双语 | 《我的前半生》火了，“女性独立”没了

电视剧《我的前半生》自开播以来便话题不断，收视率更是一路飙升。该剧改编自香港著名作家亦舒的同名小说，引发了观众的热烈讨论，可谓毁誉参半。它探讨了当今社会一个热门话题——家庭主妇和职场女性如何面对社会压力与选择，引发了无数观众的共鸣；然而也有不少观众反映，此剧将原著改得面目全非，原本独立自主的女性逆袭之路最终落入女性要依靠男人的俗套，更有闺蜜抢男友这样的狗血剧情，实在接受无能。译·世界的粉丝盆友们，你们怎么看呢？

What can make a TV series explode in popularity? The answers can range from the excitement of the stories to the excellent acting skills of the cast. But today, many Chinese producers are very likely to respond with a set of initials—IP.

有什么方法能够引爆一部电视剧，获得超高收视率呢？答案不尽相同，可以是引人入胜的故事情节，也可以是演员的精湛演技。但今天，许多中国制片人都开始热衷于IP。

Don’t be confused, it has nothing to do with the Internet Protocol or fusty laws regarding copyright; instead, this use of “intellectual property” refers to a media product—anything from a novel to a video game, online literature to a pop song—that gets adapted into other media forms, often a TV show or movie. Since the product has a built-in fan-base and pop culture presence, producers hope that the adaptation will also be popular.

在这里不要混淆概念，这里的IP指的可不是互联网协议，也不是版权方面的什么旧的规章制度，而是指传媒产品的“知识产权”，比如说将小说改编成电子游戏，将网络文学改编为流行歌曲等等将一种形式改编为其他的传媒形式，通常是电视节目或电影。由于这些作品本身就有粉丝基础和流行文化的存在，所以制片人期望改编作品也能大受欢迎。

While the term “IP” is typically associated with adaptations of internet literature, Beijing and Shanghai TV’s highly anticipated summer drama, The First Half of My Life, has a slightly higher-brow origin. It was adapted from a romance novel of the same name by Yi Shu, also known as Isabel Nee Yeh-Su, a popular and influential Hong Kong writer born in 1946. First published in 1982, the novel tells the story of Luo Zijun, a full-time housewife and mother who was completely ignorant about the fact that her husband of 13 years has been cheating on her until the day he asked for a divorce. After her marrige breaks down, Luo sets on the path to becoming an independent woman, takes up a career with the help of her best friend Tang Jing, and eventually to learn to be her own person.

IP这个词常常与网络文学改编相提并论，而北京和上海卫视备受观众期待的夏季电视剧《我的前半生》却鲜有原著的影子。这部电视剧改编自亦舒（Isabel Nee Yeh-Su）的同名言情小说，亦舒生于1946年，是香港著名作家。这部小说首次出版于1982年，讲述了一位全职家庭主妇，同时也是一名母亲的罗子君，对于自己的丈夫偷情13年的秘密全然不知，直到丈夫提出离婚。当她的婚姻破碎后，她开始踏上了独立女性之路，在好友唐晶的帮助下重新踏入职场，最终学会了独立。

▲香港知名作家亦舒

It’s not the most original plotline—yet Yi successfully explored the pressures and choices faced by modern women through two different female characters, housewife Luo and professional woman Tang. Central themes of the novel include the independence of housewives, the challenges of marriage and career, and the self-awareness of women. When the show was debuted on July 4, audiences, including those who are attracted by Yi Shu’s reputation and those who found these topics timelier than ever, had high expectations.

这并非最初的故事情节主线，但是亦舒通过两位身份不同的女主角——家庭主妇罗子君和职场女性唐晶，成功地探索了现代女性所面临的压力与选择。小说的主旋律围绕着家庭主妇的独立，婚姻和职业生涯的挑战，以及女性自我意识的觉醒。7月4日，当这部剧登上荧幕时，那些慕亦舒之名而收看的观众，以及喜欢这类与时俱进话题的观众，对其抱以高度的期待。

▲剧中角色：罗子君（左）和唐晶（右）

Now, 10 days later, the sentiment echoing throughout Douban from viewers is, “Except for the name, the show has nothing to with Yi Shu’s novel.”

现在这部剧已经播出了10多天，豆瓣网友的普遍反映是，“除了名字，这部剧和亦舒的小说没有半毛钱关系。”

It’s hard to know how to start listing the show’s innumerable sins, but the changes to Luo’s character are important to highlight. In the original novel, Luo is a well-educated from a good university, speaks fluent English, and is usually dignified. Though at first unsuspecting of her husband’s infidelity, she took the high road when she discovered the affair and kept her self-respect. When her mother came to her in tears, begging her not to get divorced, she said: “Don’t cry, I will put myself back together.”

