On May 25, George Freud was killed by a white police officer on one knee for eight minutes, causing tragedy. Since then, anti-racial street protests have begun to appear all over the United States and even around the world, and they have not subsided. On social media, various online protests have also risen and fallen. At the same time, in this transitional justice, a movement to settle old accounts of racial discrimination has spread from the American showbiz circle: not to see how you choose sides, or even to see how you express your position, but what you have said and done in the past, whether it is a popular star or a classic in the history of famous films, you are not entitled to exemption.
Three old films have been revisited
Three films that have been released for many years have recently regained the focus of the news because of this wave of protests.
In 2014, African-American female director Ava DuVernay made Selma, a film about the black civil rights movement, which received a lot of media acclaim but only two nominations for the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Original Song. Djogliel failed to get a nomination for Best Director, and the lead actors David Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo also failed to nominate for an actor's award, which became one of the reasons why the 2015 Oscars were criticized as "Too White Oscars".
Poster of Selma
Last week, David Oylo revived the old story in an interview with British media, revealing that the reason why "Selma" failed to win the Oscar jury was that when the film premiered in New York, the crew members wore a T-shirt with the words "I Can't Breathe" written on it.
Six years ago, the release of "Selma" happened to meet the news of the murder of Eric Garner. So at the premiere we all wore such an undershirt as a sign of protest. As a result, the Oscar judges called the company responsible for producing and distributing our film and asked several of our producers, 'Did they eat the leopard guts and dare to do such a thing?' Isn't this a deliberate provocation? Other judges said, 'We're not going to vote for this movie because they shouldn't have done that on that occasion.' So, "Selma" has not been able to go any further under the circumstances that everyone is optimistic, and this is part of the reason. ”
Subsequently, director DeJole also forwarded the interview and attached a simple four words: "It is true." The other side of the matter, the official Twitter account of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Oscars, also responded: "Ava, David, what you said, we heard." This is an unacceptable error. We guarantee that we will improve. ”
On the other hand, the 2011 movie "Help", which was released in 2011, has been accompanied by this wave of protests, and since its launch on the Netflix platform on June 1, the number of hits has soared all the way to the top of the on-demand chart in the past few days; but on the other hand, as more and more people watched, the voice of doubt has become louder and louder.
Poster of "Help"
Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by white female writer Kathryn Stockett, the film follows the life of several black maids in Southern American families in the 1960s, revealing the racial discrimination and injustice that prevailed in society at that time. When the film was released that year, it received unanimous media acclaim and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, and Octavia Spencer won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the film. But now that time has passed, many film critics and media reporters have criticized the film for glorifying the image of the so-called "white savior", failing to truthfully present the true thoughts of black people, and making it still a "racial reconciliation" cliché. In fact, Viola Davis, the star of "Help", who was nominated for best actress at the time, had earlier said that she regretted taking on the film. "In the end, the film didn't make the maids heard." She said so in a 2018 interview with The New York Times.
A few days ago, Bryce Dallas Howard, a white actress who participated in the film, also posted on her social media homepage that "the story of the film 'Help' is purely fictional, and it is a story told through the perspective of a white person, and the overwhelming advantage of creation is that of white narrators." We can turn the page. She instead recommended the Thirteenth Amendment (13th), Eyes on the Prize, I Am Not Your Negro, Just Mercy, Watchmen, When They See Us, and Malcolm X X) and other film and television works believe that these works, "with black life and stories as the core and black creators as the core", can help the audience "understand the civil rights movement, lynchings, racial segregation and their continuing impact on americans today."
Finally, the most famous and long-running film affected by the protest movement was Gone with the Wind. Just this past June 9, Warner Bros. decided to take down this classic old film on its online video-on-demand platform HBO Max. Although Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Margaret, a cheerful and caring nurse in the film, becoming the first African American in Oscar history to win the oscar, the film set on the Southern side of the Civil War has been criticized for glorifying slavery. On June 9, John Ridley, the screenwriter of "Twelve Years of Slavery," wrote in the Los Angeles Times that he revisited the film's various problems with the characters of people of color and called on HBO Max to remove the film. HBO Max then reacted quickly, arguably to John Ridley and to the recent anti-racism protest movement.
Gone with the Wind poster
Posted in support of the racial equality movement, the past inappropriate words and deeds were pickpocketed
Audiences who have seen the American drama "Glee" will certainly not forget Rachel Berry, who is excellent at singing in the play. From the first season, she was the captain of the choir and was recognized as the choir diva. After graduating from high school, she had the privilege of going to Broadway to develop, and after a period of ups and downs, she returned to her alma mater in the town and worked as a choir instructor. It can be said that throughout the six seasons of "Glee", the role of Rachel Berry runs through the whole process and is one of the souls of the whole play.
Playing Rachel Berry is 1986-born Jewish actress Lea Michele, a Broadway child actress who won a television Emmy Award and a Golden Globe nomination for Glee after switching to the screen, and later released a record, and was one of the 2010 global top 100 people selected by Time magazine.
