Susan Clark

∷愛宣 選 趙婧 注

時(shí)下各類真人秀節(jié)目層出不窮，其實(shí)這種節(jié)目形式并非新生，早在20世紀(jì)40年代就已現(xiàn)身銀屏。制片方為了從中取利，不惜利用當(dāng)事人各種尷尬、痛苦和屈辱的經(jīng)歷來搏“眼球”。然而，真人秀到底有多真？觀眾真的該買賬嗎？

Media both in America and around the world seem to have“discovered” that so-called “reality” shows are very pro fitable,resulting in a growing string of such shows in recent years.1. so-called: 所謂的；pro fitable: 有利可圖的；a string of: 一系列，一連串。Although not all are successful, many do achieve signi ficant popularity and cultural prominence2. prominence: 重要，杰出。. That does not mean, however, that they are good for society or that they should be aired3. air: 播放。.

The first thing to keep in mind is that “Reality TV” is nothing new—one of the most popular examples of this sort of entertainment is also one of the oldest,Candid Camera.4. Candid Camera:《偷拍》，20世紀(jì)40年代誕生于美國的電視節(jié)目，該節(jié)目在真實(shí)狀況中拍攝真實(shí)的人物，而被拍攝者并不知情；candid camera指在人不備時(shí)快拍用的小照相機(jī)。Originally created by Allen Funt, it showcased hidden video of people in all manner of unusual and strange situations and was popular for many years.5. originally: 原先，最初；Allen Funt:艾倫·豐特（1914—1999），美國電視制作人、導(dǎo)演、作家，創(chuàng)作并主持了電視節(jié)目《偷拍》，該節(jié)目于20世紀(jì)40年代到80年代于美國電視臺(tái)播放；showcase: 展示（本領(lǐng)、才華或優(yōu)良品質(zhì)）；all manner of: 各種各樣的，形形色色的。Even game shows, long a standard on television, are a sort of“Reality TV.”

Today’s programming6. programming: 節(jié)目，節(jié)目策劃。, including a new version ofCandid Cameraproduced by Funt’s son, goes quite a bit further. The primary basis for many of these shows (but not all) seems to be to put people in painful, embarrassing,and humiliating situations for the rest of us to watch—and, presumably, laugh at and be entertained by.7. humiliating: 丟臉的，不光彩的；presumably: 可能，大概。

真人秀節(jié)目《偷拍》

真人秀節(jié)目《學(xué)徒》

These reality TV shows wouldn’t be made if we didn’t watch them, so why do we watch them? Either we find them entertaining or we find them so shocking that we are simply unable to turn away. I’m not sure that the latter is an entirely defensible reason for supporting such programming; turning away is as easy as hitting a button on the remote control.8. defensible:（意見、想法）合理的，remote control: 遙控器。The former, however, is a bit more interesting.

Humiliation as Entertainment

What we are looking at here is, I think, an extension of Schadenfreude,9. extension: 擴(kuò)大，延伸；Schadenfreude:幸災(zāi)樂禍。a German word used to describes people’s delight and entertainment at the failings and problems of others. If you laugh at someone slipping on the ice, that’s Schadenfreude. If you take pleasure in the downfall of a company you dislike,10. take pleasure in: 以……為樂；downfall:破產(chǎn)，衰敗。that is also Schadenfreude. The latter example is certainly understandable, but I don’t think that’s what we’re seeing here. After all, we don’t know the people on reality shows.

So what causes us to derive entertainment from11. derive from: 從……中獲得（愉快的感受）。the suffering of others?Certainly there may be catharsis involved, but that is also achieved through fiction—we don’t need to see a real person suffer in order to have a cathartic experience.12. catharsis: 情感宣泄，精神發(fā)泄； fiction:虛構(gòu)的事，想象的事；cathartic: 起宣泄作用的。Perhaps we are simply happy that these things aren’t happening to us, but that seems more reasonable when we see something accidental and spontaneous rather than something deliberately staged for our amusement.13. 或許我們感到高興只是因?yàn)檫@些事情沒有發(fā)生在我們身上，但是如果我們看到的事情是出于偶然自發(fā)而非為了取悅我們而刻意安排的，這種反應(yīng)更合情合理。accidental: 偶然的，意外的；spontaneous: 自發(fā)的，自然而生的；deliberately: 故意的，蓄意的；stage: 組織，籌劃。

That people do suffer on some reality TV shows is beyond question—the very existence of reality programming may be threatened by the increase in lawsuits by people who have been injured and/or traumatized by the stunts these shows have staged.14. 真人秀里的當(dāng)事人確實(shí)遭受了痛苦，這一點(diǎn)毫無疑問——當(dāng)事人因節(jié)目設(shè)計(jì)的噱頭而遭受身體或精神損傷，由此引發(fā)的訴訟案件數(shù)量增加，這可能威脅到真人秀節(jié)目的存在。lawsuit: 訴訟；traumatize: 使受精神創(chuàng)傷；stunt:特技表演，噱頭。One of the reasons such programming is attractive is that it can be much cheaper than traditional shows, but that may change as insurance premiums for reality TV begin to re flect higher cost to insurers.15. insurance premium: 保險(xiǎn)費(fèi)；insurer:承保人，保險(xiǎn)公司。

