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美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Queer Eye' Reboot Gets Political

时间:2018-02-22 02:51:30

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Remember "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy"? For those who may have missed its four-year run on the Bravo TV network beginning in 2003, the premise1 was this - a group of chatty, personable gay guys descended2 on their straight-guy subject and transformed his life with their expertise3 in fashion, grooming4, design, food and pop culture. To the surprise of many, the show was a hit and not just in the U.S. It eventually aired in more than 120 countries, and all this at a time when LGBTQ figures and issues were just becoming a part of public consciousness. Fast forward 15 years, it's a different world, but there's always room for a makeover.

So "Queer Eye" is back with a new Fab Five, a new mission and a new platform, streaming on Netflix. We're going to talk about all this, so we called David Collins. He is the creator and producer of "Queer Eye," and he's with us now from NPR West in Culver City, Calif. David Collins, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us.

DAVID COLLINS: Thank you so much for having me.

MARTIN: Can I just ask you to go back to the beginning? What gave you the idea for this to begin with?

COLLINS: Well, 15 years ago-plus, actually, I was at an art gallery with Michael Williams, my business partner and husband at the time. And a woman in the middle of the room just started laying into her husband, like, look at you. Why can't you look like these guys? And she kept pointing across the way. And these gentlemen from the corner, dressed and looking great with their wine, literally5 came across the room, surrounded him and said, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And they started fixing his hair and tucking in his shirt and saying, no, he's doing great. He just needs a little help, a little zhush, a little this, a little that. And I turned to Michael. And I said, did you see that? That's "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy." And as the title came out of my mouth, I realized I've got to go home and figure this out.

MARTIN: That is crazy.

COLLINS: (Laughter) Isn't it? The whole show happened in front of my eyes, yeah.

MARTIN: That is wild. Well, one of the reasons that the show was so groundbreaking was that it was, first of all, unscripted, but it was also one of the few representations of gay men on TV just doing their thing, right? But it was also at the time, and I think this is fair to say, that there were always people who were a little bit - what's the word I'm looking for? - a little maybe uncomfortable with the premise that gay people have some special gift in that area. Do you want to speak to that?

COLLINS: Sure. You know, we definitely - early on, we're like, oh, you're playing into the stereotypes6. Not all gay men know how to cut hair and do flowers and decorate. And the reality is these stereotypes were real, and we stepped into them and embraced them and also kind of empowered the word queer at the time as well, took that back from the negative lexicon7 and brought it out to the world with new eyes, new perspective.

MARTIN: So why is this the time to bring it back?

COLLINS: You know, it's a great question. The relevancy of it now, obviously 15 years ago, these guys kind of were superheroes that swooped8 in and fixed9 things and helped create a safe place for conversation. And that conversation 15 years ago was a place where families could talk and look at these men on TV. Well, here we are 15 years later, and gay rights have really moved forward amazingly in the past 15 years.

And here we are now with these new guys who, quite frankly10, are real men. They're all different types of guys. There's dads. Two of them are married. And now the conversations are deeper. You know, our Fab Five, we get to see them as wholes. And they're having dialogue with these guys that are Trump-supporting policemen. We have a self-proclaimed country boy, an amazing African-American who's coming out.

MARTIN: Yeah. I wanted to mention that because one of the - there are a couple of things that are different with this new iteration in addition to the cast, the new Fab Five, as we said. The previous show was in New York. This one is in Georgia, based in Atlanta. And your subjects, your - the beneficiaries of the queer eyes are not all straight. I mean, there are also - some of your subjects are gay themselves or are kind of thinking about their identities. Why those two changes?

COLLINS: Well, we definitely - obviously, getting out of New York was a big part of the decision because, you know, 15 years ago, it was one thing to walk into a fancy store on Madison Avenue and redo someone. You can do that. But we wanted to come down South, come into the red states and meet very different guys. When you're down in the South or in the Midwest, dialogue and conversations are a little more iffy more intense about this. So we decided11 to head down to Atlanta. And each one of our guys comes from a different small town in Georgia. And those towns we get to see as part of each of the stories as well.

MARTIN: You mentioned one of the stories that the Fab Five are called out to small town Georgia to make over Corey (ph), who's a NASCAR-loving police officer. And I'm going to play a clip, and then we'll talk about it. To set it up, they're driving - the guys are driving on a two-lane highway on their way to meet the makeover subject who they don't know anything about yet. And Karamo - am I saying his name right? - Karamo Brown...

COLLINS: That's right, Karamo. Yeah, Karamo Brown.

MARTIN: ...Is driving. He is the only African-American member of the Fab Five. So let's play that clip.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "QUEER EYE")

KARAMO BROWN: Hi.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: How are you doing? I'm Officer Forrester (ph). Can I see your license12 please?

BROWN: I don't have it.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: You don't have your license in your possession?

BROWN: No.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: OK. Why not?

BROWN: We're filming a show.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: OK. But it's state law, you have to have your license in your possession when you're operating a vehicle.

