美国国家公共电台 NPR MTV Looks To Capitalize On Nostalgia With New 'Classic' Channel

MTV Looks To Capitalize On Nostalgia¹ With New 'Classic' Channel

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

This is now considered classic.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BEAVIS AND BUTT²-HEAD")

MIKE JUDGE: (As Beavis) Did you know when you eat rump roast, you're eating a cow's butt?

CORNISH: I'm not joking.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD")

JUDGE: (As Beavis) That's cool.

CORNISH: The TV show "Beavis And Butt-Head" - "Daria" and "The Real World," too.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "THE REAL WORLD")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) This is the true story.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) True story.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: (As character) Of seven strangers.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DARIA")

TRACY GRANDSTAFF: (As Daria Morgendorffer) I don't like to smile unless I have a reason.

WENDY HOOPES: (As Helen Morgendorffer) Daria.

CORNISH: MTV is 35 today, and on its birthday has launched a new channel, MTV Classic. And it's all MTV programming from the '90s and 2000s. Stephen Thompson - is this happening, the '90s and 2000s?

STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE³: This is really happening. As you and I careen toward the grave...

(LAUGHTER)

THOMPSON: ...The things that we enjoyed as children or teenagers or college students is now considered nostalgia.

CORNISH: NPR Music's Stephen Thompson is not only one of our pop culture experts. He actually made an MTV appearance from his college radio station, the University of Wisconsin, back in 1993. Stephen Thompson, you're a classic, I guess.

THOMPSON: Yeah. If you saw the footage - and I'm glad you haven't...

(LAUGHTER)

THOMPSON: ...You would not say that I'm a classic. I actually got to co-host an entire episode of "Alternative Nation" with Kennedy from this basement radio studio. And it is horrifying⁴ to watch.

CORNISH: All the marquee names, though. You're dropping names left and right...

THOMPSON: Dropping names.

CORNISH: ...Showing off. I get it. And you actually share a birthday with MTV, so happy birthday.

THOMPSON: Thank you very much.

CORNISH: All right, so I've got to ask - for the longest time, people always complained that MTV didn't play music videos. Like, that was the grumpy complaint from a certain generation. What are people thinking now that this classic station is going to be doing basically TV shows?

THOMPSON: Right. I mean, that's part of what's fascinating. And I've been thinking a lot about this. And part of what makes me feel especially old about this announcement is that what MTV considers classic and what is viewed as nostalgia is actually nostalgia for the stuff that replaced the stuff that I was nostalgic for. Nostalgia has this incredible way of not only resuscitating⁵ your past, but flushing it away because the new nostalgia cycle is replacing a nostalgia cycle that maybe I feel.

CORNISH: And in the meantime, there has been this widespread interest in looking back to the '90s.

THOMPSON: Sure.

CORNISH: Not just in music. We've seen this in politics and things like the O.J. Simpson trial, kind of revived interest in that. Is this just - like you said, time marches on.

THOMPSON: Yeah. And, I mean, it's interesting. I wrote an essay for NPR, like, 10 years ago on the occasion of MTV's 25th birthday and was talking about wow, are people going to be nostalgic for this stuff that they've got on now? And the answer even then was like, well, yeah, absolutely because what you're nostalgic for is not necessarily the culture itself. You're nostalgic for the age you were at a certain time. You're nostalgic for being 11 years old. You're nostalgic for being 21 years old.

And so MTV, in launching MTV Classic, is certainly trying to recreate that feeling as much as it's trying to reuse its old programming. Now, the question, of course, is what is MTV ushering⁶ in now? Other than the - like, the Video Music Awards, which are very culturally relevant when they happen, I'm not sure what in MTV programming is really clicking with people the way this older programming was.

CORNISH: NPR Music's Stephen Thompson, thanks for coming in.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

1 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

2 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 horrifying   

a.令人震惊的，使人毛骨悚然的

参考例句：

• He went to great pains to show how horrifying the war was. 他极力指出战争是多么的恐怖。
• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate. 战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。

5 resuscitating   

v.使（某人或某物）恢复知觉，苏醒( resuscitate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Purpose To observe the curative effect of resuscitating and scalp acupunctures on apoplectic hemiplegia. 目的观察醒脑开窍法与头针治疗中风偏瘫的疗效。 来自互联网

6 ushering   

v.引，领，陪同( usher的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• They were right where the coach-caller was swinging open a coach-door and ushering in two ladies. "他们走到外面时，叫马车的服务员正打开车门，请两位小姐上车。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Immediately the two of them approached others, thanking them, ushering them out one by one. 他们俩马上走到其他人面前，向他们道谢，一个个送走了他们。 来自辞典例句