Leah Michelle, who became popular with "Glee"
However, the aura on her head has quickly changed from its original dazzling brilliance to obscurity in the past ten days. His personal image has plummeted, his career development has also been hit hard, and the hard work of breaking into the show business circle for more than 20 years has completely disintegrated. The cause of all this is the recent anti-racist protests.
As the protests intensified and ordinary people took a stand on social media, Leah Michelle, a member of Hollywood, naturally did not forget to take this opportunity to express her support for the black affirmative action movement. "George Freud suffered injustice. This is not an isolated case, and it must be completely ended to this kind of thing. The life of a negro is also a fate. On May 29, Michelle wrote the above text on her personal Twitter account. At first glance, it seems to be completely problematic, completely politically correct, and close to the current appeal of the American people at large.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the post was sent, it immediately attracted a response from a former colleague. Samantha Marie Ware, an African-American actress who played the role of high school girl Jane Heywood in the sixth season of Glee, replied that she would never forget michelle's "hellish" painful memories of herself during the show's filming. "Do you remember? You told everyone that if you get the chance, you'll have to pull a inside Samantha's wig. ”
Such vicious remarks immediately aroused a strong reaction from netizens. Indeed, michelle plays the role of Rachel Berry, and sometimes there are some behaviors in the play, which annoy people. But everyone knows that it is a fictional plot. But who would have thought that in life, she actually had such an unknown side. Moreover, because of Samantha Mary Weir's African-American identity, michelle's bullying behavior was quickly elevated to the height of racial discrimination in the face of fierce contradictions. Even Ariana Grande, a singer who used to be a good girlfriend with Michelle for her business collaborations, has removed her attention and interaction on social media platforms.
In the face of surging public opinion, Michelle can only quickly post apologies, but she insists that she does not remember the so-called in the wig remarks, but also used immature, difficult to get along and other words to excuse herself, the result is not surprisingly regarded as the attitude is not sincere enough, the apology lacks sincerity. Subsequently, the "HelloFresh" vegetable and fruit delivery platform that originally asked her to act as an image endorsement also chose to cut it, announced the suspension of the partnership, and also labeled her as a "racist" with a coffin.
However, some members of the "Glee" crew, who have worked with Michelle for a long time, said that her wrong words and deeds are unforgivable, but whether she is really racist should not be easily concluded. After all, since Samantha MaryVille broke the news, a number of showbiz people who have worked with Michelle on the Broadway stage or on tv screens have publicly pointed out that Michelle is indeed domineering and difficult to get along with in private. Therefore, whether it is selective bullying against Africans, or indiscriminately playing big cards and loving to bully people, I am afraid that only Michelle herself knows best. But in any case, after this incident, Leia Michelle's human design has completely collapsed. At this time, she is pregnant with Liujia, and the due date is this year, even if she re-emerges after childbirth, whether she can still be tolerated by the show business, I am afraid that I will draw a big question mark.
In fact, the recent incidents in the American show business circle because of the initiative to support the protest movement are far more than just Leia Michelle. Lifetime, Disney's pay-TV channel, has done a reality show called "Dance Moms" in the past few years, telling the story of a group of little girls who honed their dance skills under the guidance of dance teacher Abby Lee Miller, and their mothers who wanted to become phoenixes also interacted with the dance teacher a lot in the show.
Recently, in response to the protests launched on social media, Mr. Abby also posted a black screen on his social account to express his condolences to the death of Freud and other Africans. But her post provoked an angry response from the mother of an African-American dancer in the eighth season of "Dancing Mommy".
The parent said that Ms. Abby had verbally humiliated her in person, and also suggested that her daughter was able to join the show purely for some ethnically diverse embellishment, not because she really had a talent for dancing. As soon as this statement came out, other parents testified one after another, forcing Ms. Abby to apologize, but she also argued that her racist words and deeds were not out of hatred, but out of ignorance. Soon, The Lifetime channel announced that it would immediately terminate all cooperation with Mr. Abby. Originally, the TV station had customized another brand new reality show for her, and had already filmed some material, which was scheduled to be broadcast this month.
Also sending out the article is the famous American comedy group "The Second City" comedy troupe. The name of the "Second City" comedy troupe may sound a little strange at first glance, but this Comedy Group, headquartered in Chicago and operating for more than half a century, is a well-known comedy group in the United States, and has cultivated a large number of Hollywood-important comedians, including Bill Murray, "Ace Spy" Mike Meyers, Stephen Carell, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and so on, and has a prominent position in the industry.
