abuses of power.

Harassment⁷ is one way to keep people feeling insecure and willing to work for free, McCarthy explains. She detailed⁹ one of several times that a male producer tried to take her writing and claim credit for it.

McCarthy wrote that when she first became a writer in Hollywood, she thought sexism would end when younger writers entered the industry, but that did not happen. Instead, she discovered, the younger male writers learned to be sexist from the older men.

Minka Wiltz says she gets angry when “I walk into a room and feel like a piece of meat.” Wiltz is a black actress and activist¹⁰ from Atlanta, Georgia. She has a problem with being asked again and again to play black women.

Wiltz says abuse is a serious problem in today’s show business culture. She says the way to improve the situation is for women, people of color and other minorities to help each other tell their stories.

For example, Atlanta, a city where the majority of the population is African-American, did not have a black theater group until Wiltz and some friends started one.

In the past, there have been specialized¹¹ groups in show business.

For example, North Hollywood’s Deaf West Theater sent productions of two musicals to Broadway theaters, where they won awards.

The small Ivy¹² Theatre Company in New York chooses women and minorities to perform in shows with stories about their lives. The Ivy show "A Real Boy," is about two puppets who raise a boy as their own son. The show is written by Stephen Kaplan, a gay man who is raising an adopted son with his husband.

In Chicago, the popularity of improv comedy means there are many groups of performers, including an Asian-American group called "Stir-Friday Night." This group has helped the careers of Korean-American actor Steven Yeun and Indian-American Danny Pudi.

One of their recent shows made fun of Hollywood for casting of white actress Scarlett Johannsen as a Japanese cyborg in The Ghost in the Shell. The name of the show: 8 Angry Asians, Starring Scarlett Johansson.

Wiltz, the Atlanta-based actress, says these groups and many others are supporting the work that the American entertainment industry ignores.

"I really hope that people realize you have no more excuses for your own success," she says. "I want people to realize that the Hollywood myth, like the American myth, is just that. You can create your own story."

I’m Dorothy Gundy.

And I'm Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

improvisation¹ (improv) - n. speaking or performing without preparation

cast - v. to choose or appoint actors for parts in a play or movie

network - n. a group of people or organizations that are closely connected and that work with each other

harass⁸ - v. to make offensive comments or behave badly; to criticize or make repeated attacks on someone

comedy – n. a performance or shot that is meant to make people laugh

myth – n. a story that was told in ancient times to explain a belief or natural event

puppet – n. a play-thing that is moved by putting your hand inside or by pulling wires that are connected to it

gay – adj. showing a sexual interest in someone of the same sex

cyborg – n. a person whose body contains electrical or mechanical devices

1 improvisation   

n.即席演奏(或演唱)；即兴创作

参考例句：

• a free-form jazz improvisation 自由创作的爵士乐即兴演出
• Most of their music was spontaneous improvisation. 他们的大部分音乐作品都是即兴创作的。

2 improvisational   

adj. 即兴的

参考例句：

• I have never been at games like charades or improvisational acting. 您从来都唔擅长玩“有口难言”或者“即席表演”之类既游戏。
• I'm practicing self-control, those random and improvisational acts aren't allowed. 我在练习控制自己，那些随意的、即兴的举动是不允许的。

3 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

4 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 harassment   

n.骚扰，扰乱，烦恼，烦乱

参考例句：

• She often got telephone harassment at night these days.这些天她经常在夜晚受到电话骚扰。
• The company prohibits any form of harassment.公司禁止任何形式的骚扰行为。

8 harass   

vt.使烦恼，折磨，骚扰

参考例句：

• Our mission is to harass the landing of the main Japaness expeditionary force.我们的任务是骚乱日本远征军主力的登陆。
• They received the order to harass the enemy's rear.他们接到骚扰敌人后方的命令。

9 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

10 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

11 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

12 ivy   

n.常青藤，常春藤

参考例句：

• Her wedding bouquet consisted of roses and ivy.她的婚礼花篮包括玫瑰和长春藤。
• The wall is covered all over with ivy.墙上爬满了常春藤。