【作者】 吕晓志；

【导师】 曾庆瑞；

【作者基本信息】 中国传媒大学 ， 广播电视艺术学， 2008， 博士

【摘要】 本文是对中美两国的情境喜剧----一种起源于美国的电视艺术样式所进行的系统的比较研究。因为比较的两极在文本数量和质量上的严重不均衡状态,使得笔者不得不选取一个既有可比性又有论述价值和理论纵深空间的角度进行阐释。本文主要从喜剧性的角度切入,对中美情境喜剧在喜剧风貌以及营造喜剧性的具体艺术手段进行比较研究。由于美国的情境喜剧发展历史之长,资料之浩瀚,收集之难度,本文选取了三个标准来确定研究对象的范围,它们是:一、在历史某一时期最受学术界和评论界青睐的情境喜剧,对其作品的选定将以美国电视艾美奖每年的获奖情境喜剧名单作为依据。二、历史上某一时期最受观众喜爱的剧作,其中对“最受观众喜爱的界定”将主要以美国尼尔森公司的收视率调查以及美国的TV Guide上的收视排名作为参考;三、笔者目前能通过各种渠道收集到的、不在上述之列的美国情境喜剧文本。而作为比较另一极的中国情境喜剧的研究对象将覆盖十几年来产生过一定影响的、进入了流通渠道和笔者阅读视野的大多数情境喜剧作品。在研究方法上,本课题以类型研究为经,以比较研究为维,并辅以阐述学、传播学、接受美学、叙事学、人类文化学等理论。论文的逻辑思路和撰写结构如下:第一章为发展过程论。这是我们进入比较后的第一站,梳理中美两国情境喜剧的发展历程是为了为我们以后的比较搭建一个良好的平台。本章的主要贡献是笔者考察了美国情境喜剧作为一种艺术样式的诞生过程以及其在美国郊区化过程中所起的重要作用,并在论述论中国情境喜剧本土化进程中有针对性地提出了中国情境喜剧“喜剧不喜”的艺术创作上的问题。使得以后的章节的研究更加有的放矢。第二、三、四、五章为本文的主体部分,分别从喜剧性构成的四个层面分析、比较了中美情境喜剧营建喜剧性上的差异。第二章是幽默语言论。同为人类的语言,中美情境喜剧在制造语言幽默上面享用着一些共同的语言、语用机制;然而,作为不同文化的载体,其差异是明显的。美国致力于追求语言幽默中的惊奇感,保证了大多数喜剧语言的高质量和幽默效果。此外,大量性笑话的使用也是其语言幽默上的一个特色。中国的情境喜剧语言在诞生之处就烙上了民族化的痕迹,比如从相声吸收营养、大量运用方言、等,但是从目前的审美效果来看,这些捷径、和技巧存在着各自的问题,已经无法满足人们追求高品质的幽默的审美需要。而因为文化、审美习惯的迥异,性笑话显然不能出现在中国的荧屏上。第三章为叙事论。本章主要探讨了中美情境喜剧在叙事内容、叙事模式、叙事策略等三方面存在的异同。在内容方面,中美情境喜剧都将镜头对准了普罗大众的日常生活,然而,又有着各自的特色。美国的叙事内容宛如“狂啸飓风的安静中心”,远离现实生活中的风云变幻,中国则是以小家折射大国。在叙事模式上,美国是多线索、小片断,中国倾向于单一的线索和完整的故事;在叙事策略上,美国以烘托亲情为主,不忘在展现幽默的同时寓教于乐,中国的作品则流于以教为主,乐在其次。分析了种种差异后,笔者进一步探讨了这些异同对作品的喜剧性营造产生的影响。第四章是对喜剧情境的探讨。在这一章里,笔者提出了喜剧情境的概念,并对其概念、对情境喜剧的美学意义、以及分类进行了阐释。以此为基础,笔者分类比较了中美情境喜剧在营造宏观喜剧情境和微观喜剧情境上的差异:就宏观情境喜剧而言,美国种类繁多、设计巧妙;中国的类型单调、大多设置千篇一律,缺少有意趣的人物和事件;就微观喜剧情境而言,美国多动,多活泼热闹的喜剧场面,中国趋静,几乎完全靠对白来支撑。而这些差异也自然导致了两国作品的不同的艺术风貌。第五章为喜剧人物论。人物作为艺术作品的中心,对一部情境喜剧作品的成败有着决定性的意义。本章从在表现对象的选择上、塑造喜剧人物的艺术策略、在演员的表演风格和特色等三个层面对中美情境喜剧喜剧人物的塑造上存在的异同作出了探讨。首先,中美情境喜剧在人物的塑造上,都选取了“可爱的、有缺点的小人物”作为描摹对象,然而,具体到表现对象的群体和范围,又很不相同:美剧中表现的是范围广阔的中产阶级众生,中国的情景喜剧刻画的是典型的小市民群像。表现对象的选择对喜剧性的营造的优劣高低产生了影响;其次,这些人物都遵循着以扁平化的艺术手法塑造的艺术准则,然而这种“小人物”的真实度与相对复杂性如何,中美作品却存在着不小的差异:美剧的喜剧人物更具有人性的深度和真实的情感,中国作品中的大多数喜剧人物则流于卡通话、符号化,缺少灌注的生气和打动人心的审美效果。最后,中美演员不同的喜剧表演风格和功力直接影响了喜剧人物的塑造。最后一章是背景论。笔者从社会文化、电视制度、生产和播出机制、受众的差异探讨了两国情境喜剧艺术作品的不同的生存环境,综合探析了中美情境喜剧喜剧性差异的深层和现实根源。喜乐文化与忧患文化的差异无疑影响了不同国家喜剧精神的昂扬和喜剧艺术的发展进程;国家电视和商业电视的区别也在一定程度上决定了中美情境喜剧的发展现状;融聚集体智慧的流水线生产机制和单打独斗的小作坊式生产、黄金时段固定时间段的播出平台和非主流的电台的边缘时间播出当然都会这一类型在不同国家的发展和繁荣早成迥然不同的影响;此外,与美国不同的观众收视群体、收视动机以及不同的审美心理也决定了中国情境喜剧的成熟还要假以时日。更多还原

【Abstract】 This dissertation aims to make a theoretical and systematic comparative study on Chinese and American situation comedies---a TV genre originated in America. Owing to the disparate distance between the sitcom works of the two countries both in terms of quantity and quality, the author has to choose a perspective which is of both comparative values and theoretical significance. In an effort to solve the problems arose from Chinese Sitcoms during the process of its localization , the research is carried out from a comedy-feature perspective , intending to compare the different comedic styles as well as the specific artistic strategies used in each side to build up comedic effects. Due to the long history of American situation comedies and the immensity of the sitcom texts ,to collect and to analyze all the data seems impossible. Thus, the author has to confine the American sitcom texts within a feasible range. Basically, three standards are applied to define the range of the research subjects: firstly, academically and critically acclaimed situation comedies---based on the list of the Emmy Awards each year; secondly, the most warmly received comedies by the audience ---based on the audience ratings revealed by Nielson Company on the American TV Guide; thirdly, whatever American situation comedy texts found by the author from every possible channel. The three may be either