A longstanding practice of strict censorship that affects all Chinese media, and covers not only politics, but sexuality, violence and other subjects that form the grist of American entertainment, also drives audiences toward alternatives like downloadable television shows. And there are sharp limits on the number of American programs and Hollywood movies that can be broadcast or screened in theaters here.
影响中国所有媒体的一项长期以来形成的极为严格的审查制度,审查面不仅涉及政治,而且包括性,暴力和其他在美国娱乐节目中常见的元素,因此促使观众选择另外可行道路,比如从网络下载(美国)电视剧集.美国电视节目和好莱坞电影能在中国电视屏幕和电影院播映的数量也受到严格限制.
China imported only 16 American films last year, out of a total of 20 foreign movies. American programs are similarly scarce on Chinese television. "CCTV-8 aired 'Desperate Housewives' and we made a point of watching it," said Jin Bo, 25, an English teacher and member of the YDY translation group, a leading rival to Fengruan. "I thought, Oh my God, the dubbing, the translation, why is it all so bad? It lost what made the original show wonderful, and the ratings were extremely low."
中国去年只进口了20部外国电影,美国影片只有16部.美国电视节目在中国电视屏幕上也是寥寥无几.”CCTV-8频道播映了’Desperate Housewives'(Mavis注:绝望主妇),我们对此非常重视,”25岁的Jin Bo说,他是一名英文教师,同时也是”Fengruan”主要竞争对手”YDY”(Mavis注:伊甸园美剧小组)的翻译小组成员.”我想,偶滴神呀,那配音,那翻译,怎么会这么烂?完全湮没了原剧的光华,其水准相当之低(Mavis注:自然是指CCTV-8的配音和翻译之水平,这也是Mavis更喜欢听原声,看民间制作字幕的原因,深有同感).”
As examples of what went wrong with the CCTV-8 broadcast, Jin said: "They would start the show at 10 p.m. and run three episodes back to back. Moreover, to adapt the program to fit the so-called situation of our country, words were eliminated or had their meanings altered. For example, the scene where Andrew reveals his homosexuality was cut."
针对CCTV-8频道出错的一个例子,Jin说:”他们晚上10点开始播这套剧集,而且一播就是3集.更有甚者,改变节目内容以适应所谓的我国国情,一些台词被修改或者根据他们的意愿更改.比如,安德鲁表现他同性恋倾向的一场戏就被删剪了.”(Mavis注:美剧和国内电视剧集的拍摄手法截然不容.美剧是一周一集,边制作边播映,效率极高,并且会根据观众的收视率等反应对剧情进行机动调整,在不违背剧情前后呼应的前提下增加或削减内容,而随着收视率的起伏更换导演和编剧,也是常事,因此,大受欢迎的剧集很有可能拍上好几年甚至十来年.而拍着拍着受欢迎度降低,投资方和制作方无利可图的剧集则会迅速结尾或嘎然而止.国内的电视剧集基本上都是一气呵成,不管好坏,拍完再说,把电视剧集当作电影拍,从这点上来看,不顾及商业利益的投资将是有更高风险的.咱搞了这么长时间市场经济,竟然忽略了这么大一块领域.希望”武林外传”这样的剧集能起一个好头.遗憾的是,武林外传虽然受到欢迎,但似乎也不在黄金时间播映.回想当年,央视引进史蒂芬斯皮尔伯格和汤姆汉克斯的大制作”Band Of Brothers兄弟连”之时,曾令Mavis对央视突然大抱好感,顿觉央视花大价钱引进这部不违背主旋律之巨制实乃我民之幸.没想到一共10集,每集长度1个小时多一点的兄弟连,因为不适应央视铁打的45分钟一集长度,生生被腰斩开来.10集兄弟连的每一集互相照应,而各集具有相对的独立性和完整性.央视屠刀一落,兄弟们被肢解得七零八落,惨不忍睹.这些决策者们练就的是哪派邪门武功?)
The rival TV translation groups, by contrast, take great pride in their work, basing their translations on closed-caption transcripts in English that, along with the programs themselves, are typically captured on computers by collaborators in the United States and sent to China via the Internet.
与各字幕组之间的竞争形成对比的是,他们都为自己的作品感到骄傲.翻译需要的原始英文字幕是与节目结合在一起的,在美国的合作者们用计算机将这些字幕从节目中抠出,通过网络传到中国.
Strict hierarchies exist in each of the translation groups, with translators being promoted not simply for speed, which is vital, but judged on their faithfulness to the original material as well.
严格的等级划分存在于每个字幕组中,翻译者的提升不仅取决于起关键作用的翻译速度,而且也加入对原始材料的忠诚来作为评判指标.
Official efforts to control both the market for and content of popular culture have long had the effect of encouraging piracy here. Cheap DVD copies of newly released American movies have been sold on street corners throughout China for years. Recent attempts to crack down on these sales, at the insistence of the United States, have coincided with the boom in television and movie downloading, which could eventually make DVD piracy obsolete.
长期以来,官方对流行文化在市场和内容方面的双重控制鼓励了盗版的流传.若干年来,在中国大街小巷各处遍布着新近发行的美国电影廉价DVD拷贝.在美国的压力下,中国最近采取了打击这种贩售行为的行动,加之电影电视剧集网上下载的盛行,盗版DVD最终成为过时货.
Representatives of American television networks said they were counting on new Chinese legislation to stop the downloading and translation of their programming.
一些美国电视机构的代表说他们正敦促中国制定新的法令,以制止(非法)下载和翻译(未经)他们(许可)的节目.