BROWN: Got it.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: OK.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: You mind stepping out of the vehicle for me?

BROWN: Why?

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: Because I asked you to. You're shooting a show, you said?

BROWN: Yeah. It's called "Queer Eye." We makeover straight guys.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: You makeover straight guys?

BROWN: Yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: OK. Is his name Corey? Because I'm his nominator.

COLLINS: (Laughter) Oh, goodness.

MARTIN: Well, you know, there was a lot going on there.

COLLINS: Yeah, there was.

MARTIN: And I - you know, judging from the look on Karamo's face, he wasn't expecting that, am I right?

COLLINS: No, he definitely wasn't. It just so happened that morning that - the guys would come in in the mornings, and they would kind of buck13 up to see who got to drive that day or that episode. They played rock, paper, scissors. And by pure chance, Karamo won and hopped14 into the car seat. And we let it play, right? We let it play. We knew what was going to obviously happen, but it was intense to witness, you know.

MARTIN: Yeah, it was intense to witness, especially if that's a part of your life not in a TV show, which leads me to my question. I mean, one of the things about these reality shows and yours in particular is that there's always, you know, an undercurrent of kind of deep truth underneath15 what's a fun experience. On the other hand, it does raise ethical16 questions about the situations that you put people in. And is it really OK to utilize17 something that's a very serious issue for a lot of people for the purpose of, you know, having fun?

COLLINS: Sure. You know, I think ultimately it was about having fun in that moment. We weren't out to have some big, crazy political statement happen. When you watch the rest of the episode, you feel the tenseness that Karamo felt in that moment. It carries into the moment when he meets Corey. Corey was a Trump-supporting local policeman who had a lot of issues. And they had a lot of conversations and dialogue that opened the door and allowed Karamo to see Corey and Corey to see Karamo.

MARTIN: So before we let you go, are you getting any feedback? What are people saying about it so far?

COLLINS: Yeah. You know, I think there was a lot of hesitation18 like you're never going to be as good as the first one. You know what? It's different. It's really a different time. And it's a different show. A lot of young gay LGBTQ community getting to see ourselves in these new Fab Five, and that's a pretty cool thing that we've been seeing on social.

MARTIN: That's David Collins, creator and producer of "Queer Eye." All eight episodes of the reboot are now out on Netflix. David Collins, thank you so much for speaking with us.

COLLINS: Oh, thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

MARTIN: And let me mention that Netflix is one of NPR's funders.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 premise JtYyy     
n.前提;v.提论,预述
参考例句:
  • Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
  • We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。
2 descended guQzoy     
a.为...后裔的,出身于...的
参考例句:
  • A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
  • The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。
3 expertise fmTx0     
n.专门知识(或技能等),专长
参考例句:
  • We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
  • You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。
4 grooming grooming     
n. 修饰, 美容,(动物)梳理毛发
参考例句:
  • You should always pay attention to personal grooming. 你应随时注意个人仪容。
  • We watched two apes grooming each other. 我们看两只猩猩在互相理毛。
5 literally 28Wzv     
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
参考例句:
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
6 stereotypes 1ff39410e7d7a101c62ac42c17e0df24     
n.老套,模式化的见解,有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化,使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
  • It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调,我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
7 lexicon a1rxD     
n.字典,专门词汇
参考例句:
  • Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
  • Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。
8 swooped 33b84cab2ba3813062b6e35dccf6ee5b     
俯冲,猛冲( swoop的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The aircraft swooped down over the buildings. 飞机俯冲到那些建筑物上方。
  • The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it. 鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
9 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
10 frankly fsXzcf     
adv.坦白地,直率地;坦率地说
参考例句:
  • To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说,我一点也不赞成这个主意。
  • Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说,我不反对改革。
11 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
12 license B9TzU     
n.执照,许可证,特许;v.许可,特许
参考例句:
  • The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
  • The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。
13 buck ESky8     
n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃
参考例句:
  • The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
  • The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。
14 hopped 91b136feb9c3ae690a1c2672986faa1c     
跳上[下]( hop的过去式和过去分词 ); 单足蹦跳; 齐足(或双足)跳行; 摘葎草花
参考例句:
  • He hopped onto a car and wanted to drive to town. 他跳上汽车想开向市区。
  • He hopped into a car and drove to town. 他跳进汽车,向市区开去。
15 underneath VKRz2     
adj.在...下面,在...底下;adv.在下面
参考例句:
  • Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
  • She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣,里面套着一条连衣裙。
16 ethical diIz4     
adj.伦理的,道德的,合乎道德的
参考例句:
  • It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
  • It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。
17 utilize OiPwz     
vt.使用,利用
参考例句:
  • The cook will utilize the leftover ham bone to make soup.厨师要用吃剩的猪腿骨做汤。
  • You must utilize all available resources.你必须利用一切可以得到的资源。
18 hesitation tdsz5     
n.犹豫,踌躇
参考例句:
  • After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天,他终于直说了。
  • There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

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