《马男波杰克》是一部致郁又治愈的成人世界动画。过气的好莱坞男星，人模人样的马男波杰克颓丧消极的生活哲学，往往一针见血，一语扎心。光怪陆离的名人圈背后，是日常的琐碎，还有感情的牵绊。当你觉得生活很丧，不妨来碗波杰克的怪味鸡汤。
一边丧，一边上：必看《马男波杰克》的六大原因
作者：Louis Peitzman
译者：朱小钊
校对：王旻彦
导读&笔记：杨婧娴
策划：张鑫健
6 Reasons You Should Be Watching "BoJack Horseman"
一边丧，一边上：必看《马男波杰克》的六大原因
本文选自 Buzzfeed | 取经号原创翻译
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1. It's deeply funny.
令人捧腹
Few sitcoms are as consistently funny as BoJack Horseman, which offers that rare combination of smart character-based humor, sight gags, and hilarious one-liners. It's a testament to the writing staff — led by creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg, with production designer Lisa Hanawalt responsible for most of the background jokes — that the show provides so many laughs...and never at the cost of story. There is something especially satisfying about a show that finds the right balance between jokes and storytelling, a task sitcoms often fumble.
很少有情景喜剧像马男波杰克（注：下文统一使用Bojack）连续几季都这么有趣，也鲜有情景剧能成功地塑造一个集诙谐、滑稽动作与幽默段子手于一身的人物形象。剧中大部分比较隐晦的笑话都是出自主创拉斐尔·鲍勃·瓦克斯伯格领衔的编剧与艺术指导丽萨·哈娜沃尔特之手。这部剧虽然笑料不断，但绝不因此影响故事的叙述。最令人满意的是它在说笑话和讲故事之间取得了完美的平衡，而这也是情景喜剧最难摸索的地方。
One-liner：a very short joke or humorous remark很短的笑话；俏皮话，打趣话
In some ways, BoJack could be compared to a half-hour HBO comedy: Certainly, it has similar dramatic elements, and an open-ended approach to narrative that contrasts with the traditional sitcom desire to wrap everything up in under 30 minutes. But it's also funnier than your standard HBO comedy — it has pathos, yes, but that doesn't mean it's above an easy laugh.
在某种意义上，BoJack可以比作HBO的半小时喜剧。尽管二者相似的戏剧性元素，但不同于将所有包袱集中在短短30分钟内的传统HBO喜剧，Bojack的叙事更加开放，也更有趣——尽管还有感伤的元素，但几声轻松的大笑总会盖过这种情绪。
Pathos：the quality that a person, situation, film, or play has that makes you feel pity and sadness〔人、境况、电影、戏剧具有的〕激起怜悯[伤感]的性质，伤感力，煽情
2. It's deeply sad.
相当致郁
But BoJack Horseman is also seriously depressing. That's because it's stubbornly grounded in reality — which may sound like a weird thing to say about a series centered on an anthropomorphic horse, but here we are. When it comes to storytelling, the show does not pull any punches about the depths of has-been actor BoJack Horseman's darkness. Nor does it shy away from the equally sad lives of his agent Princess Carolyn, his ghostwriter Diane Nguyen, and his roommate Todd Chavez. Sometimes it takes a bunch of talking animals to tell the harshest truths about humanity.
但同时，BoJack 也很丧很致郁，因为它完全根植于现实。如此评价一部以拟人化的马为主人公的剧仿佛有些怪诞，但事实就是这样。故事对BoJack Horseman这位过气明星的黑暗面直言不讳，也原原本本呈现了他的经纪人卡罗琳公主、自传枪手戴安·阮和室友陶德·查韦斯同样可悲的生活。的确，我们有时需要一群会说话的动物来讲述人类最残酷的现实。
At the same time, BoJack isn't the bleakest show you can watch — it's lighter than The Leftovers, for example. But the series is never quite as cynical as its characters. While it would be silly to call it optimistic on the whole, it affords just enough character development and moments of sincerity to allow for a tempered and realistic reflection of life. Can a horse like BoJack ever really change? The show is intent upon a depressing but refreshingly honest answer: Kind of.