这部剧的种种劣迹简直罄竹难书，但是剧中罗子君性格的变化是值得关注的一大亮点。在原著中，罗子君是一名毕业于知名大学的、受过良好教育的女性，说得一口流利英语，身份尊贵。起初，她对丈夫的不忠毫不知情，但得知丈夫外遇时，却义无反顾地提出离婚，并保全了自尊。当她的母亲前来痛哭流涕地劝她不要离婚时，她说：“别哭，我会好起来的。”

▲剧中角色：罗子君

In the show, which moved the setting from 1980s Hong Kong to today’s Shanghai, Luo became a paranoid, jealous, superficial harridan, who shouts at her housekeeper, checks her husband’s phone constantly, and is always worried that her husband would leave her. Her whole life seems to be made up of just two things—dolling herself up to please her husband, and saving her marriage at all costs.

在剧中，背景从80年代的香港变成了今天的上海，罗子君也变成了一个偏执狂，嫉妒心强，肤浅而脾气暴躁，对保姆呼来喝去，经常检查丈夫的手机，并总是担心丈夫会离开她。她的整个人生似乎只由两件事情组成：把自己打扮得花枝招展取悦丈夫，以及不惜一切代价挽回婚姻。

In one scene of the novel, when Luo’s daughter accused her of not speaking in a “feminine” enough way to please her husband, she replied: “I am a woman born to a respectable family, and have a dignified way of talking.” But in the show, when Luo breaks into her husband’s office to confront the “mistress” and is accused of being “bad-mannered,” she replies, “Compared with one’s marriage, one’s manner is unimportant.”

原著中有这样一个场景，当罗子君的女儿指责她没有用“女性化”的讲话方式取悦自己的丈夫时，子君说：“我出生于受人尊敬的家庭，说话的方式也得是体面的。”但是，在电视剧中，当罗子君闯进丈夫的办公室直面“情妇”并被指责“没教养”时，她回答：“与婚姻相比，教养根本不值一提。”

Finally, in the novel, Luo started her post-divorce life by finding a low-level job in a small company and working her way up; but in the show, she gets rescued by a new love interest called He Han, a character not in the original novel, who helps Luo solve her problems and gives her emotional support.

在小说中，罗子君通过找到小公司的一份低端工作开始了离婚后的生活，并一路逆袭；而在剧中，罗子君被新欢贺涵拯救，后者不是小说中的角色，他帮助子君解决各种问题，还给予她精神支持。

▲剧中角色：贺涵

“The show put up Yi Shu’s brand, but pushed Jin Dong [actor who plays He Han] to the forefront, putting out the message that ‘no matter how stupid, high-maintenance, and boring I am, there will be an alpha male who lifts me up,’ and ‘the mistress is just low, scheming, and bitchy, so let’s all fight against the mistresses as a society,’” wrote one user who reviewed the show on Douban. And it’s rumored in the later episodes, there will be a love triangle involving Luo, He, and Luo’s best friend Tang.

一位豆瓣用户这样评论此剧：“此剧带火了亦舒，但是把靳东（贺涵的扮演者）带到观众面前，就是在传达这样一种信息——无论我多愚蠢、多难伺候、多烦人，总会有一个男性精英来拯救我，还有一点是——情妇是低级、腹黑、恶毒的，让我们团结一致打倒情妇。”传闻在接下来的剧集中，罗子君、贺涵以及子君最好的朋友唐晶将陷入三角恋。

It’s sad to see such a show, which is supposedly based on a work focusing on self-respect, self-awareness, and self-actualization of women, fall into cliches and stereotypes of women —a woman’s life is all about men, romance, marriage, and family. Crucially, for the novel, the divorce is simply an event that starts the story, the catalyst Luo’s growth and journey to independence. The show, however, puts the divorce center-stage, paints it as the most catastrophic event of Luo’s life, and focuses on exploring why she got divorced—and unsurprisingly, the producers imply that it’s Luo who brought it on herself with her horrible shrewish ways.

这部剧让人悲哀，因为它的故事本应该基于一个自尊、有自我意识、完成自我实现的女性，但却落入对女性认知的俗套——女性的生命全部围绕男人、爱情、婚姻、家庭。还有关键的一点，在小说中，离婚只是故事的开始，是罗子君成长和独立的催化剂。然而，在剧中，离婚被置于核心位置，被描绘成罗子君人生中的巨大灾难，同时聚焦在探索她离婚的原因——毋庸置疑，制片方暗示了离婚是罗子君因脾气性格咎由自取。

And still the show’s fans say it’s “realistic”: The show currently has a rating of 7.3 on Douban, which is not bad compared with some other shows. One has to to ask, is this what Chinese producers and viewers think of women?

不过，该剧的粉丝认为这部剧非常“现实”：目前，该剧在豆瓣的评分为7.3分，与其他电视剧相比，这个分数并不低。有人不禁要问，这就是中国的制片人和观众对女性的看法吗？

英文来源：汉语世界英文版

编译：Janet, Yoyo

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