PBS高端访谈:缅怀电视明星罗杰斯先生

JUDY WOODRUFF: Millions of children grew up with Mister Rogers and his neighborhood. So, now a new documentary explores his life and lessons. Jeffrey Brown has more.

JEFFREY BROWN: The trolley¹, the cute puppets, the cardigan sweater, millions loved Mister Rogers and his neighborhood. Others found it all a bit, well, too nice. Filmmaker Morgan Neville watched as a kid and, looking again as an adult, found something worth celebrating today.

MORGAN NEVILLE, Director, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?": When I started digging into him, I just felt like this was a voice I don't hear in our culture anymore. It's a voice that needs a place at the table. And it's a voice that speaks up for a lot of things that nobody else is speaking out for. It's a grownup voice that's empathetic and that's looking out for our own cultural long-term well-being².

JEFFREY BROWN: Neville, who won an Oscar for his documentary "20 Feet From Stardom," has now made "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" a new, fuller look at the life and work of Fred Rogers.

NARRATOR: A television program for children made its inauspicious debut³ on station WQED in Pittsburgh.

Its host, Fred Rogers.

JEFFREY BROWN: "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" had its national debut on public television in 1968. Original episodes and reruns would air until 2001. The show quickly hit a chord with children across the country.

CHILD: Mister Rogers?

FRED ROGERS, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood": Yes?

CHILD: I want to tell you something.

FRED ROGERS: What would you like to tell me?

CHILD: I like you.

FRED ROGERS: And I like you, my dear. Thank you very much for telling me that.

JEFFREY BROWN: A Presbyterian minister who studied child psychology⁴, Rogers was on a mission, says Neville, to harness the power of television to reach and teach children, but without any high-tech⁵ glitz.

FRED ROGERS: I have always felt that I didn't have to have a funny hat or jump through a hoop⁶ to have a relationship with a child.

MORGAN NEVILLE: For Fred Rogers, television was almost the necessary evil to do what he wanted to do with his mission.

FRED ROGERS: Children have very deep feelings, just the way everybody does.

MORGAN NEVILLE: He knew that from the moment he first saw television and really changed his life's course. But, at the same time, he hated television. So, in a certain way, he's the least likely TV star of all time.

FRED ROGERS: Did you ever know any grownups who got married and then later they got a divorce?

JEFFREY BROWN: The program didn't shy from addressing tough issues of the day.

FRED ROGERS: There is Officer Clemmons. Hi, Officer Clemmons. Come in.

FRANCOIS CLEMMONS, Actor: Hi, Mister Rogers. How are you?

JEFFREY BROWN: Francois Clemmons, who played a friendly policeman in the neighborhood, recalls a seemingly benign⁷ scene intended to send a bigger message.

FRANCOIS CLEMMONS: Around the country, they didn't want black people to come and swim in their swimming pools. My being on the program was a statement for Fred.

MORGAN NEVILLE: I think Fred Rogers made this decision very early in his career, that what he was going to do was to level with children, because I think the adult instinct we have and I as a parent know this, you want to tell your kids not to pay attention to bad things or don't worry about things.

FRED ROGERS: A dead fish would be one that isn't swimming or breathing or anything at all. Look down there and see.

MORGAN NEVILLE: And the fact of the matter is, children are way too smart to not worry about things. They know when bad things happen.

JEFFREY BROWN: There were spoofs⁸ and mockery, including Eddie Murphy on "Saturday Night Live."

EDDIE MURPHY, Actor: I have always wanted to live in a house like yours, my friend. Maybe, when there's nobody home, I will break in.

JEFFREY BROWN: And many wondered, is this guy for real? I think the question a lot of people always had was, is this an act? Is it a performance? Surely, there's other some dark side to Fred Rogers.

