美国国家公共电台 NPR Set 40 Years In The Past, 'Guerrilla' Speaks Strongly To Today

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

A few years ago, the American screenwriter John Ridley was working in Britain. He learned a bit of history. It was new to him. It felt familiar. It was the story of a time in the 1970s when Britain struggled with that American sounding question - who are we?

JOHN RIDLEY: There came a point where there was - issues of immigration and who was really British and who belonged in this country. All of those things that were embedded¹, things that I was completely unaware² of.

INSKEEP: John Ridley has now written and directed a Showtime series about that moment. It's the story of a time when Britain welcomed immigrants of color from former colonies to work but did not give them many opportunities. One scene shows a well-educated black man talking, we think, to a white man at an employment office about getting a teaching job.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GUERRILLA")

IDIRS ELBA: (As Kent) I'd be very interested in a placement in university education - not that I wouldn't consider something at a secondary school but I think I have more to offer...

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Do you have a license³?

ELBA: (As Kent) I have a degree in...

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Do you have a driving license? I could get you something in transport straightaway. Now, if you can't drive, there's a desperate need for porters. But you seem like one of the smart ones, and I'd like to get you something good. Can you drive then?

INSKEEP: This man and others gradually turned toward violent solutions. By the end of the first episode, they've broken a radical⁴ black leader out of prison, which is why the show is called "Guerrilla."

John Ridley is the screenwriter of "12 Years A Slave." Now he's created a series about a black man and an Indian woman, both immigrants to a white society. There's a reason that Ridley shows the teacher humiliated⁵ at that employment agency desk.

RIDLEY: One of the things that was very important to us, frankly⁶, was to not do a show about crazy people of color grabbing guns and to show people who have struggled as best they could to be part of the system, to contribute, to have value. But unfortunately, in our country - in America - and in the U.K. at that time period, there were lines that were drawn⁷. People were not interested in what you could potentially do. They were only interested in what they thought one could do.

INSKEEP: The man behind the desk - I said he's a white man. I guess we don't literally⁸ know that. We never even see him. We just hear his voice.

RIDLEY: Yeah. You know, part of, for me, the language of cinema is to take the opposition⁹ and in some ways reduce who they are. Sometimes the opposition that some of us face - all of us face in some ways, in different ways, you know, is faceless. It's systemic. And everybody faces that system in different ways based on - you know, it could be race, could be a class, could be faith; it could be orientation¹⁰. But there's moments where you're sitting somewhere trying to participate, and the person on the other end, they can't see you.

INSKEEP: So he ends up responding by going to extremes. And let's play a little bit more of this. He's talking with his partner, Jas, and they are discussing whether to begin committing violent acts. Let's listen.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "GUERRILLA")

FREIDA PINTO: (As Jas) I'm not afraid prison. Are you?

ELBA: (As Kent) You don't get to shame me into doing something mental, Jas.

PINTO: (As Jas) All the speeches, the empty rhetoric¹¹ - they do nothing. They do nothing; we need to do something.

INSKEEP: What did you do to get into the frame of mind of someone who ends up committing violence?

RIDLEY: It was difficult because for me - I very sincerely - I don't think violence is the solution. I don't think it's an answer. But I think we see time and time again that when real, positive, long-term solutions are not presented to people, there are individuals who will turn to violent acts.

What was very important and is, I think, what was represented in that scene - it wasn't a sudden jump. It wasn't as though these two individuals woke up and said, we're going to do this. And she is a nurse. You know, she's a person who wants to - her objective is to care for people. So how do you get from a space where that's your drive as a person, to care, to a space where you feel like the only thing you can do is pick up arms against the empire?

INSKEEP: In writing about immigration and race in a different place and time, did you intend to comment on the United States right now?

RIDLEY: No. This story - you know, honestly, it was something that was fascinating to me when I was a kid. It was something that I felt deserved further exploration as I got older. It was a project that I started working on in earnest almost 10 years ago. And despite the fact that the setting was more than 40 years ago, that there are elements that people can draw a direct parallel to between what happened then and what happened now, that's without any effort. And that tells me there is a problem with our current set of circumstances - when immigration, when demonization, when marginalization is still the norm.

INSKEEP: What is the problem?

RIDLEY: I - you know, listen, people who are far smarter, sharper...

INSKEEP: (Laughter).

RIDLEY: ...Shrewder than I am - very seriously. You know, look, immigration - there are true, legitimate¹² issues with how we deal with how people travel between nations and seek out an other different, better, life for themselves. That's the history of the world. But the prevailing¹³ culture often find ways of saying that's wrong, you're wrong and, as I say, demonize those individuals.

INSKEEP: You constantly dig into heavy subjects. Does it drag you down?

RIDLEY: It does. I mean, I can't lie to you. I try to make it less about me, and I try to make it more about other people and their lives and their experiences. And you end up realizing that you're carrying around a lot of things that other people have trusted you with and that you have an obligation to try to get it right.

But at the same time, I've been blessed. I've been truly blessed with having the opportunity to put stories into the culture that other people seem to either actively¹⁴ ignore or be afraid to speak to. Compared to what other people do or compared to what my parents did so that I may do this, it's pretty easy.

INSKEEP: John Ridley, it's been a pleasure talking with you again.

RIDLEY: Steve, thank you very much as always.

INSKEEP: John Ridley is the writer behind the new miniseries "Guerrilla." The first episode appears on Showtime this Sunday night.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE FUNK ARK'S "MIND MELD")

1 embedded   

a.扎牢的

参考例句：

• an operation to remove glass that was embedded in his leg 取出扎入他腿部玻璃的手术
• He has embedded his name in the minds of millions of people. 他的名字铭刻在数百万人民心中。

2 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。

3 license   

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。

4 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

5 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

6 frankly   

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。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 literally   

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。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 orientation   

n.方向，目标；熟悉，适应，情况介绍

参考例句：

• Children need some orientation when they go to school.小孩子上学时需要适应。
• The traveller found his orientation with the aid of a good map.旅行者借助一幅好地图得知自己的方向。

11 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

12 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

13 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

14 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。