怀旧的中产阶级

怀旧的中产阶级

这部美剧展现了怎样的价值观和新闻观？反映了编剧索尔金怎样的风格？嫌正面解说不够过瘾，FT专栏作家Robert Shrimsley还虚构了一段趣味横生的《新闻编辑室》男女主人公的对话。就从男主角威尔·麦卡沃伊的口头禅America was great when……说起吧。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

Aaron Sorkin 阿伦·索尔金，奥斯卡金像奖和艾美奖得主，《白宫风云》、《义海雄风》、《社交网络》编剧

expediency 方便，权宜

anchorman 末棒运动员；新闻节目主持人

zenith 顶峰；顶点

collateral damage 附带损害。阿诺·施瓦辛格有部影片就叫Collateral Damage

napalm ['neɪpɑːm] 凝固汽油弹，被汽油弹袭击的越南儿童是一幅著名的反战摄影

Walter Cronkite 沃尔特·克朗凯特，冷战时美国最著名的新闻主持人。1968年他一反平素不偏不倚的立场，开始猛烈抨击越战。林登·约翰逊总统收看节目后说了一句话：“如果失去克朗凯特，我就失去了美国的中间阶层。”随后宣布不再寻求连任。克朗凯特出现在Newsroom的片头中。

repartee 妙语

downbeat 悲观的

Mccarthyism 麦卡锡主义。二战后约瑟夫·麦卡锡参议员发起的大规模追查和打击渗透进美国政府部门和文艺界的共产党员及其同情者的活动，因其打击面巨大而颇有争议。麦卡锡主义在著名节目主持人John Faulk猛烈抨击后渐渐淡出了历史舞台。Newsroom中有相关内容。

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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?

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

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.

解释：从原文标题就可以看出来。B是索尔金《白宫风云》中的主角。

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

解释：b是正确答案。Newsroom Like so much of his work```it is set in an ideal world.A不正确，C是说The West Wing。不过我们可以从文中看出，索尔金的政治题材剧作倒是几乎都有这么一个主人公。

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

解释：AC是剧中存在的。作者在开始“仿写对话”之前，强调说"internet girl"这种说法为他招来了批评。作者显然认为这种对现代科技有敌意的怀旧情结值得一黑。BD出现在虚构的对话中，意在“黑”威尔总是不顾一切地把过去理想化，总是说“人心不古”之类的。

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

解释：CD文中并未提及。A实际上说的是威尔·麦卡沃伊。他从一开头就说今天美国的政治对立比内战时还厉害。这句话就是这个意思。威尔强烈批评今天的共和党，比如不顾老板反对抨击茶党、批评共和党在债务上限debt ceiling问题上的不妥协、批评《诺奎斯特宣言》、支持控枪等。你还能想起哪些情节？