《性爱大师》：无关“情色”

何航

For those who are wondering: Yes, Masters of Sex, the new Showtime period drama, is sexy. The title itself will be reason enough for many viewers to watch. But let’s make it clear at the beginning that, although the series is about sex, it’s not erotic at all.
致那些惊呆了的小伙伴们：是的，Showtime新剧《性爱大师》的确“十足惹火”。仅剧名本身就赚足了噱头。但在文章开头，我先澄清一点：尽管该剧与性爱有关，却并不色情。
Adapted from Thomas Maier’s 2009 biography of the same title, Masters of Sex tells the story of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, two pioneering sex researchers in the 20th century who co-wrote important and unprecedented reports about human sexuality.
改编自托马斯•迈尔于2009年出版的同名传记，该剧讲述了20世纪两位性教育研究先驱（威廉•马斯特斯和弗吉尼亚•约翰）的生平，他们二人曾共同撰写出非常重要且史无前例的人类性研究报告。
“The study of sex is the study of the beginning of all life,” Masters, played by British actor Michael Sheen, declares in the pilot. “And science holds the key. Yet we sit huddled in the dark like prudish cavemen, filled with shame. And guilt.”
马斯特斯的扮演者英国演员迈克尔•西恩在试映集中说道：“性研究关乎一切生命的起源。而科学是掌握它的钥匙。但我们却像假装正经的野人一般，在黑暗中挤坐成一团，内心充满羞愧与自责。”
From these lines you may get a feeling that the series aims to tell a bigger tale.
从这些台词中你可以感受到，该剧旨在讲述一个非同寻常的故事。
“TV depicts sex all the time, but what it rarely examines is the terror and confusion that intimacy and reproduction can bring to our lives,” Maureen Ryan wrote in a review for The Huffington Post.
马瑞恩•莱安在《赫芬顿邮报》的评论文章中写道：“电视剧从来不乏性爱描述，但却很少审视这种亲密行为和繁衍生息给我们的生活所带来的恐惧与困惑。”
Another review by The Hollywood Reporter echoes this idea by saying: “It was comforting to see that Masters of Sex has depth of vision and plenty of dramatic material to delve into without taking the easy way out with a nipple and a romp every 10 minutes.”
《好莱坞报道》在评论文章中声援了这一观点：“看到《性爱大师》富有深度的洞察以及大量值得探究的戏剧题材，而不是靠每十分钟出现一次的床戏敷衍了事，真是令人倍感欣慰。”
Female awakening
女性觉醒
Besides depicting sex as a science subject, Masters of Sex has another overt agenda.
除了描写“性科学”之外，《性爱大师》更是“别有用心”。
US actress Lizzy Caplan portrays Johnson, the former nightclub singer who comes to work at Masters’ hospital as a secretary. She manages to attach herself to Masters and his project, eventually becoming his partner. This character, as Los Angeles Times’ review puts it, is “the driving spirit, both within the story and of the series itself”.
由美国女星利兹•卡潘扮演的约翰逊曾是一名夜总会歌手，之后来到马斯特斯的医院做秘书。她设法与马斯特斯打成一片，加入他的研究项目，并最终成为他的伙伴。正如《洛杉矶时报》评论所说：“不论是在小说里还是电视剧中，该角色都堪称推动故事发展的灵魂人物”。
“Johnson is a new woman, by nature. She likes sex, but she also wants to do ‘something important’,” the article said.
该文指出：“约翰逊是一位与生俱来的新女性。尽管她喜欢性，但她也想做一些‘重要的事情’。”
Set in the late 1950s, the series looks back on this time as the beginning of the end of male dominance and privilege. So, the “important thing” for her is to deliver the message that sisterhood is powerful — “a memo some of the women around her have yet to receive”.
该剧将背景设定在20世纪50年代末，这段时期也被视为男性主导地位与特权衰落的开始。所以，对她来说，“重要的事情”就是传递出“妇女能顶半边天”这种信息——“当时她身边一些女性还没有接受这种观点”。
“Masters’ journey,” the article continues, “though it involves a kind of awakening, is simply not as dynamic as Johnson’s self-reinvention.”
该篇文章中还写道：“虽然马斯特斯的心路历程透露出某种觉醒，但它并不像约翰逊自我重塑那般鲜活。”
With every worthy message, Masters of Sex fights back all the preconceived notions about what type of show it will be and successfully moves the camera up from the breast to the brain. Maybe that’s the best story of all.
《性爱大师》凭借精良的内容，回击了所有预期而来的成见，并成功调整镜头，避免了“有胸无脑”的局面。也许，这才是最棒的故事。