韋恩斯坦走了，但好萊塢性別歧視的陰魂未散

When I read the recent allegations that Harvey Weinstein had sexually harassed women for decades, I thought — well, of course. Weinstein was a famously swaggering bully, and while I hadn’t heard about the specific charges of sexual abuse by women working for him, such behavior fits the movie industry’s pervasive, unrepentant exploitation of women. And then on Tuesday, The New Yorker revealed that three women, including the Italian actress-turned-director Asia Argento, said that “Weinstein raped them.”

最近讀到關于哈維·韋恩斯坦(Harvey Weinstein)數十年來性侵女性的指控時，我覺得——呃，他當然是這樣的。韋恩斯坦是出了名的囂張惡霸，雖然我之前沒聽說過為他工作的女性的具體性騷擾指控，但此類行為，與電影業(yè)對女性進行的普遍的、不思悔改的剝削是相符的。周二，《紐約客》(The New Yorker)爆料稱，三名女性，包括女演員出身的意大利導演艾莎·阿基多(Asia Argento)，聲稱“韋恩斯坦強奸過她們”。

It is the perverse, insistent, matter-of-factness of male sexual predation and assault — of men’s power over women — that haunts the revelations about Weinstein. This banality of abuse also haunts the American movie industry. Women helped build the industry, but it has long been a male-dominated enterprise that systematically treats women — as a class — as inferior to men. It is an industry with a history of sexually exploiting younger female performers and stamping expiration dates on older ones. It is an industry that consistently denies female directors employment and contemptuously treats the female audience as a niche, a problem, an afterthought.

男性的這種齷齪、持續(xù)、確鑿的性掠奪和性侵犯，也就是男性對女性的威壓，在韋恩斯坦性侵曝光過程中時時可見。性侵的司空見慣也縈繞著美國電影業(yè)。女性參與建立了這個行業(yè)，但長期以來，電影業(yè)一直由男性主導，它從體制上將女性置于低男性一等的階層。該行業(yè)長期以來對年輕女性表演者進行性掠奪，給年長女性表演者打上過氣標簽。該行業(yè)一直排斥女性擔任導演，輕蔑地視女性觀眾為一塊利基市場，一個問題，某種錦上添花的東西。

It’s greatly encouraging that women like Gwyneth Paltrow have gone public about Weinstein. But he is not an aberration. He is an ordinary, malignant symptom of systemic sexism, as is everyone who facilitated him, shrugs it off now or mendaciously asks why women didn’t say something sooner. What largely separates Weinstein from other predators, within and without the entertainment world, is that he was once powerful, he got caught and a number of gutsy women are on the record. Together, their voices are creating a forceful rejoinder to an industry that runs on fear and in which silence is at once a defense and a weapon as well as a condition of employment.

令人鼓舞的是，格溫妮絲·帕特洛(Gwyneth Paltrow)等女性公開揭露了韋恩斯坦。但他不是特例。他是體制性性別歧視的一個尋常的、惡性的表現，其他表現包括那些為他提供方便的人，現在對此事無動于衷的人，或者虛偽地詢問那些女性為什么沒早些說出來的人。韋恩斯坦跟娛樂圈內外的其他獵艷者最大的不同在于，他曾經很有權勢，他被抓住了，很多勇敢的女性站出來了。她們共同發(fā)聲、強烈反抗這個依靠恐懼運行的行業(yè)，在這里，沉默曾經是盾牌、武器，以及獲得工作機會的條件。

The industry’s silence has historically shielded the men who make movies, including the old studio bosses like Louis B. Mayer to whom Weinstein has often been nostalgically compared. In histories, these old-studio chiefs are genteelly referred to as womanizers, a polite metaphor for conduct that ranges from time on the casting couch, another odious euphuism, to what sounds a lot like prostitution. According to the historian Scott Eyman, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer — the studio that bore Mayer’s name and boasted that it had more stars than there are in heaven — had a supply “of what were known as ‘six-month-option girls’ to be passed around the executive offices.”

