晚上去獨(dú)立影院看了Dear White People，講的是在一個(gè)虛構(gòu)的常春藤名校里一小撮黑人學(xué)生在以白人為主的學(xué)生群體當(dāng)中努力尋找自我定位的掙扎與成長。電影想要表達(dá)的主題很多，從種族到社會階層，從性到權(quán)力。

與少數(shù)族裔（亞非拉和同性戀及其他）有關(guān)的影視作品，尤其是非喜劇的（當(dāng)然此片也還算是喜劇范疇），都容易觸到不少人的痛處。一部分白人難免覺得太夸張，另一部分少數(shù)族裔又難免覺得太輕佻。這個(gè)度，還是不太好把握。

而電影的導(dǎo)演，Justin Simien，作為一個(gè)黑人同性戀導(dǎo)演，估計(jì)比多數(shù)人都更有資本去探討這樣一個(gè)話題（如果探討這樣一個(gè)話題需要任何資本的話）。他在NPR的一次采訪中說，他覺得美國社會已經(jīng)準(zhǔn)備好了去用電影電視的形式探討這樣一個(gè)話題，因此他決定拿自己的處女作去拍這樣一部電影，冒這樣一次險(xiǎn)。

誠然，為了這樣一個(gè)初衷與目的，我得給這部處女作打八分。史考特也在紐約時(shí)報(bào)上說了，這部電影認(rèn)識現(xiàn)實(shí)但不至于尖酸刻薄，了解自我但也不完全以自我為中心，對外界的影響保持開放的心態(tài)，但也對個(gè)人的獨(dú)特性有著足夠的信心（knowing but not snarky, self-aware but not solipsistic, open to influence and confident in its own originality）?？偠灾?，他的原話是，很長時(shí)間以來，這是他在美國電影導(dǎo)演中所看到的最聰明也最無畏的處女作了。

事實(shí)是如此，但我講兩點(diǎn)不足：

有關(guān)于一部電影的質(zhì)量，我最關(guān)注兩點(diǎn)要素：一是人物架構(gòu)，二是故事情節(jié)。就因?yàn)檫@兩點(diǎn)，我從來都沒太喜歡過Woody Allen：他的電影總是人物太空，故事太薄。Dear White People的主要角色是四名各有特點(diǎn)極具代表性的黑人學(xué)生。他們的特點(diǎn)，理應(yīng)是把人物架構(gòu)簡單化。而且實(shí)話說，用兩小時(shí)的時(shí)長講四個(gè)人的故事，不是不可能完成的任務(wù)（換昆汀來，這四人早就鮮活立現(xiàn)了）。但電影演完，我還是不太覺得這四人離我有多近。

其次關(guān)于故事，全電影的高潮在劇末的大爬梯上，這算是戲劇沖突的焦點(diǎn)。好的故事，就是一步步地把人推上這個(gè)高點(diǎn)。觀眾在看電影的全程，仿佛都期待著這個(gè)時(shí)間點(diǎn)的發(fā)生。但是在這部電影中，這個(gè)沖突的發(fā)生不免讓人覺得有點(diǎn)沒頭沒腦。鋪墊不夠足，期待度不夠高，高潮的發(fā)生就自然沒法帶來它應(yīng)有的爆炸性效果。

