亲爱的白人们

Just a few weeks ago, I went to see a play for class. To my professor's defense, he had never seen the show before. But the thing ended up being a shit show. A white guy (who later defended himself with the"I'm not white, I'm Jewish" card) plays a host of characters, all of which are textbook racial stereotypes -- you have the shy Asian traumatized by her upbringing, the dim-witted African who alternates between senseless aggression and mellow Sambo, and a Hispanic woman who is defined solely by her breasts. It was one of the most unpleasant theatre experiences I had ever gone through. Quite pathetically, the play positioned itself as"provocative" and ground-breaking -- but hey, newsflash, rehashing old stereotypes is not at all creative, especially when the play says nothing ABOUT these stereotypes, other than that they exist. And this discussion about racism? Dude, it's been going for a couple of centuries; there's nothing for you to start here.But the play was not the worst part -- the class discussion we had afterwards, was. More than a few white people in our class were uncomfortable if not outright dismissive of the anger the play inspired. I was nicely told that a) I did not get the real point of the play and that b) I should not let my anger blind me to the play's merits. The producer of the show also likened my reaction to someone who read Onion News and took it for real. The play had layers, sure, but when the race thing is fucked up to that degree, I really don't think we can just excuse the racism and look only at the silver linings. Because blackface, yellowface, whatever-face -- they are all NOT ok. White people don't get to play with that shit, regardless of whether it's literal or metaphorical, whether they think they are being creative with it or not, and whether they think it's"useful" or not. There is no room for discussion on this. There's enough misrepresentation and under-representation of race in the media that any, and I mean ANY, addition to the problem is problematic in itself.I walked out of Dear White People feeling both drained (it's like taking a week's dose of micro-aggressions all crammed into two hours) and oddly empowered. It took me a few hours to realize where the feeling of exhilaration came from: this was probably the first contemporary North American film I've seen released in commercial cinema where POC dominate the cast, and got to live out"normal" lives. In North America, where visible minorities make up more than a quarter of the population, there are no virtually no movies with POC protagonists. We (the POC) only see ourselves in supporting roles that are, more often than not, defined almost solely by their race. The token minority. We are tied down to stereotypes -- the Asian nerd, the Black single mother, the Hispanic servant... All we see is our race. We are dehumanized and stripped of any individuality. We have no voice.Yet here, in this movie, not only are POC finally at university, but THEY ARE THE PROTAGONISTS. Not the Best Friend, not the Room Mate, not Girl #1 in the Cafeteria -- they are no longer racial quotas, but real characters who get to tell their own stories.And so even though I'm not black, and am embarrassingly ignorant of black culture, this film resonated with me in a way that no film has in a long time. I'm tired of being seen as just a representation of my race. And I'm tired of my culture being exploited for fetish value and laughs. I'm tired of the astounding amount of ignorance that comes up every time this discussion about race comes up. Yea, this race problem thing? It's long from being over. We may all have the same legal rights, but when it comes to liberty? The visible minorities may well be bound up in chains and shackles.So dear white people, listen up. There are more than just angry black men out there -- all the people of all the colours are pissed off.

晚上去独立影院看了Dear White People，讲的是在一个虚构的常春藤名校里一小撮黑人学生在以白人为主的学生群体当中努力寻找自我定位的挣扎与成长。电影想要表达的主题很多，从种族到社会阶层，从性到权力。与少数族裔（亚非拉和同性恋及其他）有关的影视作品，尤其是非喜剧的（当然此片也还算是喜剧范畴），都容易触到不少人的痛处。一部分白人难免觉得太夸张，另一部分少数族裔又难免觉得太轻佻。这个度，还是不太好把握。而电影的导演，Justin Simien，作为一个黑人同性恋导演，估计比多数人都更有资本去探讨这样一个话题（如果探讨这样一个话题需要任何资本的话）。他在NPR的一次采访中说，他觉得美国社会已经准备好了去用电影电视的形式探讨这样一个话题，因此他决定拿自己的处女作去拍这样一部电影，冒这样一次险。诚然，为了这样一个初衷与目的，我得给这部处女作打八分。史考特也在纽约时报上说了，这部电影认识现实但不至于尖酸刻薄，了解自我但也不完全以自我为中心，对外界的影响保持开放的心态，但也对个人的独特性有着足够的信心（knowing but not snarky, self-aware but not solipsistic, open to influence and confident in its own originality）。总而言之，他的原话是，很长时间以来，这是他在美国电影导演中所看到的最聪明也最无畏的处女作了。事实是如此，但我讲两点不足：有关于一部电影的质量，我最关注两点要素：一是人物架构，二是故事情节。就因为这两点，我从来都没太喜欢过Woody Allen：他的电影总是人物太空，故事太薄。Dear White People的主要角色是四名各有特点极具代表性的黑人学生。他们的特点，理应是把人物架构简单化。而且实话说，用两小时的时长讲四个人的故事，不是不可能完成的任务（换昆汀来，这四人早就鲜活立现了）。但电影演完，我还是不太觉得这四人离我有多近。其次关于故事，全电影的高潮在剧末的大爬梯上，这算是戏剧冲突的焦点。好的故事，就是一步步地把人推上这个高点。观众在看电影的全程，仿佛都期待着这个时间点的发生。但是在这部电影中，这个冲突的发生不免让人觉得有点没头没脑。铺垫不够足，期待度不够高，高潮的发生就自然没法带来它应有的爆炸性效果。

豆瓣6.8分，圣丹斯评审团特别奖——这些标签放在《亲爱的白人们》身上，几乎就预告了它不会是一部让你舒服的电影。开场那场广播剧已经够挑衅，白人学生用黑人俚语嬉闹的“非裔主题派对”更是直接把火药桶搬到台前。导演贾斯汀·西米恩没有给观众留任何喘息空间，镜头就像一根针，专挑美国种族议题最敏感的穴位扎。但真正让我坐直身体的，是山姆和莱昂内尔这两个角色。山姆的愤怒是写在脸上的，她怼天怼地怼男友，可当面对白人教授“你的作品太狭隘”的批评时，她眼眶里打转的委屈比任何台词都有力。而莱昂内尔更惨——既要在黑人同学面前藏起自己的性取向，又得应付白人室友的无知。双重边缘人的身份被泰莎·汤普森和泰勒·詹姆斯·威廉姆演得入木三分。讽刺的是，片中最清醒的竟是那个浑浑噩噩的白人小子盖比，他一句“我不懂你们在吵什么”恰恰暴露了特权的本质：看不见，就不用负责。西米恩把多线叙事玩得很溜，可惜结尾泄了气。当山姆在广播中喊出“亲爱的白人们”时，我期待她撕碎所有虚伪，结果却用一场温吞的和解收场~可能这就是众筹电影（Kickstarter起家）的宿命吧——有胆量开炮，没胆量炸到底。比起后来Netflix版剧集的冗长，这部原版电影反而更利落。它没有试图讨好任何一方，连黑人内部的分歧都毫不留情地拍出来。豆瓣6.8分有点低了，但想想观众抱怨“讽刺不够狠”的评论，倒也合理——在这个时代，温和的真相往往最讨人嫌。