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1、Module 4 The Magic of FilmSection 2 Background information1. Oscars, minority groups challengeDenzel Washington and Halle Berry made history Sunday with Academy Award wins, and for many, it was a sweet victory, long past due. Nonetheless, minority groups say diversity must extend beyond Hollywoods g
2、lamour night - and include other groups such as Asians, Hispanics and American Indians. If this is a sign that Hollywood is finally ready to give opportunity and judge performance based on skill and not on skin color, then it is a good thing, said Kweisi Mfume, president of the National Association
3、for the Advancement of Colored People. However, if this proves to be a momentary flash in a long history of neglect, then Hollywood has failed to learn the real meaning of equality. But seeing the two winners on stage with the evenings African-American emcee (the often acid-tongued Whoopi Goldberg)
4、on a night when Sidney Poitier was one of the honorary award winners, made quite a statement. The double victory for Washington and Berry - who became the first Blacks to win best actor and best actress trophies in a single year - was one of those symbolic triumphs that signal social watersheds, eve
5、n though their recognition was for the kinds of roles they played as much as for the facts of their race. In 1939, when Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American actor to win an Oscar for Gone With the Wind, it was a bittersweet victory. McDaniels role was blasted by progressive African-Amer
6、ican groups, and she was straitjacketed for much of the rest of her career in similar, stereotyped roles. Now Washington has won for his part as Alonzo Harris in the violent police thriller Training Day, playing a charismatic but corrupt narcotics detective who bullies his narcotics squad trainee wh
7、ile ruling the roost in a Los Angeles battle zone. Berry beat the field for her steamy part in Monsters Ball as Leticia Musgrove, a Southern mother doubly bereaved - by the execution of her husband and the car-accident death of her son. Both movies are frank, verbally profane and violent. They show
8、things unshowable in the time of Gone With the Wind or even 20 or 30 years later. But mostly, they showed that African-Americans could be portrayed onscreen as complex human beings - part good, part bad - rather than the bigot-fodder of decades ago: the cardboard villains, comical personas or long-s
9、uffering saints and mammies of Hollywoods Golden Age. That battle, at least onscreen, was settled long ago. But this years double Oscar seals the contract. Nonetheless, some organizations say minorities will have power in front of the camera only when there is more minority representation behind the
10、 scenes as directors, writers and producers. Washington Sunday became the first Black man to be named best leading actor since Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field. Now that a trail has been blazed for Blacks, he suggested, other minority actors must continue to fight for more significant roles. I
11、 dont recall seeing any Asian-Americans, women or men, being recognized and not too many Latin Americans, Washington said, So there is still a lot of work (to be done).1. 79th Academy Awards Producer Laura Ziskin Producer Laura Ziskin will return to produce the 79th Annual Academy Awards telecast ne
12、xt February, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Sid Ganis announced today. It will be Ziskins second involvement with the production of an Oscar telecast. Her first was in 2002 for the telecast of the 74th Academy Awards, the first time the ceremonies were broadcast from the Kodak
13、 Theatre.Her 2002 freshman outing garnered eight Emmy nominations for the telecast, including one for Ziskin as producer in the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special category. The telecast won an Emmy for choreography. “This is a tough producing job,” said Ganis, “but weve been blessed with t
14、errific producers, including Laura her 2002 show was one of the most colorful and fun shows in my memory. I cant tell you how pleased I am and how exciting it is to have her back, and for me to be, this time, in a position to participate with her in the creation of the show. This one is going to be
15、great fun for all of us, viewers especially.”Ziskin currently is in post-production on Spider-Man 3. Other feature films on her plate include a number of projects for her home studio, Sony Pictures, including Me and My Monster with director McG and The Crimson Petal and the White, with Curtis Hanson
16、 directing, as well as The Spellman Files for Paramount and an HBO film on Katharine Graham written by Joan Didion. I have wanted to produce the Academy Awards again for a long time, Ziskin said. It is a terrific, really fun challenge for a producer commingling the thrills of putting on a live show, the creating of an exciting broadcast for the people watching at home and celebrating the extraordinary medium of film.I