MORGAN NEVILLE: Without a doubt, the most common question I got was some version of, is this guy for real? And the conclusion I came to, after years of working on this, is, he is 100 percent for real. And, in fact, that's kind of the surprise. The reveal is that he is even more Mister Rogers-like in real life than he is on the show. So the difference between Mister Rogers and Fred Rogers is, Fred was a more dimensional, more willful, more intellectual version of Mister Rogers.

JEFFREY BROWN: More willful and tougher than those colorful cardigans might suggest, but also hints of doubt and fears that he wasn't fulfilling his mission. It is moving to watch Fred Rogers and think how television and the world were, in the end, not what he wanted them to be. How did you come to think about this?

MORGAN NEVILLE: He was somebody that believed in the potential of television and dedicated⁹ his life to it, because he believed it could be a place where we could build communities. And there are times when television has done that, but, more often than not, we live in an era where television is incentivized to do the opposite, to actually divide us. And I think Fred found that very painful. But it didn't mean that he stopped believing. And I think, if he were here, he would still be trying to figure out ways to us these messages positively¹⁰. And I think it's part of why I made the film.

JEFFREY BROWN: Fred Rogers died in 2003. The film "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" is now playing in theaters nationwide. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.

朱蒂·伍德拉夫：数以百万的孩子和罗杰斯先生以及他的邻居一起长大。那么，现在一部新纪录片揭示了他的生活和教训。杰弗里·布朗为我们带来更多内容。

杰弗里·布朗：那手推车，那可爱的木偶，和那羊毛衫——数以百万的人们都爱罗杰斯先生和他的邻居。其他人发现这一切都有点，嗯，太好了。电影制片人摩根·内维尔，曾作为一个孩子观看了这部剧集，如今成年的他发现了其中值得庆祝的东西。

摩根·内维尔，《与我为邻》导演：当我开始挖掘他时，我就觉得这是我们文化中不会再听到的声音。这个声音需要有一个位置。这是一种声音，它代表了许多其他人都不愿意说出的话。这是一个能让人产生共鸣的成熟声音，这是我们在自己文化中孜孜以求的福祉。

杰弗里·布朗：内维尔曾凭借其纪录片《离巨星二十英尺》斩获奥斯卡大奖，而今天他的作品《与我为邻》，则为我们提供了看待弗莱德·罗杰斯生活与工作的一个全新而又完整的视角。

讲述者：一个儿童电视节目在匹兹堡WQED站完成了其前景黯淡的首演。它的主办者，弗莱德·罗杰斯。

杰弗里·布朗：1968年，《罗杰斯先生和他的邻居》在公共电视台上完成了其首次亮相。其首播情节以及续播会持续到2001年。这个节目很快与全国各地的孩子们产生了共鸣。