overlapping or complementary, but all together they will make a solid representation of the American sitcoms; as for the scope of study of Chinese situation comedies, which has a relatively short history, the research will cover all the works that are accessible and have had some influence in the development of the genre. As far as the research method is concerned , the chief methods employed in this study are genre studies and comparative studies, meanwhile other important theories , such as communication theories , narrative theories, reception theory ,ethnology study , etc, are also applied where they are necessary .The main viewpoints and the logic organization of the dissertation are as follows:The first chapter is a comparative study of the American and Chinese sitcoms from the angle of histories of development. As this is the very first step on our journey, it is necessary to examine when and how situation comedies developed respectively in China and the United States, so that a better comprehension of their artistic features could be achieved later. In this chapter the author first explores the birth of situation comedy as an artistic form in America and its significant role in the suburbanization movement in American history. Then the localization of situation comedies in China is traced too and the existing problems in Chinese situation comedies, mainly in terms of artistic quality, are pointed out and discussed. Overall, the entire first chapter serves to pave the way forward for the comparative journey followed.Chapter two to Chapter five, which consist the main body of the dissertation, analyze and compare the differences of artistic features in American and Chinese situation comedies from four levels:Chapter two explores the use of comic language in American and Chinese situation comedies. Languages used in situation comedies of both countries share certain similarities in producing humorous effects; however, as carriers of drastically different cultures, the differences are even more obvious. The American‘pursuit of surprise’in humor creating guarantees the high quality and desirable effects of the comic languages in situation comedies. Besides, the wide-use of sexual jokes is also one of its most conspicuous features. Comparatively, absorbing from Cross-talks as well as regional dialects and other resources, comic language used in Chinese situation comedies possess very distinctive Chinese features. Nonetheless, these features all have their own demerits and thus could not fulfill the aesthetic needs of creating humor in the long run. And needless to say, due to different cultural and aesthetic values, sexual joke could never appear on Chinese television screens.Chapter Three is a comparative study on the‘comic situation’in American and Chinese Sitcoms. In this chapter, the author puts forward the concept of“comic situation”in Situation Comedies and further explained its connotations , classification, as well as its aesthetic significance to situation comedies .It is Based on this theoretical framework that the author contrasted the differences between Chinese and American situation comedies on two levels : from a macroscopic perspective, the American Comic Situations are abundant in variety and carefully conceived while the Chinese situations are monotonous and similar in styles, lack interesting characters and incidents; and microscopically, the American comic scenes tend to be very lively and vivacious while their Chinese counterparts are much quieter and depend almost entirely on dialogues. These differences, in turn, result in the different