美国国家公共电台 NPR Netflix's 'Tuca & Bertie' Puts The Lady Birds In Charge

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

An animated¹ exploration of female friendship will be available on Netflix this Friday.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TUCA & BERTIE")

ALI WONG: (As Bertie) Tuca and Bertie, and Tuca and...

TIFFANY HADDISH: (As Tuca) Bertie.

WONG: (As Bertie) Bertie and Tuca, and Tuca and Bertie. Tuca and Bertie.

CORNISH: It's called "Tuca & Bertie," and it's about a brassy toucan², played by Tiffany Haddish, and her neurotic³ best friend, a songbird voiced by Ali Wong. The strongest voice on the show is one you don't hear, but you'll see her influence everywhere. NPR's Elise Hu explains.

ELISE HU, BYLINE⁴: Tuca and Bertie are animated bird women navigating⁵ a comedic fictional⁶ world dominated by dudes. They're creations of Lisa Hanawalt, an artist and showrunner who describes herself as vacillating between confident and anxious.

LISA HANAWALT: Oh, sorry. Weird⁷ handshake. Here we go.

HU: In the runup to her show's debut⁸, we meet Hanawalt at the offices of a Hollywood animation⁹ studio, ShadowMachine. It's also home of the hit animated comedy "BoJack Horseman," which Hanawalt shaped as its creative director.

When her own show got a green light, she deliberately¹⁰ focused on a female perspective and gave both sides of her personality a character. Her brassy, bold self is woven into Tuca.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TUCA & BERTIE")

HADDISH: (As Tuca) Confident, yet relatable. Wearer of short shorts.

HU: Her more uncertain, anxious side got life as Bertie.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TUCA & BERTIE")

WONG: (As Bertie) I don't want to be boring. I want to know that everything's going to be OK so I can relax.

HU: The birds are best friends in their 30s, a theme Hanawalt felt needed more exploration.

HANAWALT: They're getting older. And, like, Bertie maybe wants to buy a house and start a family and get married, and Tuca feels a little left behind. And I wanted to explore what happens to a friendship like that, when you've been best friends for 10 years, but things are changing and you're maybe moving in different directions.

HU: That this is an animated show also allows Hanawalt and her team to embrace her unique sensibility, throw in absurdist humor and boobs - lots of boobs. On this show, boobs are on animals. They're on buildings. One boob even gets personified, popping right out of Bertie's chest in protest of a sexual advance.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TUCA & BERTIE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) I am finished. I'm finished.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Gross.

HU: This is the talking boob.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "TUCA & BERTIE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As talking boob) I am done with today. I need a drink.

HU: And this is Lisa Hanawalt.

HANAWALT: You can just slap boobs on anything. Boobs on a snake - that doesn't really make sense, but it doesn't need to. There's a surreality to the world.

HU: This surreal world starring women of color and created by a woman showrunner marks a first. The existing adult animations¹¹ out there - "Family Guy," "Archer," "The Simpsons" - are driven by men behind the scenes and male protagonists¹² on the screens.

So "Tuca & Bertie" breaks ground. This comedy is about finding your way in a male-dominated world but also proved Hanawalt has managed to find her way in a heavily male animation industry.

HANAWALT: You know, I've had it pointed¹³ out to me. When I'm the only woman in a room, some people think that that's, like, a relevant thing to just say out loud. And I'm like, really? That's a comfortable way to start a meeting. Thank you for pointing out how different I am.

There's a lot of people working in this industry who are just kind of blissfully unaware¹⁴ of certain things and how they could come across to different types of people. So yeah, I think it matters a lot who's in the room and who's, like, empowered to speak up about things.

HU: When she became the boss, she was deliberate in her hiring.

HANAWALT: If you make that a goal of yours, it is not difficult to find writers of all colors and shapes and genders¹⁵. It's really not difficult.

HU: Amy Winfrey, who directs several "Tuca" episodes, says she feels the benefits of a diverse room in how they make the show.

AMY WINFREY: We were just open to suggestions from everybody just in trying to get the best show possible.

HU: And editor Molly Yahr says it shows up in the finished product.

MOLLY YAHR: There is just a genuine importance for shows just displaying different parts of culture. And this show is a good indication of a type of female culture.

HU: For Hanawalt, showing that women are weird and gross and multifaceted, just as she is, helps normalize our weirdness¹⁶ and idiosyncrasies.

HANAWALT: I just hope that the people who watch it connect with it and that it makes them feel better about who they are so they don't have to feel, like, apologetic for being a certain way or not being the status quo or whatever.

HU: To create that connection, Hanawalt is at the center of all the decisions on this show, from the overarching vision down to the right voice takes from her stars, Haddish and Wong.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HADDISH: (As Tuca) There's a Girl Things here.

WONG: (As Bertie) Girl Things.

HANAWALT: Take five.

WONG: (As Bertie) Girl Thingz, with a Z?

HU: Girl things is a cheeky reference on "Tuca & Bertie," but it's also the show's big idea. Elise Hu, NPR News, Hollywood.

(SOUNDBITE OF NEW JACKSON SONG, "PUT THE LOVE IN IT")

1 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

2 toucan   

n.巨嘴鸟，犀鸟

参考例句：

• A toucan is a South American bird.巨嘴鸟是北美的一种鸟。
• There is a toucan in this zoo.这个动物园有一只巨嘴鸟。

3 neurotic   

adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者

参考例句：

• Nothing is more distracting than a neurotic boss. 没有什么比神经过敏的老板更恼人的了。
• There are also unpleasant brain effects such as anxiety and neurotic behaviour.也会对大脑产生不良影响，如焦虑和神经质的行为。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 navigating   

v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的现在分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃

参考例句：

• These can also be very useful when navigating time-based documents, such as video and audio. 它对于和时间有关的文档非常有用，比如视频和音频文档。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• Vehicles slowed to a crawl on city roads, navigating slushy snow. 汽车在市区路上行驶缓慢，穿越泥泞的雪地。 来自互联网

6 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

7 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

8 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

9 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

10 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

11 animations   

n.生气( animation的名词复数 )；兴奋；动画片；（指电影、录像、电脑游戏的）动画制作

参考例句：

• You'll see your team cheerleaders and mascot performing new animations as well. 你会看到啦啦队队长跟吉祥物也都会有全新的动作。 来自互联网
• Ability to create simple movie and animations using graphic & multimedia software. 能够用平面和多媒体软件制作简单的电影及动画。 来自互联网

12 protagonists   

n.（戏剧的）主角( protagonist的名词复数 )；（故事的）主人公；现实事件（尤指冲突和争端的）主要参与者；领导者

参考例句：

• Mrs Pankhurst was one of the chief protagonists of women's rights. 潘克赫斯特太太是女权的主要倡导者之一。 来自辞典例句
• This reflects that Feng Menglong heartily sympathized with these protagonists. 这反映出冯梦龙由衷地同情书中的这些主要人物。 来自互联网

13 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

14 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。

15 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网

16 weirdness   

n.古怪，离奇，不可思议

参考例句：

• The weirdness of the city by night held her attention. 夜间城市的古怪景象吸引了她的注意力。
• But that's not the end of the weirdness feasible in evolutionary systems. 然而这还不是进化系统居然可行的最怪异的地方呐。