by Jordan Zakarin

With her 2010 1）SXSW-darling film Tiny Furniture， Lena Dunham captured the malaise and uncertainty of a generation of postcollege 20-somethings with 2）grit， humor， and painful realism， transforming Manhattan into a depressing playground for overeducated， underqualified youths in an economy that had seemingly forgotten about their existence.

As she graduated college， Lena Dunham had a vision of what shed be doing as she 3）waded into real life in New York City.

“I just spent all day getting sandwiches for someone who doesnt know my name， thinking that that was somehow going to get me where I was going to go，” she said， 4）rehashing a projected inner monologue she had prepared for her postgrad self. “And I was always of the mind that I was just going to have a shitty job that had nothing to do with anything and then write when I could write， and that was my hope.”

莉娜·杜漢姆在2010年“西南偏南”大會上受到追捧的電影《微型家具》借用殘酷的現(xiàn)實主義，用大膽、幽默的手法，捕捉到20多歲，剛大學畢業(yè)的那一代人惴惴不安以及迷茫無助的心態(tài)。在其描繪下，曼哈頓變成一個令人抑郁的競技場，一群高學歷低水平的年輕人在苦苦打拼，其存在卻似乎被低迷的經(jīng)濟全然無視。

自莉娜·杜漢姆離開大學校園，她就想象著要如何融入紐約的現(xiàn)實生活之中。

“我只是一天到晚給陌生人遞三明治，想著這樣做怎么都會讓我達成所愿，”她說道，重新回憶起那個為研究生畢業(yè)的自己設(shè)計好的內(nèi)心獨白?！拔耶敃r總是覺得我會干一份跟所學所愛毫不相干的爛活兒，然后自己找時間能寫作就寫作，那就是我的希望了?！?/p>

《欲望都市》是“閨蜜情結(jié)”的開山之作，劇中對親情刻畫模糊甚至避而不談，卻對“姐妹情深”賦予深情贊嘆，讓每個只身在大都市打拼的女子都不得不感慨：做人當做“凱利·布拉德肖”（《欲望都市》的女主角）。這是以家庭為單位的傳統(tǒng)宗族觀念的一個改變，《欲》劇告訴我們：我們可以自己“制造”親人。里面的四位女郎游戲人間，沒有錢財煩惱；劇中對職場生活描寫寥寥，姐妹們只需打扮一番，談情說愛，便能打發(fā)一日。遙望《欲》劇的開播是上世紀90年代末，美國經(jīng)濟繁榮，正如片頭中凱利散漫又自信的步伐一樣，有一種“山高水低任我行”的豪氣。然而，同為HBO出品，《衰姐們》的創(chuàng)作背景卻完全相反：金融危機過后的美國，失業(yè)率激增，剛畢業(yè)的大學生惶惶不安，工作還沒著落，大學貸款還款期卻迫在眉睫。所以里面的人物總是焦躁，到處碰壁——談情說愛當然必不可少，但是生活卻與《欲》截然相反，讓人心生共鳴也不免神傷。

從艾美獎失利，到金球獎贏家，《衰姐們》折射出的是當下紐約年輕人對殘酷現(xiàn)實的認同與感嘆。這就是新的曼哈頓女郎。不光鮮，不亮麗，卻也讓人歡喜。時代不同，新生的曼哈頓女郎敢于穿上雜牌的外套，奔波于亂世之中，自嘲，自貶，還有著堅信明天會更好的情懷。

——Mac

Of course， its worked out far better than that， and now， at age 25， she produces， writes， directs and stars in HBOs Girls. Dunham picked up the nomination to the pressure-packed position of “the voice of her generation” when her indie film Tiny Furniture debuted at 2010s SXSW； with Girls， she has cleared her throat and made her thesis statement： Life is hard and confusing and messy and endlessly funny， and by being honest， its possible to 5）speak with， not at， viewers.

Girls is， in many ways， the antithesis to HBOs own ladies-in-Manhattan fantasy， Sex and the City， offering a far more realistic portrayal of sisterhood than that of Carrie Bradshaw and Co.， though virginal student Shoshanna does have a SATC poster prominently displayed in her“6）bachelorette pad，” and she categorizes herself and other women by Sex and the City character types.