There is never any attempt to justify these shows as enriching or worthwhile in any way, though certainly not every program needs to be educational or highbrow.16. justify: 證明……有道理；enriching: 充實(shí)的；worthwhile: 有益的；highbrow:嚴(yán)肅的，高雅的。Nevertheless, it does raise the question as to why they are made. Perhaps a clue about what is going on lies in the aforementioned17. aforementioned: 上述的。lawsuits. According to Barry B. Langberg, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents one couple:

“Something like this is done for no other reason than to embarrass people or humiliate them or scare them. The producers don’t care about human feelings. They don’t care about being decent18. decent: 正派的，規(guī)矩的。. They only care about money.”

Comments from various reality TV producers often fail to demonstrate much sympathy or concern with what their subjects experience—what we are seeing is a great callousness towards other human beings who are treated as means towards achieving financial and commercial success, regardless of the consequences for them.19. 各種電視真人秀的制作人在評(píng)論中往往不會(huì)表現(xiàn)出對(duì)“實(shí)驗(yàn)對(duì)象”的同情或關(guān)心——我們看到的是他們所展現(xiàn)出的極度冷漠，把這些人當(dāng)作獲得財(cái)富或商業(yè)成功的一種工具，而不考慮對(duì)他們產(chǎn)生的影響。demonstrate: 展示，表露出；sympathy: 同情（心）；subject: 實(shí)驗(yàn)對(duì)象；callousness: 無情，冷漠。Injuries, humiliation, suffering, and higher insurance rates are all just the “cost of doing business” and a requirement for being edgier20. edgy: 趕時(shí)髦的，前衛(wèi)的。.

Where’s the Reality?

One of the attractions of reality television is the supposed “reality” of it—unscripted and unplanned situations and reactions.21. supposed: 據(jù)說的，假定的；unscripted:不用稿子的，事前未準(zhǔn)備的。One of the ethical22. ethical: 關(guān)于道德的。problems of reality television is the fact that it isn’t nearly as “real” as it pretends to be. At least in dramatic shows one can expect the audience to understand that what they see on the screen doesn’t necessarily re flect the reality of the actors’ lives; the same, however, cannot be said for heavily edited and contrived scenes one sees on reality shows.23. 至少對(duì)于戲劇節(jié)目，可以想見觀眾明白他們?cè)谄聊簧纤吹降牟灰欢ǚ从沉搜輪T的真實(shí)生活，但是對(duì)真人秀中經(jīng)過大量剪輯和刻意編排的場(chǎng)景，人們卻不一定能分辨。not necessarily:不一定；edited:（電影、電視節(jié)目等）經(jīng)過剪輯的；contrived: 不自然的，矯揉造作的。

There is now a growing concern about how reality television shows can help perpetuate racial stereotypes.24. perpetuate: 使持續(xù)；stereotype: 成見，模式化的觀念。In many shows a similar black female character has been featured—all different women, but very similar character traits25. trait:（某人性格中的）特性，品質(zhì)。. It’s gone so far that Africana.com has trademarked the expression The Evil Black Woman to describe this sort of individual: brazen, aggressive,pointing fingers, and always lecturing others on how to behave.26. trademark: 商標(biāo)，標(biāo)記，此處用作動(dòng)詞，表示“臉譜化”；brazen: 厚顏無恥；aggressive: 好斗的，挑釁的；lecture: 教訓(xùn)，訓(xùn)斥。

MSNBC has reported on the matter, noting that after so many “reality”programs, we can discern a pattern of “characters” that isn’t very far different from the stock characters found in fictional programming.27. NSNBC: 美國的一個(gè)全天播放的有線電視新聞?lì)l道；discern: 看出，辨認(rèn)出；stock: 老一套的，常備的；fictional: 虛構(gòu)的，編造的。There’s the sweet and naive person from a small town looking to make it big while still retaining small-town values.28. naive: 缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)的，幼稚的；make it big: 成名；retaining: 保留，保有。There’s the party girl/guy who’s always looking for a good time and who shocks those around them. There’s the aforementioned Evil Black Woman with an Attitude29. attitude: 我行我素的作風(fēng)。, or sometimes Black Man with an Attitude—and the list goes on.

MSNBC quotes Todd Boyd, critical-studies professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema-Television as saying “We know all these shows are edited and manipulated to create images that look real and sort of exist in real time.30. critical-study: 批評(píng)性研究；manipulate: 巧妙地處理。But really what we have is a construction. ... The whole enterprise of reality television relies on stereotypes. It relies on common stock,easily identi fiable31. identi fiable: 可識(shí)別的，可辨別的。images.”

