好萊塢缺少亞裔 是生意還是歧視

Last week, we published an article about Asian-American actors fighting for diversity in Hollywood. Hundreds of readers from the United States and around the world responded by submitting comments. Here are some of the most thoughtful — and provocative. The comments have been edited for space and clarity.

上週，我們刊登了一篇關於亞裔演員爲好萊塢的多樣性進行抗爭的文章，留言的讀者數以百計，來自美國和全球各地。下面是其中一些最有深度或最具爭議性的評論。我們對這些評論做過一些編輯，以便顯得言簡意賅。

‘Asians Are Still Fairly Invisible’

“亞裔仍然很缺乏存在感”

Readers discussed how the lack of Asian-Americans in Hollywood had affected their lives and careers.

讀者們討論了好萊塢作品中缺乏亞裔美國人對他們的生活和事業造成了何種影響。

Joanna from New York recalled taking her two mixed-race children to see the film adaptation of “The Martian” after reading the book: “I was excited to take my kids to see the movie. Unfortunately, I was more than a little disappointed that an obviously Korean Mindy Park in the book was looking as white and blond as she did.”

紐約的喬安娜(Joanna)回憶了帶着她看過原著的兩個混血孩子去看電影《火星救援》的情況。她說：“我很高興能夠帶孩子去看這部電影。可惜的是，我非常失望，原著中明顯是韓裔的明迪·樸(Mindy Park)成了金髮碧眼。”

Carol from Victoria, British Columbia, a fourth-generation North American of Japanese descent, recalled growing up in the 1950s without images of Asians in the media “other than some white guy with something painful shoved up his eyes, playing in old Charlie Chan films.” She continued: “Now I am in my 60s and am disappointed to see how little has basically changed over the years. Asians are still fairly invisible.”

不列顛哥倫比亞省維多利亞的卡羅爾(Carol)是居住在北美的第四代日裔，她回顧了50年代自己小時候媒體中沒有亞洲人的形象，“只有一些白人，化着折磨人的眼妝，在陳查理(Charlie Chan)之類的老電影裏扮演角色。”她還說：”現在我60多歲了，看到這麼多年來幾乎沒有什麼改變，真是失望。亞裔仍然很缺乏存在感。”

Tammy from New Jersey, an Asian-American actress, said she felt at times excluded from roles because she was not bilingual: “In many roles that exist for Asian actors, you are primarily there to ‘play Asian’ by speaking a foreign language, or you must have an accent.” She added: “My favorite auditions are roles that don’t specify the character’s race, and when I book the job I know it’s because I simply brought something to the role that was needed.”

新澤西州的塔米(Tammy)是亞裔演員。她說，由於自己不能講亞洲語言，選角的時候常被排除在外：“很多讓亞裔演員出演的角色，需要你講英語之外的語言來‘扮演亞洲人’，或者必須要有口音。”她還說：“我最喜歡的試鏡是那種沒有指定種族的角色，當我被選中時，我就知道這完全是由於我對角色的把握。”

Stephanie Seto from Toronto spoke of difficulties pursuing acting and performing as a child: “I had talent but I never felt confident enough to try out for lead roles because they were always typecast. If you think being an American-Chinese person in the entertainment world is difficult, multiply that by 100 as a Canadian.”

多倫多的斯蒂芬妮·瀨戶(Stephanie Seto)談到了自己從小追尋表演道路的艱難：“我有天賦，但我從來沒有足夠的信心去試演主角，因爲他們總是對演員類型有固定模式。如果你覺得華人在美國演藝圈過很得艱難，加拿大還要難上100倍。”

‘This Is a Business, Not a Social Experiment’

“這是生意，不是社會實驗”

Readers also debated the issue of “whitewashing” — that is, when white actors are tapped to play Asian roles.

讀者還討論了“洗白”問題——即由白人演員扮演亞洲人物角色。

Voila from New York, who identifies as Asian-American, said: “Seriously, can we stop with the whining already? We are (mostly) raised to focus on academics, and so even the kids who are born gifted in the arts or sports grow up believing those are hobbies and not professions. So obviously we go underrepresented. You want to complain to someone — take it up with your parents and grandparents.”