"We are aware that because of their popularity several Fox programs are particular targets of theft and unauthorized broadcast in territories around the world," Teri Everett, a Fox spokeswoman, said by e-mail. "We work diligently, hand in hand with the Motion Picture Association of America to deal with these situations. It's an ongoing effort, and one that will be greatly aided in China once the Chinese Internet regulations are finalized, which will clarify a number of issues relating to the enforcement of content providers' right on the Internet."
“我们意识到了,因为他们传播的若干福克斯电视节目具有明确的偷窃性质,这些节目未被授权在这些地区播映.”福克斯发言人Teri Everett通过电子邮件说,”我们联合美国电影协会(MPAA),不懈地为处理这种境况而努力.努力正在获得成效,中国若将保护互联网上众多原创者权利的法令定案,对其解决这种情况大有好处.”
Duan Yuping, an official with the National Copyright Administration, said China was following "international efforts" in regard to BitTorrent and other downloading services.
Duan Yuping是国家版权局一名官员,他说中国正在跟随”国际上的努力”,来处理BT以及其他形式的下载服务.
They are not "yet included in the regulations," he said, "because this is an area where technologies change very fast. So far we don't have a related law, and we haven't received any complaints by American companies."
但是它们还”没有被写入法令”之中.他说:”这是一个技术革新非常快速的领域.目前我们还没有出台相关法律,而且我们没有收到任何美国公司的投诉.”
Members of the translation groups are aware that their efforts might violate copyright laws in other countries, but most view it as a mere technicality because they charge nothing for their efforts and make no profits, adhering to Chinese law.
字幕组的成员们都知道自己的这种努力在其他国家也许是违反版权法的,但大多数成员抱有此种观点:在不违背中国法律的前提下,这仅仅是一个学术问题,因为我们的成果是免费的,没有盈利性质.
"Essentially what we are doing is a violation, but since China hasn't proposed a law to regulate this yet, we're still doing it," Ding said. "Maybe in the future, the state will make such a law. If they do, our forum won't be able to survive."
“本质上来说我们所做的工作属于违法行为,但只要中国没有出台相关的法律对此进行约束,我们就继续干下去.”Ding说,”也许在将来,国家会制定这样的法律.到那一天,我们的论坛也就不会继续存在了.”
(国际先驱导报登载全文完)
Mavis看完这则报道后,除了对文中无情地讽刺中国电视节目颇有共鸣和好感外,心中却老大不是滋味.虽然据这篇文章发布已经过去若干个月,其产生的影响还未有爆炸式的显现,但我仍对此表示忧心忡忡,总觉得有一个人手持秒表,正在给伟大的字幕组和伟大的BT倒计时.
和菜头写过一篇针对纽约时报这个报道的文章,顺手转载一下.以下和菜头的文章正体现了这种版权,字幕组,商业,BT,免费等错综复杂的因素纠葛对各方利益(或无利益)者产生的影响.
保护中国字幕组?
连岳的BLOG报道了纽约时报上关于中国字幕组的文章:打破文化屏蔽的中国字幕组.包括我在内的许多网人对此表示了担忧,因为国内媒体已经表示愿意跟进报道,我希望这只是某个编辑一时头脑发热的反应,更希望这一选题能被他的高层编辑封杀.这其中的道理非常简单,中文组为盗版的英美电视剧配上字幕,很容易看成中国盗版猖獗的证据.而愚蠢的纽约时报记者又把他们冠名为"打破文化屏蔽者".这两条理由就足够把中文字幕组的哥们全吊死在电线杆子上.
公开报道他们,对中国字幕组不利.我觉得担忧是因为这威胁到了我的利益,因为如果这帮哥们出了什么问题,意味着我无法看到及时准确的美剧翻译版本,只能苦练英文,甚至无D可看,我攥起了肉手,也准备喊一嗓子:保护中国字幕组!连煽情的标题都想好了:求求你们放过中国字幕组吧!
但是我随即意识到这是不对的.长期以来,各大中国字幕组以翻译字幕为乐,享受着彼此之间竞争速度和质量的简单快乐.因此,他们类似早期的黑客一样低调,仅仅在作品的流布范围上就能取得足够的自我满足.可以说,翻译字幕是一种个人爱好和乐趣,是和字谜游戏一样挑战自己智力的活动.但是曾经如此,并不意味着一直如此.
如果我作为网人要去呼吁保护中国字幕组,那么我又应该如何解释丁承泰接受纽约时报的采访这一事实呢?别人都知道他是银行网络专家,甚至有他的访谈记录.这个沉默的网络群体现在已经因为丁的行为而落下第一块坚冰,网络上的事情往往如此,技术人员可以忍受你由于技术领先而羞辱他,但是不能容忍有人打破缄默规则,一个人独领所有技术上的荣誉.每次发生类似的事情的时候,团体就要分裂,网人就要彼此指责,焦点在于:究竟谁是最NB的?谁更应该在公众面前领受这一注目礼?
当丁接受了纽约时报的采访,多米诺骨牌就开始倒下.结果是所有中文字幕组都曝露在阳光之下,当年各大黑客组织出水就是这样的情形.
而我不能对此说什么,甚至不能谴责谁.因为我是中文字幕组的受益者,我无权要求他们永远隐名埋姓下去.如果他们有一天不希望如此了,要走到前台来,得到他们应有的荣耀,这是他们的自由.或者因此而得到美国方面的工作邀请,则更是他们的权益所在,即使因此而导致我没有翻译过的美剧看,也只能如此.我可以遗憾,我可以悲伤,但是我不能呼吁,不能要求.没有谁规定他们必须保持缄默,因此我的保护也就无从说起.
只是一想到未来可能没有BT可下,心里总觉得怅然得很.
Mavis作为一名BT用户,非法免费资源的受益者,又何尝不觉"怅然"?
(Mavis END)
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