Why do these stock characters exist, even in so-called “reality” television that it supposed to be unscripted and unplanned? Because that’s the nature of entertainment. Drama is more readily propelled by the use of stock characters because the less you have to think about who a person really is, the more quickly the show can get to things like the plot (such as it may be).32. 戲劇性場(chǎng)景通過常見角色更容易推進(jìn)，因?yàn)閷?duì)于人物性格所需要的思考越少，情節(jié)（如果有的話）推進(jìn)就越快。readily: 快速地，便利地；propel: 推進(jìn)，推動(dòng)；plot:（書、電影、或戲劇的）情節(jié)。Sex and race are especially useful for stock characterizations34. problematic: 成問題的；minority:少數(shù)民族，少數(shù)群體。because they can pull from a long and rich history of social stereotypes.

This is especially problematic when so few minorities appear in programming, whether reality or dramatic, because those few individuals end up being representatives of their entire group.34. problematic: 成問題的；minority:少數(shù)民族，少數(shù)群體。A single angry white man is just an angry white man, while an angry black man is an indication35. indication: 表示，象征。of how all black men “really” are.

How do stock characters appear in “unscripted” reality shows? First, the people themselves contribute to the creation of these characters because they know, even if unconsciously, that certain behavior is more likely to get them air time. Second, the shows editors contribute mightily to the creation of these characters because they completely validate just that motivation.36. mightily: 非常，極其；validate: 使得到認(rèn)同；motivation: 動(dòng)機(jī)。A black woman sitting around, smiling, isn’t perceived to be37. perceive sb. to be: 認(rèn)為某人……。as entertaining as a black woman pointing her finger at a white man and angrily telling him what to do.

An especially good (or egregious) example of this can be found in Manigault-Stallworth, a star of Donald Trump’sTheApprentice.38. egregious: 極其嚴(yán)重的，令人震驚的；Donald Trump: 唐納德·特朗普，紐約地產(chǎn)大亨，創(chuàng)建并投資了著名真人秀節(jié)目《學(xué)徒》；The Apprentice:《學(xué)徒》，美國全國廣播公司出品的一檔職場(chǎng)創(chuàng)業(yè)型真人秀節(jié)目。She has been called “the most hated woman on television” because of the behavior and attitude people see her with. But how much of her on-screen persona39. persona:（偽裝）外表，形象。is real and how much is a creation of the shows editors? Quite a lot of the latter,according to Manigault-Stallworth in an email quoted by MSNBC:

“What you see on the show is a gross misrepresentation of who I am.40. gross: 嚴(yán)重的，過分的； misrepresentation: 歪曲，曲解。For instance they never show me smiling, it’s just not consistent with the negative portrayal of me that they want to present.41. be consistent with: 與……吻合；negative: 負(fù)面的，消極的；portrayal: 描寫，表現(xiàn)。Last week they portrayed me as lazy and pretending to be hurt to get out of working, when in fact I had a concussion due to my serious injury on the set and spent nearly ... 10 hours in the emergency room.42. concussion: 腦震蕩；on the set: 在片場(chǎng)，在拍攝場(chǎng)地；emergency: 急診室。It’s all in the editing!”

Reality television shows are not documentaries43. documentary: 紀(jì)錄片。. People are not put into situations simply to see how they react—the situations are heavily contrived, they are altered in order to make things interesting, and large amounts of footage are heavily edited into what the show’s producers think will result in the best entertainment value for viewers.44. alter: 變化，改變；footage: 影片，影片（片段）。Entertainment, of course, often comes from con flict—so con flict will be created where none exists. If the show cannot incite con flict during the filming, it can be created in how pieces of footage are stitched together.45. incite: 激起； film: 拍攝；stitch together:拼湊起，組織起。It’s all in what they choose to reveal to you—or not reveal, as the case may be.

Moral Responsibility

If a production company creates a show with the explicit intention of trying to make money from the humiliation and suffering which they themselves create for unsuspecting people, then that seems to me to be immoral and unconscionable.46. explicit: 清晰明了的；unsuspecting: 不懷疑的，無疑心的；immoral: 不道德的；unconscionable: 違背良心的，過分的。I simply cannot think of any excuse for such actions—pointing out that others are willing to watch such events does not relieve them of the responsibility for having orchestrated the events and willed the reactions in the first

place.47. 對(duì)這些做法我完全想不出任何理由——指出他人愿意觀看這些節(jié)目并不能使他們推脫責(zé)任，是他們首先策劃這些情節(jié)并操縱人們反應(yīng)的。relieve sb of:解除某人的負(fù)擔(dān)；orchestrate: 精心策劃；will: 希望，想要（某事發(fā)生）。The mere fact that they want others to experience humiliation,embarrassment, and/or suffering (and simply in order to increase earnings) is itself unethical; actually going forward with it is even worse.

What of the responsibility of the reality TV advertisers? Their funding makes such programming possible, and therefore they must shoulder part of the blame as well.48. funding: 資金，資助；shoulder the blame:承擔(dān)過失。An ethical position would be to refuse to underwrite any programming, no matter how popular, if it is designed to deliberately cause others humiliation, embarrassment,or suffering.49. under write: 負(fù)擔(dān)……的費(fèi)用；deliberately: 故意地，蓄意地。It’s immoral to do such things for fun (especially on a regular basis), so it’s certainly immoral to do it for money or to pay to have it done.