Televised injustice

After George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, died while in police custody on May 25, people across the United States took to the streets. The protests – peaceful and otherwise – have also once again shone a light on a societal issue that extends beyond borders.
5月25日，手无寸铁的美国非裔男子乔治·弗洛伊德在警方执法拘押时身亡，此后，全美各地的人们走上街头抗议。这些抗议 —— 不论和平与否 —— 都再次反映了一个不仅是美国才有的社会问题。

In countries around the world, this recent event has sparked awareness of racial injustices and recently we have seen statues toppled, a call to legal reform and even a focus on inequality within the film industry. Indeed, this issue is not one that has just rippled through the streets, but impacted how we perceive elements in popular culture, raising the question, “Should we re-think how we’ve previously perceived films, TV shows and various other media?”
在世界各国，近期的这一事件都让人们意识到了种族不平等的现象，这些天我们也看到了雕像被推倒、呼吁法制改革、甚至关注影视行业内不平等现象的新闻。的确，这个问题不光在街头上扩散，也影响着我们如何看待流行文化元素，并提出了这样一个问题：“我们是否应该反思自己先前对于电影、电视剧以及其他类型媒体的认知？”

As one example, Gone With the Wind, long since regarded as a classic, has been pulled from the US streaming platform HBO Max. The 1939 film depicts images of slavery during the US Civil War, which may be considered controversial during this time. As an HBO Max spokesperson stated on CNN, “These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible.”
其中一个例子便是早已被视为经典之作的《乱世佳人》被美国流媒体平台HBO Max下架。这部1939年的电影描绘了美国内战时期奴隶制的画面，在如今看来或许存在争议。一位HBO Max发言人向美国有线电视新闻网表示，“这些种族主义的刻画在当时与如今都是错误的，我们认为让这部电影在没有对这些描绘进行谴责的情况下保持上架，是不负责任的行为。”

In addition, the reality TV show Cops was canceled and British comedy Little Britain was removed from several streaming sites for their use of blackface – applying makeup to a non-black actor in order to represent a black person.
此外，电视真人秀节目《警察》以及英国戏剧《小不列颠》也因使用黑色面孔 —— 将非黑人演员化妆成黑人 —— 而遭到多家流媒体网站下架。

The issue of inequality within the film and television industry is not new. As a HuffPost article noted, “In the more than 90 years of the Oscars, no black director has ever won the Best Director award, no black women have been nominated in that category, and only two films by black directors have been awarded Best Picture: Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight.”
影视行业内的不平等问题并非是新鲜事。正如《赫芬顿邮报》的一篇文章所指出的那样：“在奥斯卡90多年的历史中，没有一位黑人导演获得最佳导演奖，没有一位黑人女性获得该奖项提名，只有两部黑人导演执导的电影获得最佳影片：史蒂夫·麦奎因的《为奴十二年》和巴里·杰金斯的《月光男孩》。”

However, current circumstances have encouraged The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – the organization that awards the Oscars – to take action. The Academy recently announced a new initiative that aims to expand diversity and inclusion within the filmmaking industry.
而眼下的情况也让组织颁发奥斯卡奖的美国电影艺术与科学学院采取了行动。该学院近期宣布了一项新倡议，意在让电影行业变得更多元、更包容。

“To truly meet this moment, we must recognize how much more needs to be done, and we must listen, learn, embrace the challenge, and hold ourselves and our community accountable,” said Academy President David Rubin.
“为了真正直面这一时刻，我们必须承认需要做的还有更多，我们必须倾听、学习、接受挑战，为我们自己以及我们的社群负起责任来，”学院主席大卫·鲁宾如此说道。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高一798期