[转载新闻] Daniel Lipman再一次与QAF说再见了

模棱两可

Daniel Lipman比较完整的一个采访，把该说的，说过的和少许可能说过但是我没有看见过的观点又排列了一遍，挺有趣的。建议大家看看，无论是依旧对他们抱有好感的人还是对他们恨之入骨的人。


Daniel Lipman says goodbye to "QAF"


原载：http://www.planetout.com/content ... ath=/entertainment/




When audiences were first introduced to "Queer as Folk" five years ago, the world seemed a more innocent and tolerant place. Y2K had been much ado about nothing. The date September 11 had no particular significance. And most people were going happily about their lives, reaping the benefits of the dot-com boom. For the gay community, the Clinton years had marked a time of unprecedented gains in tolerance and visibility.

It was in this atmosphere that executive producers Daniel Lipman and Ron Cowen launched their unflinching, unapologetic, insightful and entertaining look at gay life in America, "Queer as Folk."

Five years later, we find the "Queer as Folk" characters living in a much different world, one that Lipman and Cowen could never have imagined when they brought the groundbreaking series to the States. During these five years, the series has generated both critical acclaim and righteous indignation. Fans have lauded its realistic representation of gay life, which has so often been relegated to the status of comic relief or melodrama. Critics, straight and gay, have bemoaned the show's emphasis on sex and drugs.

The series launched its fifth and final season in the middle of a divisive, escalating cultural war in America. Rather than take the easy way out, Lipman and Cowen felt it necessary to put their characters right in the middle of the battlefield.

Lipman spoke to PlanetOut entertainment editor Jenny Stewart about the end of the hit series.



How to go out?


It sounds like a daunting task, having to decide how to end TV's first-ever dramatic series about gays. What was the process like, and can you give us some idea of how you're ending it?

If you asked me last year what the final season would be like, I would have had a very, very different view of it. Back when we filmed season 4, it seemed like the 21st century was going to be a little more civilized and more tolerant than the last century in terms of gay rights. But things really changed after the election. There are laws being passed in several states where not only can gay people not marry but they also cannot adopt, they can't be foster parents. On top of that, right now in Michigan there is a bill waiting to pass where doctors can decline to give health care to gay people. So things have really taken a step backwards, and we have to reflect this.

In terms of the characters and personal relationships, we've always said the show is about boys becoming men. People mature differently. Sometimes we have this vision that you must couple up, have children, and that's how you mature. But I don't think that's necessarily true. I think you can mature and still hold on to whatever your sexual mores or attitudes are. This has always been a big bone of contention in the gay community, so we have a situation going on like that this year, between Michael and Brian, that reflects that.

There are gay people everywhere who want to assimilate into the population. You see these neighborhoods all over the place now where gay people move in and they sort of gentrify them. And a lot of them are family-friendly because they are having children together.

Michael and Ben sort of embody that. But then you have Brian, who sort of embodies the other side of that, which is the gay culture you hold on to: "We are not heterosexuals, we do not play by those rules, we do not have to be married."



Bad timing?

The show is ending at a time that is particularly bad for gays politically. Were you tempted to do one more season just so die-hard fans would at least have something to look forward to?

Funny you should mention that. Peter Paige said to me a couple of months ago, "Considering what's going on in the world, it's a shame we couldn't go one more season." And I said "No, Peter. That's the way you leave."

To me, it's better to hear fans sigh and say, "Ugh, it's going off the [air], I'm going to miss those characters" than have those same fans sigh and say, "Ugh, the show has been on for 11 years." I suppose we could have continued without the actors, because most were on contract for five years and some would have stayed and some would have gone. But to reconceive it and bring on new characters -- I don't know, it just seemed right to end it.

We [were] always resigned the show would be five seasons, and one of the things I'm proud of is that we've kept it edgy and challenging. I don't think there would ever have been a "QAF" before, and I don't think there will ever be another "QAF." I think we had this one window of time.