　　電影制作水平不在Whiplash或Birdman的級別，但新出道的編劇兼導(dǎo)演Justin Simien卻很大膽——他拍了一部非常私人的，“聰明”到恐怕會讓人反感的快節(jié)奏喜劇，而主角們也并不代表很多非裔美國人所能共鳴的那類人群。但Simien卻能突破這表面上的局限性，使得大部分在美國的年輕人都能理解這部電影，這是很出彩的。片子的訣竅就在于——它表面上雖然是黑人學(xué)生向那些對少數(shù)族裔缺乏敏感度的白人宣戰(zhàn)，實(shí)則講的是那些黑人學(xué)生本身面臨的自我認(rèn)知的問題，最終超越種族和民權(quán)政治，啟發(fā)每個(gè)人在這個(gè)時(shí)代中對于個(gè)人身份的定位進(jìn)行思考。這片子重看的價(jià)值蠻高，尤其是對于沒完全跟上臺詞的人來說。懂得越多，就越擅長同情同理，以后對下一代就越有能力理解和輔助。這就是為什么也給它五顆星“力薦”。
　　
　　電影的開篇，是一幫白人學(xué)生故意舉辦了一場非常無禮的萬圣節(jié)派對——派對的主題是“非裔美國人”，音樂是說唱，大家不是把臉涂黑了，就是戴著黑人的面具，并且Nigga喊個(gè)不停。（如果你還在權(quán)衡，我可以清楚的告訴你，這種行為在當(dāng)今是絕對不能被接受的。）而整部電影就是帶我們目睹導(dǎo)致這次主題派對的一系列事件，以及這個(gè)派對是如何收場的。
　　
　　電影的鏡頭尾隨著四名常春藤Winchester大學(xué)生的校園生活。電影的主角——Sam（Tessa Thompson）是一個(gè)電臺主持，電影專業(yè)學(xué)生，也是本片名稱的啟發(fā)者。她的廣播節(jié)目名稱便是“親愛的白人們”。在節(jié)目中，她非常直白的點(diǎn)出白人學(xué)生與黑人同學(xué)交際中的一些現(xiàn)象，其中有些話非常令人不舒服。舉個(gè)例子：“親愛的白人學(xué)生，如果你跟一位黑人約會的目的純粹是讓你的父母不爽，那就說明你有種族歧視”。她的立場很堅(jiān)定——她要維護(hù)黑人群體的獨(dú)立性，甚至強(qiáng)行排擠白人同學(xué)，她在廣播里的話鏗鏘、機(jī)靈，顯得她非常的堅(jiān)定和自信，甚至讓我感到迷人的性感。但是實(shí)際上，她的內(nèi)心卻并不是自己展現(xiàn)的那個(gè)樣子。她的另一面是怎樣的，我就不劇透了。這另一面使得Sam這個(gè)人物更加的真實(shí)，更加的容易被觀眾接近。
　　
　　電影之所以很活潑，一部分原因就是，雖然所有的主角們非常不同，而且每個(gè)人對自己的那份“不同”都顯得很堅(jiān)定，但是她們自己的內(nèi)心卻不時(shí)的搖曳。她們要不停的去評估自己在社會中的位置和方向，但卻不一定找得到答案。
　　
　　其他三位主角也各有各的特點(diǎn)。Coco想要成為真人秀明星，她想盡辦法吸引別人的注意，愿意跟白人有更多的融入，拉直頭發(fā)、戴金色假發(fā)。Troy是校長的兒子，六塊肌肉，英俊高大，并身負(fù)很多的期望和責(zé)任。Lionel是最最不合群的，他是個(gè)竹竿瘦的書呆子，不像“典型”黑人那樣魁梧，并且還是同性戀。在校園的生活中，Lionel顯然會面臨最多的困難，但他卻或許是主角中對“我是誰”這個(gè)問題最堅(jiān)定的。相比之下，其他幾位主角，對自己到底是誰，到底要什么，貌似都并不是特別的清楚。
　　
　　確實(shí)，電影里的人都很“常春藤”，對白都很政治、很學(xué)術(shù)。雖然黑人學(xué)生們對于白人學(xué)生缺乏敏感度的現(xiàn)象反應(yīng)劇烈，大家所思所想也都跟種族偏見、甚至奴隸制搭邊兒，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，有點(diǎn)“小資”，喜歡評論的不是George Zimmerman等，而是像Tyler Perry等綁架了黑人形象的流行文化人。它的著重點(diǎn)非常私人化，是在一個(gè)白人居多的社區(qū)之內(nèi)，白人和其他人如何相處、少數(shù)人群里的每個(gè)個(gè)體都是如何反應(yīng)、每個(gè)人都如何面臨自己的身份認(rèn)同的微妙現(xiàn)象。這是一個(gè)新的社會問題，也是一個(gè)在階級上稍上流的問題。在這個(gè)現(xiàn)象中，各個(gè)種族的人們不斷地審視著對方的文化，有時(shí)也會產(chǎn)生錯(cuò)誤的認(rèn)識，而Justin Simien自編自導(dǎo)，水平雖不算“驚人”，但卻微妙的點(diǎn)出了這個(gè)現(xiàn)象中某些非常有趣、也發(fā)人深省的真相。電影讓人在耳目一新后感到欣喜。如果居美人士看了以后沒有想法、或者覺得壓根就跟自己無關(guān)，那也是無可厚非的。但，恐怕是因?yàn)槟愦蟾艣]有認(rèn)真的去經(jīng)歷，而錯(cuò)過了一道好菜。我的確不該這么“萬箭齊發(fā)”，這是我的個(gè)人評論，我難免希望別人能跟我分享一樣的想法，但我們在美國漂著的人，經(jīng)歷和認(rèn)識也肯定無法千篇一律——我們不能被任何一種概括所代表，我們也面臨著很個(gè)人的身份認(rèn)知的問題。

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.