VOA标准英语2012--For Black Actresses, Few Oscar-Worthy Roles

For Black Actresses, Few Oscar-Worthy Roles

The box office hit “The Help” won an Oscar for best supporting actress. But Viola Davis, the film's lead actress, was passed over. In fact, only one African- American woman has ever won best actress in a leading role.

And that has highlighted the lack of award-winning roles for African-Americans, especially women.

Hattie McDaniels was the first African-American to ever win an Oscar. She was named best supporting actress for her portrayal¹ of Mammy, a slave, in the 1939 epic² "Gone with the Wind."

Since then, African-American actresses have gone on to play a variety of roles. But playwright³ Murray Horwitz argues many of them present African-Americans as victims.

“Once you’re a victim, you can’t be a man, a woman, a child who may be a brat⁴, or a woman who may be cheating on her husband, or a man who might be a noble pillar of the community," he says. "It’s just ‘Oh, it’s them’ and that’s something I think that, as writers and filmmakers, we have to avoid.”

In 1991, Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as Oda Mae Brown, a psychic⁵, in the supernatural drama "Ghost." But critics argued that her character tapped into the stereotype⁶ of an African American con⁷ artist.

In 2001, Halle Berry became the first African-American to win an Oscar for best actress in the drama "Monster's Ball."

She played the wife of an executed convict. Horwitz says Halle Berry’s role as Leticia Musgrove, who develops a relationship with her executed husband’s white guard, deviated⁸ from the norm.

“Was Halle Berry's character in "Monster's Ball" sympathetic? Sure, but I don't know if you want to have dinner with her," say Horwitz. "So, I think one of the great victories has been the presence, and I don’t want to say increased presence because statistically⁹ it goes up and down, but the presence of African-Americans in roles where race does not completely define the character, and we need a great actor to inhabit that role.”

According to Horwitz, layered roles for African-American actresses have been rare. Most fit the traditional niche¹⁰.

Like the abusive mother in Lee Daniels' 2009 drama "Precious." Mo’Nique won an Oscar for that supporting role.

The film, based on a novel, offers a bleak¹¹ portrait of a teenage girl called Precious. Daniels says his film is true and its truth should not be forgotten.

“Do we dare show African-Americans in this light?" says Daniels. "Especially with Obama being president? How dare you tell this truth? How dare you tell this truth? How dare you read this truth? And I was taken aback by the audaciousness of it all. The audaciousness of the book.”

"Precious," although dark, is uplifting. In the end, Precious betters her life.

Daniels says that's a message not only for African-Americans but for Americans as a whole.

“We come in all different colors. We are colored people. Colored people. So, we have athletes, we have drug dealers¹², we have doctors, we have murderers, we are people.”

At this year's Oscars, Octavia Spencer walked away with the golden statue for best supporting actress for her role as Minnie in "The Help, about a maid in 1960s Mississippi.

The actress says the role was real. “I had to model her after someone, and I modeled her after my mom."

Halle Berry remains¹³ the only African-American woman to have won best actress in a leading role.

And that begs the question: Should African-American actors wait for race-neutral roles? There aren't many of those. And where will the winning roles come from? Who will write them?

1 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

2 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

3 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

4 brat   

n.孩子；顽童

参考例句：

• He's a spoilt brat.他是一个被宠坏了的调皮孩子。
• The brat sicked his dog on the passer-by.那个顽童纵狗去咬过路人。

5 psychic   

n.对超自然力敏感的人；adj.有超自然力的

参考例句：

• Some people are said to have psychic powers.据说有些人有通灵的能力。
• She claims to be psychic and to be able to foretell the future.她自称有特异功能，能预知未来。

6 stereotype   

n.固定的形象，陈规，老套，旧框框

参考例句：

• He's my stereotype of a schoolteacher.他是我心目中的典型教师。
• There's always been a stereotype about successful businessmen.人们对于成功商人一直都有一种固定印象。

7 con   

n.反对的观点，反对者，反对票，肺病；vt.精读，学习，默记；adv.反对地，从反面；adj.欺诈的

参考例句：

• We must be fair and consider the reason pro and con.我们必须公平考虑赞成和反对的理由。
• The motion is adopted non con.因无人投反对票，协议被通过。

8 deviated   

v.偏离，越轨( deviate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• On this occasion the plane deviated from its usual flight path. 这一次那架飞机偏离了正常的航线。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His statements sometimes deviated from the truth. 他的陈述有时偏离事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

10 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

11 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

12 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。