On May 31, the troupe's official Twitter account posted in support of the protests, but it was retweeted by a number of past members and harsh criticism. They pointed out that the troupe's long-term support for African-American actors was insufficient, and even suspected of discrimination and suppression. Soon, Andrew Alexander, the half-chief executive of the troupe, announced his resignation and promised to be replaced by a man of color. In his resignation letter, alexander, 76, apologized for the problem of racial discrimination within the troupe: "It is not enough not to engage in racism, you must take a clear stand against racism." Obviously, our troupe failed to do that, and it was one of the biggest failures of my life. ”
Andrew Alexander, CEO of the famous comedy group "Second City"
The head of the news media was forced to resign because of his misrepresentation
In addition to the showbiz circle, the media circle, which is closely related to it, has also ushered in a wave of criticism because of its statements on the recent protests.
Taking the brunt of the attack was Claudia Eller, editor-in-chief of Hollywood's influential professional outlet, Variety, who has temporarily left the post in a statement in support of the African-American protest movement. The statement was attacked online by an Asian-American female journalist who worked for other media outlets. The latter bluntly claimed that there has always been a problem of white supremacy within Variety magazine, and it is very reluctant to give minorities a fair chance.
Claudia Eller, editor-in-chief of Variety
The Asian-American female journalist's words drew a word response from Claudia Eller — "Wraith Woman." The move provoked a backlash from Variety's internal staff, with minority employees criticizing the editor-in-chief for not responding to criticism in this way, and the matter went to Roger Penske, the big boss of the publishing group. Holding the distribution rights of a number of mainstream media in the United States, he angrily criticized Elle for "not being an enemy of others, but should listen more, so that more different voices can be heard", and announced that she would take a two-month holiday and temporarily suspend all her duties.
The mainstream media in the United States that has recently undergone personnel changes, "Variety" is far from the only one. On Wednesday, Stan Wischnowski, executive editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, also left the newspaper he had served for more than two decades. The reason for the resignation was a column in their newspaper the day before entitled "The life of a building is also the fate of the building." Written by Inga Saffron, an architecture columnist who won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the article was intended to appeal to protesters to stop destroying houses along the street so as not to "leave a huge black hole in the heart of Philadelphia." Unexpectedly, this article title, which was not known whether she herself or the editorial department had drawn up, caused a catastrophe.
Critics argue that the practice of equating the material damage to the destruction of homes with threats to the lives of African Americans, and the indiscriminate appropriation of the "Black Lives Matter" slogan as the headline, is unforgivable. Soon, a number of reporters and editors (about 30 people, 15% of the newspaper's more than 200 employees) within the Philadelphia Investigator newspaper came forward to protest and collectively took sick leave on Wednesday, eventually forcing the editor-in-chief to resign and leave.
The controversial headline of the Philadelphia Investigator
In an open letter to the newspaper, the protesting employees wrote: "We are tired of what they call the practice of telling both the positive and the negative, because there is obviously no such thing as a positive and negative side of these problems." This sentence may also apply to the departure of the editor of The New York Times in the same period.
On Wednesday's New York Times editorial page, an article by Republican Congressman Tom Cotton was published. Echoing President Trump's views at the time, the conservative politician advocated the dispatch of troops to quell the chaos, which resulted in public outrage. The New York Times, which was still defending itself with reasons such as "publishing this article does not mean that we agree with its views, and everyone is welcome to debate, the more the truth is argued, the clearer it is," could not resist the surging wave of criticism in less than a day, publicly apologized on Friday, and also resigned the editor in charge of the editorial board.
Logically speaking, the editorial counter-page of the New York Times does not represent the official position of the newspaper, does not belong to the editorial of the newspaper, and in the past has mostly used external contributions, which has the meaning of singing the stage drama with the editorial of the newspaper, and is intended to show the open position of the American left media such as the New York Times to be tolerant and welcome to debate. But in the eyes of critics, at this critical juncture of the fire, there is no room for free debate, and Tom Cotton's views are simply fallacious, and the New York Times should not have been given a chance to publish.
British theatre schools have been accused of saying one set and doing one thing at a time
In addition to entertainers and the news media, there have been many British theatre schools that have recently attracted criticism from the outside world. On 2 June, the Oxford School of Drama posted on social media: "Solidarity with all those around the world who are fighting racism, today, every day from now on, black lives." ”
Unexpectedly, soon african-American students graduating from here posted messages or forwarded comments, pointing out that during their time at the school, they had encountered unfair treatment because of differences in skin color. Dipo Ola, an African-American actor who has already had a chance to perform in the British drama "Secret Story 9" after graduation, complained: "This is a systemic racism that permeates everywhere from top to bottom. And the main problem is that no one is responsible for this, and mistakes can be done with impunity. ”
In addition, the Liverpool Academy for Performing Arts and the Royal Academy of Drama have also been refuted by students and alumni after posting articles supporting the protest movement. They angrily point out that racially discriminatory words and deeds are common on campus, from leaders to teachers to white students, and that black students, even if they ask questions, are difficult to get taken seriously. "Someone has to take responsibility. You can't do this while lying to people that they care about the lives of black people. ”