《蜗居》、《手机》等剧热播的主要原因是它们与现实的相似性。剧中的故事让我们想到身边的事,我们从剧中人物看到自己或身边的人的影子。在美国,有些大学教授也敏锐地察觉到这一点,以电视剧来开设课程。
美式发音 适合泛听
It’s been two years since 1)HBO aired the final episode of The Wire. Critics praised the TV show for its realistic portrayal of Baltimore’s drug culture and its far-reaching influence into the community, families, and schools.
Well, now a handful of elite colleges offer courses built around the show. Vermont Public Radio’s Sarah Ashworth sat in on one of the classes at Middlebury College.
Sarah: A course dedicated to the TV show The Wire naturally starts every class the same way. During the semester, students will watch every episode. That’s about 60 hours 2)immersed in Baltimore’s gritty underside.
(From The Wire)
Woman: Your daddy, he stood tall for them.
Man: I know, I know. He’s a soldier.
Woman: Like father, like son.
Man: No doubt.
Sarah: Senior Ben Meader watches with his notebook open and pen 3)poised. He’s a geography major who had never seen an episode of the show but decided to add it to his final semester schedule.
Ben: Film and media and television, they have to be regarded as important as literature in how we understand our own culture. And I could watch the show on my own and be like, oh, OK, this is an interesting show, but in order to kind of understand why it was made, when it was made, and how it was made is something that’s really complex and I think worth studying.
Sarah: Students delve into the social issues The Wire brings up, like the 4)repercussions of legalizing drugs or the impact of lost manufacturing jobs. Their professor, Jason Mittell, is a passionate viewer of films and television. He admired The Wire when it aired on HBO and by season five decided he could treat the series as a core text in his classroom.
Prof. Mittell: I think most people look at television as escapist, as lowbrow, as consumerist and as not something worth in-depth study.
Sarah: A class dedicated to a television show might also look like an easy A, but Mittell tells skeptics to imagine a class devoted to Shakespeare or Dickens. Students read the text, but they also try to understand the period’s culture.
(From The Wire)
Tommy Carcetti: We still have a lot of work to do to turn this city around, and we need everyone...
Sarah: In the episode they’re watching today, smooth politician Tommy Carcetti has just won Baltimore’s Democratic primary for mayor, and not all of the students are happy with his election.
Student: He’s found that, you know, sometimes, you just have to delve in deeper into the seedy 5)underbelly of politics, so...
Prof. Mittell: You have to make choices…
Student: Yeah.
Prof. Mittell: …and, you know, The Wire is nothing if not a constant reminder that you always have to choose between usually multiple evils and, you know, there’s no simple, clean way to do it.
Sarah: Inner-city Baltimore has little in common with the world most Middlebury students grew up in. The private school charges nearly $52,000 a year, and students like Tahirah Foy seem to recognize the distinction.
Tahirah: I guess we need to also keep in the back of our mind that this is a story. This is fiction. I doubt that we are all prepared to go to the inner city of Baltimore and chill on a corner because we’ve watched The Wire.
Sarah: And just as the work of 6)Dickens and Hitchcock were simply a part of the pop culture of their day, Mittell thinks, The Wire will one day be viewed as their equal.
距美国家庭电影台HBO的连续剧《火线》最后一集播出到现在已经过去两年了。评论家称赞这部电视剧真实地呈现了巴尔的摩地区的毒品文化,及其对社区、家庭和学校产生的深远影响。
现在,有少数几所精英大学开设了关于这部电视剧的课程。佛蒙特州公共广播电台的萨拉·阿什沃思在米德尔伯里大学旁听了一堂这样的课。
萨拉:专门为电视剧《火线》开设的课程当然每堂课都用相同方式开始。在这个学期里,学生们会观看该剧的每一集,也就是说大约有六十个小时沉浸于巴尔的摩凶险的社会阴暗面。
(电视剧《火线》片段)
女:你爸爸,为他们挺身而出。
男:我知道,我知道,他是一个战士。
女:有其父必有其子。
男:毫无疑问。
萨拉:大四学生本·米德在观看时,打开笔记本,手里拿着笔。他主修地理专业,以前从未看过这部电视剧,但决定将它加进他最后一个学期课程表中。
本:在如何去了解我们自己的文化这方面,电影、媒体及电视应该和文学作品有着同样重要地位。我自己可能觉得这部剧有意思就去看它,但如果要进一步了解拍摄这部剧的背景原因、拍摄时间,以及它的制作过程,那是相当复杂的问题。我认为值得去研究。
萨拉:学生们深入研究《火线》所反映的社会问题,比如毒品合法化带来的影响;因制造业工作岗位流失对社会造成的冲击等。他们的教授杰森·密塔尔是电影及电视剧的热心观众。当《火线》在HBO播出时,他很欣赏,到第五季播出时,他决定将这部剧集作为他核心课程的一部分。
密塔尔教授:我觉得大多数人认为电视剧逃避现实、浅薄、物质主义,并不值得去深入研究。
萨拉:人们可能会把专为一部电视剧而开的课看成是容易得“优”的简单课程,但密塔尔告诉怀疑者,不妨想象一下为莎士比亚或狄更斯作品而设的课程,学生们不但要阅读课文,还会试图去了解那个时代的文化背景。
(电视剧《火线》片段)
汤米·卡瑟迪:要使这座城市来一个大变革,我们还有很多工作要做,我们需要大家……
萨拉:在他们今天看的这一集中,圆滑的政治家汤米·卡瑟迪刚刚赢得了民主党内初选,参与竞选巴尔的摩市长,但不是全部学生都喜欢他当选。
学生:他被发现……你知道,有时候,你必须深入到政治运作的肮脏内幕,所以……
密塔尔教授:你必须作出选择……
学生:对。
密塔尔教授:你知道,在现实中,你总是需要在多种丑恶事物中作出选择,从来就没有简单、干脆的解决问题的办法。如果《火线》无法不停地提醒你这一点,那这部电视剧就毫无意义。
萨拉:巴尔的摩市城中区与大部分米德尔伯里大学学生的成长环境相去甚远,这所私立大学每年收费接近五万两千美元。有些学生如塔荷拉·法伊,似乎也意识到这种差别。
塔荷拉:我觉得我们也要意识到这只是一个故事,是虚构的。我不认为仅仅因为看了《火线》,我们就做好了去巴尔的摩市城中区,在街头游荡的准备。
萨拉:正如狄更斯和希区柯克的作品只是他们那个时代大众文化的一部分一样,密塔尔教授认为,《火线》将有一天会被视为与这些作品同等重要。
翻译:Wendy
