香港ドラマ、フィリピン人家政婦役の肌「黒塗り」で物議

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】香港のテレビ局ＴＶＢが放送中のシリーズ物のサスペンススリラードラマ「金宵大廈２」で、フィリピン人家政婦を演じたカナダ系香港人女優が肌を褐色に塗っていたことから、いわゆる「黒塗り」だとして物議を醸している。（写真は資料写真）
　ドラマに登場した黄婉華さんの肌の色は、見るからに濃かった。さらに黄さんは、共演者がインスタグラムに投稿した動画で、脚に茶色の化粧を施している様子を披露。フィリピンなまりを交えて「私は別人に変身中」「今、日焼けをしているところ」などと語っていた。
　地元メディアではドラマはおおむね好評で、人種差別に関する議論を採り上げている媒体はない。だが、「黒塗り」や配役そのものをめぐってフィリピン系住民を中心に批判が巻き起こった。
　中国系フィリピン人の元女優で現在は香港でモデルをしているサブリナ・マンさんは、「役を演じるために肌を黒くしなければならなかったのは適切ではないと思う」「家事労働者に対しても、フィリピン人全般に対しても失礼だ」と非難した。
　香港生まれのフィリピン人ライター、ジャニー・ソリアーノさんも、香港にはこの役柄を演じられるフィリピン人女優が何人もいると指摘する。
　香港で働く外国人家事労働者は約３４万人。大半がフィリピンやインドネシアから来た女性だ。週６日働いて、最低月給は４６３０香港ドル（約７万４０００円）。世界一部屋が狭いともいわれる香港で、雇い主の家に住み込みで働くのが原則だ。
　国際移民連合（ＩＭＡ）のエニ・レスタ会長は「金宵大廈２」の演出について、もともと差別を受けている家事労働者に対する「侮辱」だとし、「文化には、その地域社会における生活上の経済的・政治的な不平等が表れる」と述べた。
　黄さんは１４日時点で取材に応じていない。
　ＴＶＢは肌の色を濃く塗ったことについて直接言及はせず、「どの番組においても、あらゆる国籍に対して侮辱や差別をする意図は全くない」と回答した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/04/15-12:46）

A Hong Kong television show has ignited anger over a Filipina character played by a local actress who darkened her skin, in the latest incident of brownface in Asia.
Broadcaster TVB cast Canadian-Hong Konger Franchesca Wong to play a Filipina domestic worker for its series Barrack O'Karma 2 which, despite its name, is a suspense thriller series and not about US politics.
Wong appears in the show with visibly darker skin and a clip posted by a colleague on Instagram showed her applying make-up to her legs.
I am transforming into another person, Wong said in the video, affecting a Filipino accent.
I am sun-tanning right now, she added.
Local media reviews this week of Wong's portrayal have been largely favourable and skipped discussion of race.
But the decision to darken her skin -- and the casting choice itself -- have sparked criticism, particularly among the city's Filipino population.
I don't think it's appropriate that she had to darken her skin for the role, Sabrina Man, a Chinese-Filipino former actress working in Hong Kong as a model, told AFP.
Domestic workers have done so much for Hong Kong, and I think it's disrespectful to them and to Filipinos in general to do this, she added.
It wouldn't have been difficult to look for someone with Filipino heritage to play the role, she said.
Jianne Soriano, a Hong Kong-born Filipina writer, agreed that there were plenty of Filipino actresses in the city who could have played the role.
How could anyone say okay to brownface and think that a non-Filipino portraying a domestic helper is okay? she wrote on Twitter.
We can very much tell our story with our own faces.
- 'An expression of inequalities' -
There are about 340,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, mostly women from the Philippines and Indonesia.
Paid a minimum of HK$4,630 ($590) a month, they work six days a week and must live with their employers, in a city that offers some of the world's smallest apartments.
Eni Lestari, a domestic worker and chairperson of the International Migrants Alliance, described the TV show's choices as an insult to domestic workers who already face discrimination.
Culture is an expression of inequalities in the economic and political life of the community, she added.
Wong did not reply to a request for comment on Wednesday.
In a statement, TVB said Wong successfully portrayed her character through her professional performing techniques and sophisticated handling of role-playing.
While TVB did not directly address the choice to darken Wong's skin, it said it was never our intention to show disrespect or to discriminate any nationality in any of our programme.
We would like to express our concern to anyone who might be affected in this matter, the station added.
Brownface or blackface are terms referring to the practice of darkening an actor's skin to portray a person of a different race.
The practice has become taboo in North America and much of Europe where there has been a concerted push for more diverse casting and representation in the entertainment industry.
But brownface controversies continue to crop up in Asia, including in television shows and advertisements.
Last year a Malaysian pop star apologised for using a darkened woman in a music video that promoted a skin-whitening product.
Singapore's state-owned broadcaster apologised in 2019 for an advert featuring an actor of Chinese origin with his skin darkened.
And a long-running TV series in the Philippines also received criticism for darkening three light-skinned actors who were playing characters from the indigenous Aeta communities.