該行業(yè)的沉默曾經保護了那些制作電影的男性，包括路易·B·梅爾(Louis B. Mayer)等老一代電影公司老板，人們經常懷舊地將韋恩斯坦與他相提并論。那些老式電影公司高管，被文雅地稱為好色之徒(womanizer)，這個禮貌的隱喻所指代的行為包括“沙發(fā)試鏡”(casting couch，另一個齷齪的委婉語)，以及那些很接近賣淫的活動。據史學家斯科特·艾曼(Scott Eyman)稱，米高梅電影公司(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)——公司名中有梅爾的名字，宣稱它擁有的明星比天上的星星還多——曾經提供“所謂的‘六個月選擇期女孩’，她們被輪流送到高管們的辦公室里”。

If this seems, well, normal it is because this tawdry glimpse into the industry — with its powerful men and passed-around girls — is deeply embedded in its history, its lore and its very identity. It’s the old yet evergreen story of the dewy young woman who comes to Hollywood, does a screen test and maybe signs a contract. The company dyes her hair blonde, feeds her pills and puts her on a diet or under a plastic surgeon’s knife. The lucky ones become Marilyn Monroe (or the It Girl du jour); the luckier ones get out alive. Others remain passed-around girls. The old studio system is gone, but the attitude that exploitation is part of the price for being in the business — hey, it’s Hollywood — endures.

如果這看似，呃，正常，那是因為這產業(yè)齷齪的一面——有權勢的男人和被輪番蹂躪的女孩——深深根植于于它的歷史、傳統(tǒng)和身份認同中。這個古老的故事一直存在：稚嫩的年輕女子來到好萊塢，參加試鏡，也許還簽了個合約。公司把她的頭發(fā)染成金黃色，讓她吃藥，讓她減肥或整容。幸運的話，她會成為瑪麗蓮·夢露(或熱門的It Girl);更幸運的話，她能全身而退。而那些不走運的依然被四處轉手。舊的電影公司體系消失了，但“被掠奪是在電影業(yè)生存的代價”這樣的觀念依然存在——嘿，這里是好萊塢。

Given the revelations about Weinstein, it may seem surprising that his companies also offered actual opportunities for women, including directors like Jane Campion (“The Piano”) and older actresses like Judi Dench (“Shakespeare in Love”). This wasn’t progressive; it was evidence of a shrewd embrace of old-studio-style product diversification. In some ways, it is because Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, released different kinds of movies and didn’t pour all their resources only into formulas — and male-driven superhero movies — that they gave women opportunities.

考慮到韋恩斯坦的那些性侵事件，你可能會吃驚地發(fā)現，他的公司也確實給女性提供過機會，包括簡·坎皮恩(Jane Campion，曾執(zhí)導《鋼琴課》[The Piano])等導演，以及朱迪·丹奇(Judi Dench，曾參演《戀愛中的莎士比亞》[Shakespeare in Love])等年長的演員。這不是進步，只是對老式電影公司產品多樣化作風的精明接納。從某種意義上講，那是因為哈維·韋恩斯坦和弟弟鮑勃·韋恩斯坦(Bob Weinstein)發(fā)行不同風格的電影，而不是把所有的資源都用到程式化的電影上，比如以男性為主的超級英雄電影，所以他們給女性提供了一些機會。

Jenni Konner, the co-showrunner for the HBO series “Girls,” has said that the revelations about Weinstein are a tipping point: “This is the moment we look back on and say, ‘That’s when it all started to change.'” I hope she’s right. One problem is that the entertainment industry is extraordinarily forgiving of those who have made it a lot of money, as Mel Gibson can tell you. It might glance at the fallen comrade on the floor, but only so it can step over the body en route to the next meeting. And if that comrade somehow gets on his feet again, the industry will ask if he has a new project. This forgiveness is often ascribed to the familiar line that the only thing the business cares about is money.

