懷舊的中產(chǎn)階級

懷舊的中產(chǎn)階級

這部美劇展現(xiàn)了怎樣的價值觀和新聞觀？反映了編劇索爾金怎樣的風(fēng)格？嫌正面解說不夠過癮，F(xiàn)T專欄作家Robert Shrimsley還虛構(gòu)了一段趣味橫生的《新聞編輯室》男女主人公的對話。就從男主角威爾·麥卡沃伊的口頭禪America was great when……說起吧。

測試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識：

Aaron Sorkin 阿倫·索爾金，奧斯卡金像獎和艾美獎得主，《白宮風(fēng)云》、《義海雄風(fēng)》、《社交網(wǎng)絡(luò)》編劇

expediency 方便，權(quán)宜

anchorman 末棒運(yùn)動員；新聞節(jié)目主持人

zenith 頂峰；頂點(diǎn)

collateral damage 附帶損害。阿諾·施瓦辛格有部影片就叫Collateral Damage

napalm ['ne?pɑ?m] 凝固汽油彈，被汽油彈襲擊的越南兒童是一幅著名的反戰(zhàn)攝影

Walter Cronkite 沃爾特·克朗凱特，冷戰(zhàn)時美國最著名的新聞主持人。1968年他一反平素不偏不倚的立場，開始猛烈抨擊越戰(zhàn)。林登·約翰遜總統(tǒng)收看節(jié)目后說了一句話：“如果失去克朗凱特，我就失去了美國的中間階層?！彪S后宣布不再尋求連任?？死蕜P特出現(xiàn)在Newsroom的片頭中。

repartee 妙語

downbeat 悲觀的

Mccarthyism 麥卡錫主義。二戰(zhàn)后約瑟夫·麥卡錫參議員發(fā)起的大規(guī)模追查和打擊滲透進(jìn)美國政府部門和文藝界的共產(chǎn)黨員及其同情者的活動，因其打擊面巨大而頗有爭議。麥卡錫主義在著名節(jié)目主持人John Faulk猛烈抨擊后漸漸淡出了歷史舞臺。Newsroom中有相關(guān)內(nèi)容。

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A never-written episode from the master of middle-aged male nostalgia for a mythical America

by Robert Shrimsley

* * *

Aaron Sorkin, writer of The West Wing, A Few Good Men and The Social Network, has commanded much attention with the launch of his latest series, The Newsroom. Like so much of his work it is set in an ideal world. Where The West Wing focused on a wise, noble president whose popularity never fell when he placed his liberal ideals before expediency, this features a wise, noble anchorman placing hard truth and great journalism before a public that really wants to hear it. The main character faces a career crisis after speaking out on how America has ceased to be great.

Reviews have been mixed and criticism grew after Sorkin turned on a female interviewer, with the words “Listen here, internet girl, it wouldn’t kill you to watch a film or pick up a newspaper once in a while”. Leaving aside that the zenith of culture for Sorkin is movies and papers rather than, say, theatre and a book, it highlighted the sense that his work is middle-aged male nostalgia for a mythical America.

The FT has found a long-lost and never-written script from the series:

The scene opens with a female executive producer talking to Will, a middle-aged white news anchorman:

She: So I thought we could lead with the drone strikes on Pakistan.

He: Drone strikes, Gina?

She: It’s Lena.

He: Yeah, whatever, This used to be a great country. Take Vietnam; we flew our own missions and cleared out villages on foot. Americans were prepared to get their hands dirty then. These days we just want a clean kill; take out the bad guys and pretend no one else gets hurt. We don’t think of the collateral damage.

She: The civilian casualties.

He: Yes, them too, obviously. But I’m talking about the journalism. Where are the napalmed Vietnamese children? You can’t get that kind of art with a drone strike. Vietnam – those were great days; great journalism. Now it’s cute dolphins and Justin Bieber. Isn’t it Marina?

She: It’s Lena.

He: America wants the next Walter Cronkite, someone to tell them we can no longer win a war.

She: You could do that.

He: I don’t even know where this war is. This country used to be great. Now we don’t even know where the war we aren’t winning is taking place. This meeting is over – walk with me to my next meeting.

She: Why?