紐約的亞裔美國人維拉(Voila)說：“說真的，我們能不能別再發牢騷了？我們（大部分人）從小就被教育要把注意力集中在學業上，所以就連那些有藝術或體育天賦的孩子也從小相信那只是愛好，不是職業。所以很顯然，我們在這些方面會處於弱勢。如果想要埋怨誰，就去埋怨你的父母和祖父母吧。”

Subash Thapa from Albany, Australia, wrote: “As an Asian myself, I think it’s pretty stupid labeling Hollywood as racist because we don’t see enough minorities in lead roles. Hollywood can be accused of pushing the stereotypes, but it has been doing so against all cultures and countries.”

澳大利亞奧爾巴尼的蘇巴斯·塔帕(Subash Thapa)說：“作爲一個亞裔，我認爲，如果因爲沒有看到足夠多的主角來自少數族裔，就給好萊塢打上種族主義的標籤，這是非常愚蠢的。你可以指責好萊塢在推動刻板印象，但它對所有文化和國家都是這樣做的。”

Alan from Los Angeles said: “If you can get Scarlett Johansson to star in your movie, you’ll change your character from Asian, rather than cast a far lesser-known actress. This is a business, not a social experiment.”

洛杉磯的艾倫(Alan) 說：“如果你的電影能請到斯嘉麗·約翰遜(Scarlett Johansson)出演，你就會對亞裔角色進行修改，而不是找個知名度小得多的女演員。這是生意，不是社會實驗。”

‘Why Can’t We All Just Be Americans?’

“爲什麼我們不能把自己都看成是美國人？”

Other readers argued that race shouldn’t be a topic that divides Americans.

有些讀者認爲，種族不應該成爲讓美國人分裂的話題。

Brad from Texas wrote: “Why can’t we all just be Americans and have some solidarity in that? One of the reasons for so much discord and anger in this country is because of race. If people would stop insisting they are ‘Asian-American’ or ‘African-American’ and just be American, it would go a long way toward getting rid of these issues.”

德克薩斯州的布拉德(Brad) 寫道：“爲什麼我們不能把自己都看成是美國人，團結一些呢？這個國家產生了太多的不和諧和憤怒感，而種族就是其中一個原因。如果人們不再堅持自己是‘亞裔美國人’或‘非裔美國人’，而僅僅是美國人，就會大大有助於擺脫這些問題。”

‘Now That’s Real Progress’

“這是真正的進步”

Others were happy with the strides that Asian-American actors have made — even if they thought they could go even further.

另一些人對亞裔演員取得的進步感到高興——即使他們認爲還有很大的改進空間。

Jo Sheena from New York City wrote: “I find it strange that Aziz Ansari complains about the visibility of Asian actors when his character on ‘Master of None’ exclusively dated/lusted after white women. Why didn’t he use his own show to highlight some beautiful Asian actresses in Hollywood?”

紐約城的喬·希娜(Jo Sheena)說：“我覺得奇怪，阿茲·安薩里(Aziz Ansari)抱怨亞裔演員的存在感，而他在《無爲大師》(Master of None)中的角色只和白人女性約會，貪戀她們的美色。他爲什麼沒有在自己的節目上突出一些漂亮的好萊塢亞裔女演員呢？”

Diana from Germany wrote: “Sandra Oh was cast in the hit TV series ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ as a doctor, not as an Asian character. Now that’s real progress: When North Americans who happen to look Asian are not confined to ethnic roles or the villain in action films, but play real people.”

德國的戴安娜(Diana)寫道：“吳珊卓(Sandra Oh)在熱播系列劇《實習醫生格蕾》(Grey’s Anatomy)中扮演一名醫生，而不是演一個亞裔形象。這是真正的進步：恰好看起來是亞裔的北美人沒有侷限在族裔形象或是動作片反派上，而是扮演真正的人。”