插话：我想说这个故事结束的时间还算好，我还想说即使是身为同性恋演员也不是个个都认为QAF脱离现实，脱离他们试图展现的理想和世界，我最想说QAF是一个给美国人拍摄的电视剧，它的价值观、审美都是完全美国化的，它展现的是美国的现状，表达的是编剧对美国未来的思虑。


QAF唯美细腻的感情是人类的遗产，政治和思想背景绝对来自美国多年自由主义精神的渗透，QAF直至最后都与美国主流的思想保持了一定距离，比如同性恋婚姻的争议性。我从没有看到任何一部主流思想的电视剧公开支持同性恋婚姻，而对美国社会保障体系或者QAF“无用“情节关心的会员可能清楚结婚与未结婚的美国公民在贷款、纳税、保险等等与社会福利有关的问题上享受的权利是不同的，这也是Michael、Justin、Mel等人死活要争取人们反对14号法案的原因。

我不知道这么有现实意义的情节在别人的心理是什么地位，我个人觉得QAF确实在不断努力使同性恋在上帝的面前拥有与异性恋平等的权利，也许站在大街上贴海报的Justin远远没有某些“患有精神病的牧马人”具有角色挑战性，不过我看到了人们在为捍卫自由平等而努力，这比一切艺术在我的心中的地位都高。



Loving and loathing Brian

Which one character do you feel the most protective of?

I feel the most protective of Brian. I'm very protective of him and his attitude, because I really think that Brian is very much an Ayn Rand-ian character. [It's] very classic, his individualism and her philosophy of individualism, which is basically: You take care of yourself first, and that enables you to take care of other people. Because you're not resentful, you don't sacrifice for other people.

There's a scene in the new season where he announces he's going to buy Babylon, and he says, "I'm queer, and those of you who don't like it, fuck you." That kind of attitude is just astounding. He's probably one of the most original and unusual characters ever to be on television.

I remember the first season people were telling us that we needed to change Brian, that he needed to be domesticated or people would end up hating him. But we didn't. There is a moment in the final season where he is almost domesticated, but he breaks free of that, and his true colors come out. So we definitely played with him a little bit in the final season, but we knew that we wanted to show the layers of him and his humanity.

It seems like straight women, lesbians and even straight men admire Brian a lot more than gay men do. Why do so many gay male viewers hate Brian?

I think because straight women, gay women and straight men don't bring the baggage. I think the reason so many gay men hate Brian is because there's a lot of the "shame factor." A lot of gay men have had this kind of very specific sexual life in their youth, and there's a sort of shame factor that rises within them with Brian.



插话：关于Brian没有什么好说的了，这是一个角色，是个很有个性的角色，也许没有Lipman说得那么夸张，但是确实吸引人。其实1-3季里Brian是缺乏人性的，他理性的可怕，第四五季，尤其是第五季太人性化了，我反而不习惯。不过故事嘛，本来就是随着作者的喜好而变动。至少513的Brian让我满意，他依旧是我的审美偶像。


Gay/straight actors


Robert Gant said that, with all due respect to Hal Sparks, who's straight, he thought it would be great to do sex scenes with another openly gay actor, so there wouldn't be boundaries. Then it occurred to me that all of the sex scenes on the show are between one gay actor and one straight actor. Why is that?

That was just by coincidence. It just turned out that way through casting that some actors would be doing love scenes opposite openly gay or openly straight actors. It's remarkable, actually, that we've got three gay and three straight leads. I think the chemistry is so great between all of them: Bobby and Hal, Gale and Randy and Peter and Scott.

And as far as Robert goes, I have to go along with him. Because he's in the trenches doing this. It's one thing for me to conceive it and write it and have meetings about those scenes. To actually be in them is a completely different thing.





Fan reaction

Fans of the show are so nervous about the finale. Fan sites are loaded with predictions on how it will end. Do you think people will be satisfied? Anything shocking?


I think there are a lot of shocking things along the way. In fact, in the last three episodes there are some pretty shocking things. But everything is still in character, so it's ... realistically shocking. I don't think there are any situations where we like, you know, jump the shark! We've never done anything for the sake of shocking.

I think it's a very satisfying ending. It's not a situation where all ends are tied up, it's not happily ever after, necessarily, but I think it does reflect what's happening in the world regarding the gay community, and I think it is very hopeful.

Look, when you do a series finale of a hit show, you know you're never going to please everybody, so you just have to forget it and do what you [think] is right and hope that people will connect to it.



FANS门的反映确实不一致，不论别人怎么说，我都觉得身为编剧至少对自己的结局要坚持。我深信QAF的结局有着自己的意义，也许那“愚蠢”的意义对大多数人都是垃圾，但是如果编剧一开始就没有他们的坚持，那么也就没有曾经那个让大多数人满意的QAF。


我实在无法因为我个人对第五季的一些不满而抹煞掉我对这些角色的喜爱，也无法抹杀掉我对编剧的尊敬，也许C/L没有按照我的思路编排每一个情节，但是他们始终给了我一个争取自由平等的世界、给了我一个诚实理性的Brian，给了我一段非常愉快的美好时光，这些珍宝足以让我对他们保持忠诚了。

——模棱两可