He: My repartee is better when I am walking. You look nice today. I know I shouldn’t comment on your clothes but America was a better country when men told women they looked nice. I expect you’ll get me on a cassette and upfile it to YouBox.

She: It’s YouTube, Will, and cassettes went out in the 1990s.

He: Listen, internet girl; would it kill you to listen to a Gilbert and Sullivan(19th century British screenplay writer and composer) opera some time? I miss cassettes. I miss the way the sound went fuzzy; the way you could stick your pen into the spool and wind it back into place after it snarled up. America was great when we had tapes you could rewind with a pen.

He: What we need is a difficult, downbeat story from somewhere people have never heard of.

She: Will, you know that people don’t want to watch that.

He: But what if that is what they want to watch, but we just aren’t giving it to them.

She: They don’t want it. Have you seen Gawker(an American blog, focuses on entertainment & gossips)? Americans want stories about rap stars’ sex tapes.

He: Rap stars! Ray J; Jay Z; Why don’t these people have surnames? America was a great country when we had surnames.

She: Stop harping back. Was McCarthyism great? Or segregation?

He: Yes, because we had heroic struggles of right v wrong to report. We had Kennedy; Johnson; and even when we had Republicans they were good Republicans like Eisenhower, who could have been Democrats. America was great when Republicans could have been Democrats.

She: Will, (pausing); did we have an affair once? Is that what’s behind your anger and trust issues?

He: Stop it. You are trivialising this show for the sake of ratings. We did not have an affair once. America was great when its stars didn’t have affairs.

stops suddenly

He: Do you think this dialogue should be funnier. People want to be entertained, not just lectured to.

She: What if they do want to be lectured, Will, and we just never gave them the chance?

He: Isn’t that my line?

請根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測題目：

1. What is The Newsroom mainly about, according to the writer?

a. A middle-aged male nostalgia for a mythical America.

b. A wise, noble president whose popularity never fell.

c. A TV presenter who does not like the Internet.

d. An anchorman faces a career crisis.

2. What is Sorkin series' style?

a. They are always political stories.

b. They are always set in an ideal world.

c. The main character always places his liberal ideals before expediency.

d. All of above.

3. The writer believes that Will McAvoy is nostalgic, because?

a. He always misremember his colleagues' names.

b. He says that Vietnam War was "great days; great journalism".

c. He calls a girl "internet girl".

d. He says America was great when its stars didn’t have affairs.

4. What can we learn from "America was great when Republicans could have been Democrats"?

a. Sorkin is a Republican who is not satisfied with the party at present.

b. Sorkin thinks that American politics is more partisan than it used to be.

c. It was the Republicans who ended McCarthyism and segregation.

d. There was a time when Republicans often voted for the Democratic Party.

[1] 答案a. A middle-aged male nostalgia for a mythical America.

解釋：從原文標(biāo)題就可以看出來。B是索爾金《白宮風(fēng)云》中的主角。

[2] 答案b. They are always set in an ideal world.

解釋：b是正確答案。Newsroom Like so much of his work```it is set in an ideal world.A不正確，C是說The West Wing。不過我們可以從文中看出，索爾金的政治題材劇作倒是幾乎都有這么一個主人公。

[3] 答案c. He calls a girl "internet girl".

解釋：AC是劇中存在的。作者在開始“仿寫對話”之前，強(qiáng)調(diào)說"internet girl"這種說法為他招來了批評。作者顯然認(rèn)為這種對現(xiàn)代科技有敵意的懷舊情結(jié)值得一黑。BD出現(xiàn)在虛構(gòu)的對話中，意在“黑”威爾總是不顧一切地把過去理想化，總是說“人心不古”之類的。

[4] 答案b. Sorkin thinks that American politics is more partisan than it used to be.

解釋：CD文中并未提及。A實(shí)際上說的是威爾·麥卡沃伊。他從一開頭就說今天美國的政治對立比內(nèi)戰(zhàn)時還厲害。這句話就是這個意思。威爾強(qiáng)烈批評今天的共和黨，比如不顧老板反對抨擊茶黨、批評共和黨在債務(wù)上限debt ceiling問題上的不妥協(xié)、批評《諾奎斯特宣言》、支持控槍等。你還能想起哪些情節(jié)？