Tracking the personal and professional 7）travails of four recent college grads in New York City， the show captures the particulars of todays 20-something struggle for economic and existential survival in an immediate way that requires intimate knowledge.

Dunham plays an aspiring writer， named Hannah， who has just been cut off from her parents financial 8）lifeline， and suddenly finds herself desperate for an upgrade from her unpaid internship. Unfortunately， she lives in a city filled with employers less than eager to do something as 9）preposterous as compensate for work in a market filled with the young and 10）grasping. Bright and driven （if a little self-destructive） but seemingly unemployable in ways that 11）defy logic or fairness， hers is a problem shared by just about every new 12）transplant to the city.

“People are graduating from college during a recession， and thats a huge deal，”Dunham told The Hollywood Reporter at the New York City premiere of Girls. “And I think that TV shows， at the time I started writing this， werent necessarily reflecting that reality.” She said one of her goals was to “l(fā)ook at that financial struggle， and the fact that students are graduating with these degrees， going like， ‘World！ Can you wait for me？ And the world is like， ‘Uh yeah， I actually can wait for you.”

當然，事實比預想的要好得多，現(xiàn)在，杜漢姆25歲而已，她已經(jīng)是HBO電視臺的連續(xù)劇《衰姐們》的制作人、編劇、導演以及主演。2010年當她的獨立電影作品《微型家具》在“西南偏南”大會上首映時，杜漢姆得到了讓人備感壓力的提名——“新生代之聲”。憑借《衰姐們》，她已清嗓道出自己的主題“中心句”：生活是艱難的，令人迷茫，充滿混亂，無盡滑稽，只要真誠以對，是有可能與觀眾一同感受，而非對其嘲弄。

《衰姐們》，從很多方面來看，是HBO招牌菜“曼哈頓女性幻想曲”之作《欲望都市》的對立面。比起凱利·布拉德肖以及整部電視劇，它對姐妹情這一話題擺出的是更為現(xiàn)實的描畫，盡管乖乖女學生蘇珊娜的“單身閨房”里顯眼地貼著一張《欲望都市》的海報，還把自己和其他女孩按照《欲望都市》的角色類型來分類定義。

《衰姐們》追蹤四個剛從大學畢業(yè)的學生在紐約城的生活以及職場兩難期，捕捉現(xiàn)今20多歲的年輕人為金錢、為生活掙扎求存的細節(jié)，那種直接的表現(xiàn)方式是需要融入親身體驗的。

杜漢姆扮演漢娜——一個有抱負的作家，脫離父母的經(jīng)濟支持后，她忽然發(fā)現(xiàn)自己極度需要晉升，不再停留于無薪實習的職位。不幸的是，這個城市的老板面對滿是年輕、焦急的求職者的市場，并不急于做一些“可笑的”的按勞付酬的舉動。聰明又有野心（如果說還有那么點自毀傾向），但漢娜似乎沒有受雇前途，雖然這說不通也不公平，然而，她的問題正是和這個城市的每一個新移民所共有的。

“在經(jīng)濟衰退期，大家從大學畢業(yè)，那是很嚴重的問題，”《衰姐們》在紐約首映的時候，杜漢姆對《好萊塢記者報》如是說?！霸谖议_始寫這個劇本的時候，我覺得當時的電視劇都不太能反映現(xiàn)實?！彼f自己其中一個目的是為了“放眼看金融危機，以及大學生畢業(yè)的事實，就像是，‘世界?。∧隳艿鹊任覇?？而世界就說：‘啊對，我真的可以等等你?！?/p>

For Dunham， success came quickly. But she has seen friends struggle and considers her rocket to 13）stardom a surprise. And there are still plenty of universal difficulties shared by 20-somethings， especially among women. In the show， Jessa gets pregnant and plans to have an abortion， while Hannah goes through her own 14）gynecological dramas. That the national debate has focused so heavily on womens reproductive rights is 15）coincidental， but she isnt afraid of the topic.

