網頁

2017年11月17日星期五

Yes Minister

世上鮮有事物能永不過時,唯一例外大概只有 BBC 於 1980 年代製作的政治處境喜劇 Yes Minister:


Yes Minister 共有三輯,每輯 7 集 (另有一集 Christmas special)。之後 BBC 再拍了兩輯 Yes Prime Minister,由原班人馬出演,舞台由普通部長辦公室移至唐寧街 10 號。

第一輯的 Yes Minister,寫剛獲委任為Minister for Administrative Affairs 的 Jim Hacker,如何與他的 Permanent Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby (暱稱 Humpy) 在公務上角力。Humpy 的對白幽默,部長則表情和身體語言取勝,看他們在辦公室內針鋒相對,嘻哈絕倒。

Yes Minister 之所以能歷久常新,要歸功於劇本高明。雖然故事主要諷刺戴卓爾夫人年代的政府,但劇中人物並沒有牽涉到某個政黨,所以就算朝代交替也不受影響。再者,故事中的政治議題,例如元首到訪,外貿協議等,在今天依然常見。

Yes Minister 中有大量精彩的對白,以下一段自己就十分喜歡。有興趣的朋友可到參考資料第二個連結多讀幾段,當然最好是看影碟,聽演員親身演繹。

[The President of Buranda plans a speech urging the Scots and Irish to fight against "British colonialism".]

Jim Hacker: Humphrey, do you think it is a good idea to issue a statement?
Sir Humphrey: Well, Minister, in practical terms we have the usual six options. One: do nothing. Two: issue a statement deploring the speech. Three: lodge an official protest. Four: cut off aid. Five: break off diplomatic relations. And six: declare war.
Hacker: Which should be it?
Sir Humphrey: Well, if we do nothing, that means we implicitly agree with the speech. If we issue a statement, we'll just look foolish. If we lodge a protest, it'll be ignored. We can't cut off aid, because we don't give them any. If we break off diplomatic relations, then we can't negotiate the oil rig contracts. And if we declare war, it might just look as though we were over-reacting!

參考資料:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/yesminister/
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yes,_Minister

沒有留言:

發佈留言