孩子：罗杰斯先生？

弗莱德·罗杰斯，《罗杰斯先生和他的邻居》：哎？

孩子：我想告诉你一些事情。

弗莱德·罗杰斯：你想告诉我什么？

孩子：我喜欢你。

弗莱德·罗杰斯：亲爱的，我喜欢你。非常感谢你告诉我这件事。

杰弗里·布朗：内维尔说，罗杰斯作为一名研究儿童心理学的长老会牧师，他的任务是利用电视的力量去接触和教育孩子，但不含任何高科技的炫耀。

弗莱德·罗杰斯：我一直觉得我不需要戴一顶滑稽的帽子或者进行跳圈游戏，来和一个孩子建立关系。

摩根·内维尔：对于弗莱德·罗杰斯，电视几乎成了他为此目的，想做的事情的必要邪恶。

弗莱德·罗杰斯：孩子们有很深的感情，就像每个人一样。

摩根·内维尔：从他第一次看电视起，他就知道了，而那也真正改变了他的人生旅程。但与此同时，他讨厌电视。所以，从某种意义上说，他是最不可能的电视明星。

弗莱德·罗杰斯：你知道有没有结了婚的成年人，后来他们又离婚了的？

杰弗里·布朗：这个节目对于当今那些棘手的问题，并不回避。

弗莱德·罗杰斯：这是克莱蒙斯警官。你好，克莱蒙斯警官。进来。

弗朗索瓦·克雷蒙斯，演员：你好，罗杰斯先生。你好吗？

杰弗里·布朗：弗朗索瓦·克雷蒙斯在剧集中扮演一位友好的警察，回忆起一个看似善意的场景，意在传达一个更大的信息。

弗朗索瓦·克雷蒙斯：在全国各地，他们不希望黑人来到他们的游泳池游泳。我在节目中出现是为弗莱德做个声明。

摩根·内维尔：我认为弗莱德·罗杰斯在他的职业生涯中，很早就做出了这个决定，他要做的就是和孩子们保持良好的关系，因为我认为我们有成人的本能，而我作为一个家长知道这一点，你想告诉你的孩子不要去关注坏的事情，也不要担心一些事情。

弗莱德·罗杰斯：死鱼是不会游泳，不会呼吸，不会做任何事的。往下看，看看。

摩根·内维尔：事实上，孩子们太聪明了，所以才会担心一些事情。他们知道什么时候会发生坏事。

杰弗里·布朗：这里存在欺骗与嘲弄，包括艾迪·墨菲的《周六夜现场》。

艾迪·墨菲，演员：我一直想住在像你这样的房子里，我的朋友。也许，当没有人在家的时候，我会闯进来。

杰弗里·布朗：很多人想知道，这家伙说的是真的吗？我想很多人一直都在质疑，这是一种真实行为吗？是表演吗？当然，弗莱德·罗杰斯还有其他一些阴暗面。

摩根·内维尔：毫无疑问，我听到最常见的问题是，这家伙是认真的吗？经过多年的努力，我得出的结论是，他百分之百是认真的。事实上，这是一种惊喜。这表明，他在现实生活中，比在剧集中，更像罗杰斯先生。因此，罗杰斯先生和弗莱德·罗杰斯的区别在于，弗莱德比罗杰斯先生更加多维，更加任性，更加理智。

杰弗里·布朗：比那些色彩鲜艳的羊毛衫所暗示出的形象，更加任性，更加坚韧，但也暗示出，他不履行使命的疑虑和恐惧。观察弗莱德·罗杰斯其实非常感人，思考电视和世界到底是什么，而不是他想要它们成为的。你是怎么想到这个的？

摩根·内维尔：他是一个相信电视潜力并将他的生活奉献给它的人，因为他相信，在电视中，我们可以建设我们的社区。有些时候电视已经这样做了，但通常我们生活在这样一个时代，那就是电视其实做了相反的事情，实际上在分裂我们。我觉得弗莱德发现这一切时很痛苦。但这并不意味着他不再相信那些了。我认为，如果他在这里，他仍然会试图找出对我们产生积极作用的信息。我认为这是我拍这部电影的原因之一。

杰弗里·布朗：弗莱德·罗杰斯于2003年逝世。电影《与我为邻》现在正在全国影院上映。“新闻一小时”，我是杰弗里·布朗。

1 trolley   

n.手推车，台车；无轨电车；有轨电车

参考例句：

• The waiter had brought the sweet trolley.侍者已经推来了甜食推车。
• In a library,books are moved on a trolley.在图书馆，书籍是放在台车上搬动的。

2 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

3 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

4 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

5 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

6 hoop   

n.（篮球）篮圈，篮

参考例句：

• The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
• The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。

7 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

8 spoofs   

n.（进行）滑稽的模仿( spoof的名词复数 )；哄骗；戏弄；讽刺

参考例句：

• Nobody likes those clumsy spoofs of yours. 谁都不喜欢你那拙笨的玩笑。 来自辞典例句
• The show successfully spoofs the TV programs and commercials. 这场表演通过模仿成功地讽刺了那些电视节目和商业广告。 来自互联网

9 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

10 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。