“I was raised by a pro-choice mother， and that dialogue was always on the table，” Dunham said. “I think its never fully gone away， but at any election time， it really becomes loud and national again.”

On less 16）charged notes， there are plenty of specific nods to New York and New Yorkers， from the Tasti D-Lite frozen yogurt the girls eat in front of the park （“It was really important to me to have it—a product that exists almost nowhere else， I believe”） to the discussion of different bars in specific Brooklyn neighborhoods.

“It was really important to me to get those details of really what the fabric of New York life is for girls this age，” Dunham said. “I just wanted it to be just like， if a New Yorker watches it， there were subtle nods to them， but it wouldnt isolate anyone else.”

對于杜漢姆來說，成功來得很快。但她看到朋友們的奮斗，還覺得自己的一舉成名是一個意外。而且，在20多歲的人群當中，仍然有許多共同遇到的問題，特別是在女性當中。在《衰姐們》里，杰莎懷孕了卻打算把孩子打掉，而漢娜也鬧了一場婦科病笑話——這與全國范圍討論大力關(guān)注女性生育權(quán)利的議題不謀而合，不過杜漢姆并不害怕這個話題。

“我是由一名提倡合法墮胎的母親撫養(yǎng)成人的，而對這個話題的討論在家里一直是公開的，”杜漢姆說，“我覺得這問題從沒消失過，只是每到了選舉時刻，又會成為舉國討論的大話題?！?/p>

在一些氛圍稍微輕松的情節(jié)中，有許多是特別對紐約和紐約客致敬的地方，從女孩們在公園前吃Tasti D-Lite冰淇淋連鎖店的冰凍酸乳酪（“這情節(jié)對我來說真的很重要——我相信其他地方是找不到這種食品的”）到討論布魯克林附近的不同酒吧。

“顯現(xiàn)這個年紀的女孩子在紐約生活的真實細節(jié)對我來說真的很重要，”杜漢姆說，“我想要的是，如果一位紐約客看這部劇，其中有大家會心相知的細節(jié)，但也不會孤立排除其他人?！?/p>

It all points back to that 17）perilous title she picked up two years ago， which Dunham seems to 18）wink at in Girls first episode， when Hannah—high on 19）opium tea—tells her parents she thinks shes “the voice of my generation…or a voice…of a generation.”

Dunham said that line was used to give Hannah hilarious delusions of 20）grandeur， but she admits that having been given the label perhaps played into her 21）subconscious. Nonetheless， for all the praise， she wants to avoid the title； after all， her work is predicated on being an outsider.

“I think thats a scary 22）mantle to assign to someone， just because every generation is comprised of so many different types of weirdos，” she laughed.

Ultimately， Girls is 23）achingly original， the sort of television show that comes around but once in a decade， embodying a singular vision and pitchperfectly capturing a voice. Whether it represents the voice of a generation remains to be seen， but its a voice thats not afraid to be unique， to shout 24）at the top of its lungs that it has arrived， and to remind us all of what it means to be young.

這都指向了兩年前她獲得的“危險”頭銜，在《衰姐們》第一集里杜漢姆似乎對此表示默認，當時漢娜因為喝了帶有大麻成分的茶而飄飄然，她告訴父母，她覺得自己是“我這一代人的聲音……或者是……一個時代的聲音。”

杜漢姆說，這句臺詞給漢娜滑稽的妄想賦予了豪情，但她承認被貼上那種標簽可能在她的潛意識中起了作用。然而，對于所有的贊美之聲，她想回避那種頭銜，畢竟，她的創(chuàng)作是建基于局外人的身份。

“我覺得這相當于給人披上一層讓人提心吊膽的外衣，因為每一個時代都充斥著形形色色不同的怪人，”她笑言道。

總體而言，《衰姐們》原創(chuàng)味十足，是那種十年才得一見的電視劇，體現(xiàn)了一種非凡的視角，并且完美地捕捉到一種聲音。這部電視是否能代表一個時代的聲音還有待時間的考證，但它是一種聲音，一種不怕特立獨行，在已達到的高度上放聲吶喊，提醒我們所有人“年輕”意義何在的聲音。