然而，BoJack 并不是市面上最致郁的情景剧。比如《守望尘世》（The Leftovers）就比它更加沉重。Bojack系列本身并不像剧中角色呈现得那样愤世嫉俗。虽然不能说它的整体基调是乐观向上的，但整部剧角色的塑造过程和真诚的情节以一种温和但真实的手法反映了现实生活。BoJack真的会改变吗？这部剧给出了一个令人沮丧但不得不承认的回答：也许能稍微改变一点儿吧。
3. It's serialized in a way few animated series are.
为数不多的剧情独立又连续的动画剧集
It's certainly possible to watch a random episode of BoJack Horseman and get the gist of it, but the show was meant to be watched from start to finish. (With each season under six hours, it's particularly apt for Netflix's bingeing model.) The first season focuses on BoJack joining forces with ghostwriter Diane to tell his story, and the second season picks up after the release of the book — with painful truths about BoJack's life revealed throughout — as the sitcom star navigates his return to acting. Few animated series even attempt continuity, let alone this kind of serialized storytelling.
任意观看一集Bojack，观众都能抓住它的主题，但它的本意是希望观众能从头看到尾。（毕竟每一季总时长不超过六小时，特别适合在Netflix上一口气追完全剧）第一季主要讲述了Bojack和他的枪手戴安一起写自传的故事。随着这位昔日的喜剧明星计划复出，第二季也从自传出版展开。这部自传全面揭示了Bojack生活中痛苦的真相。很少有动画的剧情是连续的，像Bojack这样的动画连续剧更是罕见。
The benefit, of course, is that the characters get to grow and develop over the course of the sitcom. This isn't just a show about terrible people having a series of misadventures. It's as much about terrible people realizing they are terrible and deciding to change course or learning to live with it. The emotional underpinnings of the story recall the best years of The Simpsons — and even The Simpsons rarely made changes that stuck from episode to episode. You watch BoJack Horseman in part because you're genuinely curious about what happens next.
但连续剧的好处在于剧中角色会随着剧情的发展而不断成长。这不仅是一部关于失败者经历了一系列不幸的剧，这部剧的主旨其实是失败者意识到自己的糟糕后，决定改变自身，并学会与自己和解。它的感情基调和《辛普森一家》大热那几年的基调类似。但即便是《辛普森一家》，也仅仅会偶尔对剧情的设定做出调整。而之所以很多人喜欢看Bojack，一部分原因在于人们真的会好奇剧情的走向。
Underpinning：If one thing underpins another, it helps the other thing to continue or succeed by supporting and strengthening it. 支撑; 加固
4. It has some of the most well-developed characters on television.
塑造了最立体的电视角色
The characters on BoJack Horseman are some of the most three-dimensional that you'll find on television. The fact that they happen to be, by and large, anthropomorphic animals just makes them that much more delightful. Who knew one of the most darkly relatable characters in 2015 would be a talking horse? BoJack is the standout — not just because he's the star, but also because his worst qualities (his relentless selfishness and limited worldview) so often reflect the traits we dread most in ourselves. He is part cautionary tale, part uncomfortable mirror.
Bojack中的人物几乎是所有电视角色中最立体的。总体来说，这些动物刚好因拟人化而变得更加讨喜。有谁会预料到2015年最丧而又最让人感同身受的角色居然是一只会说话的马？Bojack这个角色之所以那么出彩，不仅仅因为他是个明星，还因为他身上所表现的糟糕特质（从始至终的自私以及狭隘的世界观）也正是我们最讨厌自己的地方。一方面，他是个让人警醒的虚构故事人物；另一方面，他又反映出让人不安的现实。
But everyone who watches BoJack has a favorite character, and it's not always the titular horse. There's Princess Carolyn, who carefully separates her professional life from her personal life, but begins to realize how unsatisfied the latter is making her. Or Diane, who wavers between righteous indignation and disaffected pragmatism in her pursuit of the truth. Or the beloved (except by BoJack) Mr. Peanutbutter, a preposterously positive Labrador retriever whose deluded attitude irks BoJack. All of these characters are deeper than their initial appearances suggest — they are constant reminders to not judge a book by its cartoon animal cover.
每个观众都有自己的偏好，但并不是每一个看这部剧的人都最喜欢马男。比如卡罗琳公主，她小心翼翼地将工作和生活区分开，但渐渐发现她的一切不如意都是个人生活带来的。亦或是戴安，她在寻求真实的过程中在激愤的正义感与令人失望的务实思想之间徘徊。还有招人喜欢的（除Bojack之外）花生酱先生，他是一只过分乐观的拉布拉多猎犬，而Bojack则认为这只似乎永远都能保持快乐心态的狗真的很讨厌。所有的人物都比登场时的形象要更加饱满，他们的存在不断提醒着观众，剧不可貌相。
Titular：someone who is the official leader or ruler of a country but who does not have real power or authority名义元首/领导/君主等
