House of Cards and the Liberal Imagination《纸牌屋》与美国

The agonizing death of American liberalism hasn’t been fun to live through, but it’s starting to make for good art. Take Netflix’s new series House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey as Francis Underwood, a South Carolina politician scheming his way to the heights of power. It’s not only entertaining, but informative. Not for its accuracy — the series’ vision of American politics is skewed beyond recognition — but for what it gets wrong. House of Cards is a Freudian trip into the deep recesses of the liberal imagination.
Underwood is a Democratic majority whip on the warpath against his own party after losing out on an expected Secretary of State appointment. “Never again,” he tells his chief of staff, “will we allow ourselves to be put in such a position.” Outwardly Underwood takes his snubbing in stride—but he plans a political rise, destroying anyone standing in his way.
Like Tony Soprano or Breaking Bad’s Walter White, Underwood is a high-functioning sociopath who somehow keeps viewers rooting for him. The show makes clear, however, that its star isn’t tainting an otherwise pristine political environment, but rather playing by its perverse logic. Underwood meticulously plots, extorts and manipulates without any semblance of ideological motivation or political loyalty. It’s striking that a performance this cynical resonates so well just a few years after Obama’s hopey-changey revolution.
The depiction of American politics as dominated by corporations and awash in corruption has a certain progressive appeal. It’s a healthy antidote to the West Wing, also now streaming on Netflix. That Aaron Sorkin-created series, dripping with respect for the American presidency, served as a therapeutic fantasy for liberals during the dark years of the Bush administration. Every few scenes, a double-door swings open and President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) limps in and says something idealistic. An inspired staff springs to action. Tough choices are made as to whether or not to bomb this-or-that Third World country. Compromises are happily reached on domestic issues. Liberal House members offering any sort of resistance are portrayed as charmingly na?ve. The Republicans who control Congress are thorny, but loyal, opponents. At the end of each episode the viewer is reminded that we are, indeed, all Americans after all.
After Obama’s election, liberals tried to make over Washington in The West Wing’s image — post-political, free of legislative rancor, fixed to the will of a single charismatic president. But they’ve run into a roadblock, an obstructionist Congress unbound by Sorkin-style civility.美国自由主义痛苦的死亡对于亲身经历者来说一点儿也不好玩，但是这一事件却有助于艺术创作。Netflix[1]公司新近播出电视连续剧《纸牌屋（House of Cards）》，其中由凯文·斯贝西（Kevin Spacey）饰演弗朗西斯·安德伍德，一个通过阴谋诡计攀爬权力峰巅的南卡罗来纳州的国会议员。该剧不仅好看，而且信息量大。说它信息量大，不是说它真实准确（该剧对于美国政坛的描写是面目全非的那种），而是因为该剧理解出错的地方。《纸牌屋》带领我们弗洛伊德式地进入自由主义想象力的深处。在剧中，安德伍德是众议院多数党——民主党的党鞭[2]。在失去他很想得到的国务卿之职后，他向自己的党派开战。他告诉他的幕僚长：“我们永远不要再让这种情况发生在我们身上。”表面上安德伍德从容应对被冷落的处境，背地里他策划着向上爬，且摧毁任何阻挡他去路的人。就像托尼?索普拉诺（Tony Soprano）[3]或者《绝命毒师（Breaking Bad）》[4]中的瓦特·怀特一样，安德伍德是一个很有手腕的***人格障碍患者。但是这个角色能够让观众全力支持他。不过该剧说的很明白：安德伍德并非在污染一个纯朴的政坛；他只不过是依据政坛反常的逻辑出牌罢了。他精心地谋划、敲诈和操控，不带任何虚伪的思想动机，也没有什么政治上的忠诚。惊人的是：在奥巴马充满希望的革命不过几年之后，这样一种玩世不恭的节目能够在美国观众中引起如此强烈的共鸣。《纸牌屋》把美国政坛描写成被企业操纵且充斥着腐败，从而具有了某种迎合进步人士喜好的色彩。该剧是对在Netfix网站上也可以看到的《白宫群英》（The West Wing）[5]的一剂健康的解毒剂。艾伦·索尔金搞出来的那个电视连续剧，充满对美国总统淋漓尽致的崇拜，是美国自由党人在布什执政那些最黑暗的岁月里心理治疗的奇幻剧。每隔几幕场景，一扇双开门荡开，总统约西亚?巴特勒（马丁·希恩饰）缓步进来，高谈理想主义。随后一个被鼓舞了的工作人员一跃而起开始行动。总统需要作出的艰难的抉择无非是究竟要轰炸哪一个第三世界国家那类问题。在国内问题上政客们皆大欢喜地达成妥协。那些表达反对意见的自由主义国会议员被塑造成憨态可掬的。那些控制国会的共和党人虽然棘手，但却是忠诚的政治对手。在每一集的结尾处，观众一遍又一遍被提醒：归根到底，我们大家都是地地道道的美国人。在奥巴马选举之后，自由主义者竭力要依照《白宫群英》来重新打造华盛顿的形象：争权夺利之后的华盛顿、立法院间没有积怨的华盛顿、集中突出一个富有魅力总统的个人意志的华盛顿。但他们碰到了一个路障：一个不受索尔金式的彬彬有礼束缚的、蓄意阻挠的国会。 译注
1. Netflix是一家美国公司，在美国、加拿大提供互联网随选流媒体播放，在美国还有定制DVD、蓝光光碟在线出租等业务。到2011年之前Netflix在数字业务的全部收入至少达到15亿美元。
2.党鞭（whip）是一个政党名词，是指那些在国会里代表其政党领袖督导其同党议员出席及表决的人，不一定只有一个。
3. 托尼?索普拉诺（Tony Soprano）是HBO的电视连续剧《黑道家族（The Sopranos）》中的意大利裔美国人角色，由詹姆斯·甘多费尼（James Gandolfini）饰演。
4.《绝命毒师》（Breaking Bad）是一部美国电视连续剧，由文斯·吉连根（Vince Gilligan）创作和制作。首播于2008年1月，至今已播放了四季46集。瓦特·怀特（Walter White）是该剧主角，由布莱恩·科兰斯顿（Bryan Cranston）饰演。
5.《白宫群英》（The West Wing）是一部以政治为题材的美国电视连续剧，于1999年至2006年期间分七季播放，场景设定在美国总统官邸白宫的西翼，是虚构的美国民主党总统约书亚·巴特勒的办公室所在地。