亲爱的白人们

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。

　　电影制作水平不在Whiplash或Birdman的级别，但新出道的编剧兼导演Justin Simien却很大胆——他拍了一部非常私人的，“聪明”到恐怕会让人反感的快节奏喜剧，而主角们也并不代表很多非裔美国人所能共鸣的那类人群。但Simien却能突破这表面上的局限性，使得大部分在美国的年轻人都能理解这部电影，这是很出彩的。片子的诀窍就在于——它表面上虽然是黑人学生向那些对少数族裔缺乏敏感度的白人宣战，实则讲的是那些黑人学生本身面临的自我认知的问题，最终超越种族和民权政治，启发每个人在这个时代中对于个人身份的定位进行思考。这片子重看的价值蛮高，尤其是对于没完全跟上台词的人来说。懂得越多，就越擅长同情同理，以后对下一代就越有能力理解和辅助。这就是为什么也给它五颗星“力荐”。

　　电影的开篇，是一帮白人学生故意举办了一场非常无礼的万圣节派对——派对的主题是“非裔美国人”，音乐是说唱，大家不是把脸涂黑了，就是戴着黑人的面具，并且Nigga喊个不停。（如果你还在权衡，我可以清楚的告诉你，这种行为在当今是绝对不能被接受的。）而整部电影就是带我们目睹导致这次主题派对的一系列事件，以及这个派对是如何收场的。

　　电影的镜头尾随着四名常春藤Winchester大学生的校园生活。电影的主角——Sam（Tessa Thompson）是一个电台主持，电影专业学生，也是本片名称的启发者。她的广播节目名称便是“亲爱的白人们”。在节目中，她非常直白的点出白人学生与黑人同学交际中的一些现象，其中有些话非常令人不舒服。举个例子：“亲爱的白人学生，如果你跟一位黑人约会的目的纯粹是让你的父母不爽，那就说明你有种族歧视”。她的立场很坚定——她要维护黑人群体的独立性，甚至强行排挤白人同学，她在广播里的话铿锵、机灵，显得她非常的坚定和自信，甚至让我感到迷人的性感。但是实际上，她的内心却并不是自己展现的那个样子。她的另一面是怎样的，我就不剧透了。这另一面使得Sam这个人物更加的真实，更加的容易被观众接近。

　　电影之所以很活泼，一部分原因就是，虽然所有的主角们非常不同，而且每个人对自己的那份“不同”都显得很坚定，但是她们自己的内心却不时的摇曳。她们要不停的去评估自己在社会中的位置和方向，但却不一定找得到答案。

　　其他三位主角也各有各的特点。Coco想要成为真人秀明星，她想尽办法吸引别人的注意，愿意跟白人有更多的融入，拉直头发、戴金色假发。Troy是校长的儿子，六块肌肉，英俊高大，并身负很多的期望和责任。Lionel是最最不合群的，他是个竹竿瘦的书呆子，不像“典型”黑人那样魁梧，并且还是同性恋。在校园的生活中，Lionel显然会面临最多的困难，但他却或许是主角中对“我是谁”这个问题最坚定的。相比之下，其他几位主角，对自己到底是谁，到底要什么，貌似都并不是特别的清楚。

　　确实，电影里的人都很“常春藤”，对白都很政治、很学术。虽然黑人学生们对于白人学生缺乏敏感度的现象反应剧烈，大家所思所想也都跟种族偏见、甚至奴隶制搭边儿，但此片不是Boyz n the Hood, 不是American History X, 不是Crash, 更不是The House I Live In. 它很小巧，有点“小资”，喜欢评论的不是George Zimmerman等，而是像Tyler Perry等绑架了黑人形象的流行文化人。它的着重点非常私人化，是在一个白人居多的社区之内，白人和其他人如何相处、少数人群里的每个个体都是如何反应、每个人都如何面临自己的身份认同的微妙现象。这是一个新的社会问题，也是一个在阶级上稍上流的问题。在这个现象中，各个种族的人们不断地审视着对方的文化，有时也会产生错误的认识，而Justin Simien自编自导，水平虽不算“惊人”，但却微妙的点出了这个现象中某些非常有趣、也发人深省的真相。电影让人在耳目一新后感到欣喜。如果居美人士看了以后没有想法、或者觉得压根就跟自己无关，那也是无可厚非的。但，恐怕是因为你大概没有认真的去经历，而错过了一道好菜。我的确不该这么“万箭齐发”，这是我的个人评论，我难免希望别人能跟我分享一样的想法，但我们在美国漂着的人，经历和认识也肯定无法千篇一律——我们不能被任何一种概括所代表，我们也面临着很个人的身份认知的问题。

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.