Preposterous：completely unreasonable or silly荒唐的，荒谬绝伦的
Irk：If something irks you, it irritates or annoys you. 使···生气; 使···烦恼
5. It's a pitch-perfect parody of celebrity culture.
生动嘲讽了名人文化
While the life of a once-famous TV star is fairly niche, BoJack Horseman is able to use its main character's life to satirize celebrity culture as a whole. It's not just BoJack's life that has taken a turn for the tragic: His child co-star Sarah Lynn has grown up into a drug-addled shell of her former self. And Herb Kazzaz, creator of BoJack's sitcom Horsin' Around, was blackballed by the network after being outed as gay — a slight for which BoJack never came to his defense, even though they were best friends. Despite being presented through a comedic lens, these are very real issues in the industry. There's even a whole plotline inspired by the Bill Cosby allegations.Then there are
the cameos, which lambast everyone from Daniel Radcliffe (playing
himself) to "A Ryan Seacrest Type" (yes, that's his name). Character
actress Margo Martindale also has a recurring role as "Character Actress
Margo Martindale." While these celebrity appearances are often limited
to one-off jokes (most often an animal-related pun, as in the case of
Maggot Gyllenhaal and Quentin Tarantulino), they also offer pointed
commentary on the downside of Hollywoo. (That's Hollywood after BoJack
stole the "D" from the sign.)
以一个过气电视明星的生活为主题的剧确实少见，但Bojack一剧却有能力通过揭开主角生活的一角，从而全面讽刺名人文化。不仅Bojack的生活滑入深渊，他此前合作过的童星莎拉·琳恩最终成长为一个滥用毒品的行尸走肉，囚禁于昔日人设的躯壳里。而创作Bojack成名喜剧《胡闹的小马》的赫布·卡扎兹也因同性丑闻而被迫离开娱乐圈。虽然他和Bojack曾是最要好的朋友，但Bojack从未支持过他甚至冷落他。尽管以喜剧视角展现，但这些都是娱乐圈中真实存在的问题。甚至其中有一集的剧情是来源于对比尔·科斯比的控诉。剧中还有很多精彩片段，比如炮轰从丹尼尔·雷德克里夫（本人出演）和瑞安·西科雷斯特型人（对，这就是他的名字）。个性女演员玛格·麦汀达尔也在剧中饰演同名演员。虽然这部剧只是简单地揶揄了这些名人（最常见的是使用和动物有关的双关语，比如Maggie Gyllenhaal在剧中是Maggot （蛆）Gyllenhaal，Quentin Tarantino在剧中是Quentin Tarantulino（蜘蛛）），但却对好莱污（Hollywoo）阴暗面做出了最准确的注解（剧中Hollywood的字母D被Bojack偷走）。
Addled：If you describe someone as addled, you mean that they are confused or unable to think properly. 糊涂的
6. It rewards repeat viewing.
多看几遍才能发现彩蛋
First of all, there are the background jokes. A lot of them. You could watch BoJack Horseman pausing during each scene and still not catch them all. Or you could just accept that you're probably not going to get everything and save some fun for when you watch the series again. It's not just the funny signs in the background, either. The show is intricately plotted, with enough foreshadowing and oblique references to rival Arrested Development. This is all the more reason to watch again, with the added benefit of context.
首先，剧中出现很多比较隐晦的笑话。即使你中途暂停也不一定能全部理解它们的意思。或者你允许自己可以不用一次发现所有梗，而给下一次观看留点乐趣。这部剧的笑点不仅是背景中一些有趣的细节，它的情节是经过精巧设计的复杂，其中有大量伏笔提示并隐晦涉及了另一部热剧《发展受阻》。为了彩蛋和剧情中隐藏的玄机，我们有理由多看几遍。
The world of BoJack Horseman deepens during a rewatch: The strange laws that govern behavior among humans and human-ish animals are fascinating to uncover. It's a universe much like our own but different and weird enough to merit close attention to detail. And then, of course, there's the fact that the seasons are intentionally structured to tell a complete story: It's easy to get lost in them while you're watching, but once you take a step back and have a clearer picture of the whole, you can begin to fully appreciate the work the writers are doing. And what makes BoJack Horseman more complex than the vast majority of TV comedies.
每一次回看Bojack，都会更深入了解这部剧。比如，挖掘剧中支配人类与拟人化动物行为处事的特殊规则便十分有趣。剧中的这个世界与我们所在的真实世界非常相似，却又有所不同，那些不同寻常的细节仍然值得我们去关注。当然，Bojack系列本意是为了讲述一个完整的故事，在观看时你可能一度迷失在错综复杂的情节中，但回过头仍能对整部剧有一个清晰的整体把握，也就会开始衷心赞叹编剧的巧妙心思 。这也是让Bojack系列比绝大多数电视喜剧更有内涵的原因。
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