美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Game Of Thrones' Finds Fans Among Disability Rights Activists, Too

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

You don't see many people with disabilities on television unless you're watching a certain popular HBO show that starts its seventh season on Sunday.

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SHAPIRO: "Game Of Thrones" is filled with characters who have special abilities and disabilities. Here's NPR's Neda Ulaby.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE¹: One main character is paralyzed. Another is an amputee.

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PETER DINKLAGE: (As Tyrion Lannister) Your new hand is nicer than the old one.

ULABY: One for a while lost her sight.

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FAYE MARSAY: (As The Waif) Stand and fight, blind girl.

ULABY: We've met characters with skin diseases, with intellectual disabilities.

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KRISTIAN NAIRN: (As Hodor) Hodor, Hodor.

ISAAC HEMPSTEAD WRIGHT: (As Bran Stark) Hodor, calm down.

NAIRN: (As Hodor) Hodor.

ULABY: Then there's a character so important to the story, the actor who plays him comes first in the credits - Tyrion Lannister.

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DINKLAGE: (As Tyrion Lannister) I am guilty of being a dwarf².

CHARLES DANCE: (As Tywin Lannister) You are not on trial for being a dwarf.

DINKLAGE: (As Tyrion Lannister) Oh, yes I am. I've been on trial for that my entire life.

ULABY: Disability rights activist³ Rebecca Cokley is also a little person. She says "Game Of Thrones" has been a total game-changer in how non-disabled people talk to her about popular culture.

REBECCA COKLEY: Hey, hey, "Game Of Thrones". And I'm like, yeah, "Game Of Thrones" - not so great on women all the time - but yeah, little people, woo-hoo. We're not elving (ph), right on.

ULABY: "Game Of Thrones," says Cokley, has given average-sized viewers a new set of references for people who look like her. Tyrion Lannister is complicated and sexy. Cokley loved the books by George R.R. Martin, but she did worry that seeing certain scenes might be painful, like a cruel public joke played on Tyrion Lannister by an evil king.

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ULABY: He humiliates⁴ him by staging a vulgar play with an all-dwarf cast.

COKLEY: When I read that in the book, I had never seen my own experience in life reflected so accurately⁵, so vividly⁶, so viscerally.

ULABY: After that episode, Rebecca Cokley says her non-disabled friends called her to make sure she was OK.

COKLEY: They were like, wow, is that really what it's like? And I was like, yeah. There are days that that's what it's like. People see me and get down on their knees and mock how I walk.

DAVID PERRY: Every human society is of course packed with disabled people. We know this.

ULABY: David Perry is also a disability activist and "Game Of Thrones" fan with a Ph.D. in medieval history. He says it makes sense to see a lot of people with disabilities in a show set before modern medicine.

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HANNAH MURRAY: (As Gilly) What happened to your face?

KERRY INGRAM: (As Shireen Baratheon) Grayscale.

ULABY: But "Game Of Thrones" still falls into some traps, says Perry, like with a princess who has grayscale, a disease a little like leprosy. Her disability pumps up the pathos⁷.

PERRY: It isn't really about her, right? It's about aw, this poor, physically⁸ disfigured girl who was so good and pure and smart. Oh, no, she's going to be killed. Now we have to be really upset. That is the kind of writing that I kind of hate.

ULABY: And Perry takes issue with how quickly a swordsman who loses his hand learns to fight with the other one.

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ULABY: Then there's the paralyzed character whose disability gave him mystical powers. Some activists⁹ are concerned that this season he'll be magically cured.

PERRY: There's a lot of talk. Will Bran learn to fly? Will he learn to shapeshift? Is he going to be able to change his body so he's not paralyzed anymore?

ULABY: Even given that "Game Of Thrones" is a full-on fantasy, that's not your goal as a wheelchair user, says Perry.

PERRY: You don't want to learn to fly. You want a ramp¹⁰ built into your castle.

ULABY: Still, Perry admires how "Game Of Thrones" explores such a range of characters with different bodies and minds, how they get shut down, how they persevere¹¹.

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DONALD SUMPTER: (As Maester Luwin) The boy has lost the use of his legs.

DINKLAGE: (As Tyrion Lannister) What of it? With the right horse and saddle, even a cripple can ride.

WRIGHT: (As Bran Stark) I'm not a cripple.

DINKLAGE: (As Tyrion Lannister) Then I'm not a dwarf.

RICHARD MADDEN: (As Robb Stark) Why do you want to help him?

DINKLAGE: (As Tyrion Lannister) I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples, bastards¹² and broken things.

ULABY: And this is why disability activist Rebecca Cokley is a fan of "Game Of Thrones" author George R.R. Martin.

COKLEY: He obviously hangs out with a rabble-rousing group of disabled people. I know it. I sense it.

ULABY: And, Cokley says, Martin's fantasy universe is far more realistic than lots of other shows when it comes to disability on television. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

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1 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。

2 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 humiliates   

使蒙羞，羞辱，使丢脸( humiliate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His teacher continually humiliates him in maths lessons. 他的数学老师频频在课上羞辱他。
• The lowly vassals suffering all humiliates in both physical and mental aspects. 地位低下的奴仆，他们在身体上和精神上受尽屈辱。

5 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

6 vividly   

adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地

参考例句：

• The speaker pictured the suffering of the poor vividly.演讲者很生动地描述了穷人的生活。
• The characters in the book are vividly presented.这本书里的人物写得栩栩如生。

7 pathos   

n.哀婉，悲怆

参考例句：

• The pathos of the situation brought tears to our eyes.情况令人怜悯，看得我们不禁流泪。
• There is abundant pathos in her words.她的话里富有动人哀怜的力量。

8 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

9 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

11 persevere   

v.坚持，坚忍，不屈不挠

参考例句：

• They are determined to persevere in the fight.他们决心坚持战斗。
• It is strength of character enabled him to persevere.他那坚强的性格使他能够坚持不懈。

12 bastards   

私生子( bastard的名词复数 )； 坏蛋； 讨厌的事物； 麻烦事 （认为别人走运或不幸时说）家伙

参考例句：

• Those bastards don't care a damn about the welfare of the factory! 这批狗养的，不顾大局！ 来自子夜部分
• Let the first bastards to find out be the goddam Germans. 就让那些混账的德国佬去做最先发现的倒霉鬼吧。 来自演讲部分