When a series as fresh, raw and original as HBO’s Girls comes along, there’s something that kicks in after the excitement of the first season fades: worry.
每当有一部如同HBO电视网播出的《都市女孩》一样清新、自然、原创的剧集播出时,在第一季的惊喜褪去后,观众不免为后劲不足而担忧。
It seems, however, that there are no such worries with Girls, which kicked off its second season on Jan 13.
但对于1月13日回归的《都市女孩》第二季来说,这种担心似乎是多余的。
On the night of the second season’s premiere, Lena Dunham, the 26-year-old creator, writer and star of the show, won two Golden Globe awards for her work on the last series. Could there be a better way to start the new season?
在第二季首播当晚,集编、导、演于一身的26岁女星莉娜•杜汉姆凭借在第一季中的出色表现而赢得了两项金球奖。还有什么方式能比这样开启新一季更妙呢?
The new episodes so far seem more assured of themselves, adding some drama to the free-flowing comedic moments of four young, post-college women trying to find their way in life.
到目前为止,全新剧集看上去可谓收视无忧,剧中给这四位刚刚大学毕业、正在探寻人生道路的年轻女孩新添了不少收放自如的喜剧元素。
For those who missed the first season, Girls is categorized as a comedy series, but it’s not like Sex and the City or Gossip Girls, which are both female-themed series focusing on friendships and relationships and showing off the heroines’ glamorous lifestyles. In Girls, there’s no “fairytale fantasies”, and all you see is the bleak and often humiliating reality – one of the reasons the series has become so popular.
这里先给错过第一季的观众们介绍一下,尽管《都市女孩》被归为喜剧类剧集,但它并不像《欲望都市》或《绯闻女孩》那样以女性为主题,关注友情、爱情,展示女主人公们的光鲜生活。在《都市女孩》中,没有“童话式的幻想”,你所能看到的只有黯淡无光而又时常出糗的现实生活,而这也正是该剧如此风靡的原因之一。
“I think the best thing you can say about a comedy is that it’s really, really funny,” Ta-Nehisi Coates, senior editor at The Atlantic, wrote in his review. “And Girls never was allowed to be just that.”
“我想对于喜剧来说,最高的评价就是它真的非常有趣。”《大西洋月刊》的资深编辑塔西斯•科茨在评论文章中写道,“而《都市女孩》绝不止这些。”
The series taps into a very specific domain – educated 20-somethings in New York who are desperately trying to find a direction in their lives. In other words, a career, or at least a job that will pay the rent.
该剧挖掘了一个特定人群的生活现状——一群生活在纽约、20岁出头、受过良好教育、努力找寻生活方向的年轻人。换句话说,她们试图找到自己的人生事业,或者至少是一份可以帮他们交房租的工作。
They’re also well into their dating lives, yet lack the wisdom of someone in their 30s who would cut short a blind date when it’s clearly a bad fit. In their 20s, people are more likely to go with the flow, learning slower if someone is a loser or not.
她们同样擅长处理感情生活,但却缺少女人三十时那种快刀斩掉烂桃花的恋爱智慧。双十年华,不管成败与否,人们总是喜欢随波逐流,慢慢学习慢慢成长。
Another hot discussion topic of the show is Dunham’s nudity and sex scenes. However, what you see here is “one of the most democratic – and everyhuman – depictions of sex”.
该剧的另一话题点则是杜汉姆的裸戏及床戏。而你所看到的不过是“最大众的、同时也最平民化的性爱描述”。
“Dunham isn’t really performing for you. She’s saying sex is part of life for many young people. And in a real narrative of real life, people who have sex don’t actually look like supermodels,” Coates said. “Here is how it looks like to the narrator. I kind of love that.”
“杜汉姆并不仅仅是在演戏。她想表现的是性是许多年轻人生活的一部分。在一个讲述现实生活的故事中,情侣亲热时并不都像那些俊男美女的超模一样。”科茨说,“剧中从一个叙事者的视角来还原这些场景,而我相当欣赏这点。”
The depictions of hard reality and sexuality reveal why Girls has attracted so much attention and success: it strikes a chord.
这种对于艰难世道以及性爱的描写也反映出《都市女孩》如此备受关注并大获成功的原因:它扣人心弦。
Dunham’s character Hannah often says things like “I think I may be the voice of my generation.” If Dunham keeps speaking out for her generation in the future, then the best days for Girls are yet to come.
剧中杜汉姆饰演的角色汉娜总是用一种 “自认是这一代人代言人”的语气说话。如果杜汉姆能一如既往的为她这一代人呐喊,那么那时《都市女孩》真正的辉煌时刻就要来临了。