HBO電視劇《都市女孩》(Girls)的聯合制作人詹妮·康納(Jenni Konner)曾說，韋恩斯坦性侵曝光事件是一個轉折點：“將來我們回顧這個時刻時會說：‘一切都是從那時開始改變的。’”我希望她是對的。一個問題是娛樂業(yè)對那些給它賺過很多錢的人非常寬容，梅爾·吉布森(Mel Gibson)就是個例子。它可能會看一眼倒在地上的戰(zhàn)友，然后跨過他的身體，去參加下一個會議。如果那位戰(zhàn)友不知怎么再次站起來了，那么行業(yè)里的人會問他有沒有新項目。這種寬容往往被歸因于那句老話：生意場只認錢。

Money often serves as a rationale for some of the industry’s noxiousness, including its sexism and racism: We can’t hire women, blacks, etc., because they don’t sell. Outsiders tend to see the industry as liberal, and while insiders do promote progressive causes, the business hews to a fundamental conservatism. This conservatism shapes its story recycling, its exploitation of women (and men) and its preservation of a male-dominated, racially homogeneous system. Despite pressure, including from the likes of Ava DuVernay and Lena Dunham, the industry resists change. Those in power don’t see an upside in ceding it.

錢經常被用來解釋該行業(yè)的某些道德敗壞行為，包括性別歧視和種族歧視：我們不能雇傭女性和黑人等，因為他們不賣座。圈外人往往覺得這個行業(yè)很開明，然而，雖然圈內人的確也支持進步事業(yè)，但該行業(yè)堅守一些根本上的保守主義觀念。正是這種保守主義導致往事不斷重演，支持對女性(和男性)的剝削，保護由男性主導、在種族上同質的體系。盡管受到阿娃·杜威內(Ava DuVernay)和莉娜·丹恩(Lena Dunham)等人的壓力，但該行業(yè)拒絕改變。那些掌權者看不到放棄它有什么好處。

Although the allegations against Weinstein may not prove to be the necessary tipping point, they are part of growing feminist pressure to change the industry. Activists inside and outside the entertainment bubble are calling out its biases — and showing how those biases affect employment, which in turn affects representations and audiences. (According to The Los Angeles Times, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission — spurred to action by the American Civil Liberties Union — began contacting female film and TV directors in 2015 to see what issues they’re facing.)

雖然針對韋恩斯坦的指控最終不一定會成為必要的轉折點，但這是女權主義者為改變該行業(yè)而不斷增加的壓力的一部分。娛樂圈內外的活動人士在強烈抨擊它的偏見，并指出這些偏見如何損害就業(yè)，從而影響表現與受眾(據《洛杉磯時報》報道，就業(yè)機會均等委員會[Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]在美國公民自由聯盟(American Civil Liberties Union)的敦促下，開始于2015年與女性電影和電視導演接觸，了解她們面臨的問題)。

I hope real change comes soon, especially for the women working in the industry who each day are forced to fight sexism just so that they can do their jobs. I hope change comes because the movies need new and different voices and visions, something other than deadening, damaging stereotypes and storybook clichés. And I hope change comes for those of us who love movies. I’ve spent a lifetime navigating the contradictions of that love, grappling with the pleasures movies offer with the misogyny that too often has informed what happened behind the camera and what is on screen. The movies can break your heart, but this isn’t the time only for tears. It is also the time for rage.

我希望真正的改變能很快到來，尤其是對該行業(yè)的女性從業(yè)者來說，為了進行自己的工作，她們不得不每天與性別歧視作斗爭。我希望出現改變，是因為電影需要新鮮的、不同的聲音和視角，而不是死氣沉沉的、破壞性的陳舊觀念和老套的故事書情節(jié)。我希望出現改變，也是為了我們這些熱愛電影的人。我一直在為這種熱愛中的矛盾而糾結，在電影帶來的愉悅和貫穿于它的臺前幕后的性別歧視之間掙扎。電影能讓你心碎，但現在不只是流淚的時刻。它也是憤怒的時刻。