揭秘美劇獨特魅力的背后（上）
Fans of US television dramas watch their favorite series for different reasons: some want to improve their English skills, others just want to kill time.
美劇迷們追美劇的理由五花八門：有人為了提高英語水平，也有人只是為了打發(fā)時間。
No matter what type of series you prefer or why you watch them, some TV series are more than pure entertainment ― they have a certain depth. Mad Men, which returned with a sixth season recently; Monday Mornings, which just finished its first season; and Modern Family, which sweeps the awards every year, are just a few examples.
不管你喜歡哪類美劇，也不管你出于什么目的來追劇，總有些劇集不僅僅只是娛樂那么簡單——自有深意在其中。比如近日攜第六季回歸的《廣告狂人》、第一季剛剛落下帷幕的《周一清晨》、還有每年都會橫掃各大頒獎禮的《摩登家庭》，這樣的例子還有很多。
Why do these shows stand out among so many similar ones? 是什么使得這些劇集能夠從眾多的同類中脫穎而出?
Period drama
歷史劇
More than time travel
不僅只是穿越
Period dramas are intended to capture the *ambience of a particular era. Directors must therefore attract audiences as much by their recreation of a historical setting as by an *engrossing storyline.
歷史劇旨在捕捉一個特定時代的歷史環(huán)境。因此，為吸引觀眾，導演必須再現(xiàn)歷史情境，并打造出引人入勝的故事情節(jié)。
Mad Men is an excellent example of this balance being struck. Set in New York during the 1960s, it accurately depicts US *ideology and attitudes in the workplace through the alcoholism, sexism, and chain-smoking common of the time, and places an absorbing plot right in its center.
在這兩個方面，《廣告狂人》都可稱得上是個中翹楚。該劇的故事背景設定在上世紀六十年代的紐約，劇中通過再現(xiàn)那個時代常見的酗酒、性別歧視以及煙不離手的場景，準確地刻畫了當時美國人的思想意識以及工作態(tài)度，而引人入勝的劇情也是恰到好處。
But rather than merely portraying a past decade with an *exquisite set and *props, Mad Men’s subtle depiction of the internal struggles of white-collar workers at the time, both male and female, makes it stand out.
但該劇并不僅僅只是動用精美布景與道具來再現(xiàn)那樣一個逝去的十年，《廣告狂人》對當時白領男女內心掙扎的細微刻畫，也使得該劇脫穎而出。
“The series’ attention to detail is legendary,” Raymond Zhou said. “For example, creator Matthew Weiner makes Don Draper ― the *protagonist of the series ― drive a Buick instead of a Cadillac, because Weiner thinks the ad man lacks the self-esteem to buy a luxury car. It’s this kind of attentiveness that raises the show’s *connotation and artistic value.”
“該劇以專注細節(jié)而著稱。”周黎明說：“舉例來說，編劇馬修•維納讓主角唐•德雷柏駕駛一輛別克而非凱迪拉克，因為維納認為，身為廣告策劃人的這位主角，并沒有自負到要購買豪華轎車的程度。正是這種專注提升了整部劇的內涵與藝術價值。”
What may appear on the surface as a carefree era of adultery and drug abuse, is, deep down, an unsettling environment in which individuals are *alienated from each other and themselves. The market forces they seek to control are, in fact, controlling them.
表面上看起來那是一個毒品泛濫的濫情年代，而究其根本，則是在一個動蕩不安的環(huán)境中，人們相互疏離，甚至對自己也是如此。人們一心想掌控市場力量，而實際上卻被它玩弄于股掌之間。
Whether we are conscious of these issues while watching the series is a different matter, but subconsciously we can relate to the characters, their struggles and their loss of identity, because we know it’s the same today.
我們在追劇時是否意識到這些問題尚且別論，但在潛意識里，劇中人物的掙扎與自我迷失都令我們感同身受，因為我們知道，今時今日，并無不同。
Critics also recommend
同類劇推薦
Another period drama that works on a similarly subconscious level is Broadwalk Empire, set during the prohibition period of the 1920s and 1930s in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
與之異曲同工的歷史劇集還有《大西洋帝國》，故事發(fā)生在上世紀二三十年代剛剛頒布禁酒令的新澤西州大西洋城。
Heather Havrilesky at Salon magazine, noted how the show “revels in the oddities of its time, peeling back the layers of polite society to reveal a *giddy shadow world of criminals and politicians collaborating to keep the liquor flowing.”
來自美國《沙龍》雜志的希瑟•赫里雷斯基指出該劇是如何“著迷于當時的一片光怪陸離，又是如何通過對上流社會抽絲剝繭，展現(xiàn)出一個罪犯與政客相互勾結來維持酒水交易的，令人眼花繚亂的陰暗世界。”
Why does it appeal to viewers? Because they know that the “liquor” is a metaphor for today’s political scandals.
它為何如此吸引觀眾?因為觀眾知道劇中的“酒”是對當下政治丑聞的一種隱喻。