artistic styles of the two countries. Chapter Four focuses on Narration. The chapter aims at discussing about the differences and similarities of situation comedies of the two countries on the content, mode and the function of story telling. The core content of situation comedies of both countries is the quotidian lives of the ordinary people. Nevertheless differences still exist: people’s lives depicted in American sitcoms are like‘the peace in the center of a hurricane’; focusing only on trivial ,laughable matters , far from the turbulent reality, while in depicting people’s daily lives, the Chinese stories always try to reflect the fleeting social changes. As for the mode of narration of the situation comedies, the American works like to arrange multiple storylines interwoven with small fragmented stories while the Chinese situation comedies prefer a single and complete story. Finally, as far as the function of the Narration is concerned , the American put more emphasis on the importance of friendship and family, making entertaining the audience the primary aim while never neglect the educational purpose of the stories; on the other hand, the Chinese always put educational function before the function of entertaining people, with each episode conceived to preach something .After exploring these various differences, the author further discussed the impact they had on the comedic effect of the situation comedies.In Chapter Five, the author moves on to the comic Characters. As the core of every piece of narrative art, characterization always plays an essential role in artistic creation .Characterization in Situation Comedies are also of crucial significance to the achievement of comedic effect. This chapter examined the issue from three aspects: representational strategies, artistic strategies and performing styles. Firstly,Situation comedies of both countries portray characters as“lovely but flawed average people”, however drastic discrepancy exists in the choice of people they represent. Secondly, though both sides depicted their comic characters as flat ones, the characters created in American and Chinese Sitcoms were quite different in effect. A more refined flat character, with relative complexity of personality and strong humane feelings appeared in American Sitcoms while the characters in Chinese texts tend to be too flat and cartoon-like , lacking the aesthetic beauty to attract the audience . And lastly, the difference of acting styles and performance competences also cast direct influence on the portraying of characters. The last chapter focuses on a comparative background study. The author probes into the different backgrounds against which situation comedies of the two countries exist from four perspectives: culturally speaking ,the“merry”culture and the“melancholic”Chinese surely exert tremendous influence on the comic spirit of both nations and the development of comedies in the two countries consequently; analyzed from the angle of television system, the difference in institutional systems, media functions, and censure systems are all conspicuous; technically speaking, the production and broadcasting system also vary greatly. Finally from the perspective of reception, the different constitution of the audience, their motives, and their aesthetic traditions inevitably lead to the different development of the genre in the two counties. After examining these deeper roots underlying the differences of the situation comedies, the author draws the conclusion that the Chinese situation comedies still have a long way to go to reach its maturity.更多还原