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心向快乐 第一季 Feel Good Season 1(2020)

简介:

    单口喜剧演员梅·马丁不仅要应对戒毒问题,还要经营与新女友的热恋关系,而女友以前是个异性恋。

演员:



影评:

  1. Yes, I titled my review by using Jeanette Winterson’s biography for reference. It is true if you look it up in Douban, a Chinese version IMDB/Facebook, Feel Good will in the recommendation list as the searching result. In this website, people retitle this show as ‘Drunk in London’. It is accurate to use Drunk to describe the main character Mae Martin’s life predicament. She wants to get on the right path but couldn't help making a mess, she tries to be normal but cannot get rid of the psychological hint that ‘You need to accept you have a problem’, she wants to build up a stable intimate relationship but loses control due to emotional insecurity. But I still prefer the original title ‘Feel good’. It is hard to be normal in this high-demand world, feeling good is enough.

    The encounter

    After watching the series in one sitting, I can safely say Mae Martin is the second gay girl character I feel myself fall in love with after Anne Lister in Gentleman Jack. (Sorry, Suranne!) She is a special friend being with me in this strange self-isolation period. Can I call it love in the time of cholera? I couldn’t help replaying the scene Mae and George encountering and kissing in the pub. How romantic it is when you find someone in the crowd only laughing at your stuff, getting your point while you’re being ignored by others. England’s rose and the Canadian corn are like a blazing fire and dry wood. It is not all about how a tomboy chase a straight girl and how a straight girl seduce an unconfident lesbian. This is a vibrant start that I bet each girl is longing for. You might have a relatable journey that you are falling for a person who is not of the same clan but you think the fate drops from the clouds and the refreshing relationship will be working between you two. After oversharing with a stranger, you believe you have a bond and that’s hard to find in life.

    Things usually happen like that, but most beautiful encounters will not end in well. Five minutes past, Mae and George are standing inside and outside the curtain, which implies George is stepping into her life and will be a part of her story. In fact, it does. This is the most subtle camera structure in EP1. It reminds me of how I met my exes, how we consume each other and how I lost them in the end. I suddenly realise I see my own reflection in Mae’s pupils when she says ‘I am not intense’.

    Between normal and abnormal

    It is rather to say Feel Good is a dark story than rom-com. At least, let’s say it is a heart-breaking life story dress like a love story. Mae Martin's tribulations she experienced in her career, family, and relationships are the main topics of the show. Before that, I’ve had enough of messy ‘permutation and combination’ style relationships in The L Word. Hetero audience hunt for novelty in LGBT TV drama but ignore character’s daily concerns as ordinary persons. They also have issues of how to repair the parent-child relationship, how to express who they really are in front of their friend who is always in the dominant position. Feel good has a unique texture with life-like characters. Each character in this show is so real. Their witty dialogues tickle my fancy all the time.

    I can feel the director and the writer manage to keep up a high level of real emotions throughout the show and they capture characters’ dazzling personalities with a brisk pace. In this story, Mae and George are both like premature babies in the incubates, waiting for growth to be big, confident flowers. The director did not portray them as aliens but show strong empathy to care their own inner development. We witness their journeys in pain and sober.

    My inner journey of watching "Feel Good" is like a roller-coaster.

    E1: Oh!!! Mae and George are just adorable!

    E2: Well...I changed my mind. I'd better stand for Mae and Lava?

    E3: It is a bloody embodiment of "Please never date a straight girl unless you want to date for floods of tears."

    Mae is an authentic, awkward, blunt, needy, sensitive girl with forlorn hope on George’s love. In her whole life, she has felt she is not in the right place. There is ‘other place’ she supposes to be. She thinks people are just swapping one addiction for another, while George is her another addiction. My favourite scene is in the EP3. Mae feels humiliated and a bit angry when being told to enjoy the party. Her confession broke my heart for real.

    ‘You grew up rich and white and straight and hot, you won the lottery. Of course, you want to dance. You're surrounded by people that want to fuck you. Of course, I don't want to dance in front of people that would have bullied me in high school. And you are too ashamed to touch me. If you want me to feel confident then hold my hand.’

    It is not a gay thing. Any underrepresented people could relate to it. There used to be a moment you thought someone in the crowd could see you, but now you found this person knew nothing about your feelings. You notice the intangible huge gap between you. That really hurts.

    As the representative of straight girl, Binky holds the opinion that ‘birds of a feather flock together’ by bring Mae and her lesbian cousin together. It is like saying ‘Hey gay girl should stay in your small bubble. That is the norm.’ You all know the hilarious result. Two girls hi each other and ‘see you’ soon. I laughed at this stuff not because there is less possibility for two Tomboys to fall in love with each other (on the contrary, they may slag off each other), but shocked by people’ ignorance that they think a lesbian will definitely like another lesbian since your are of the same kind. Come on. We are all human beings having clear love and hate. The gentle satire to some self-righteous people is one of the highlighted moments in this show. Sorry, your norm is ridiculous.

    People distorts the definitions of ‘normal’ and fasten it to the minority. I became to realise the reason why the writer did not let Mae choose Lava, another lesbian girl who’s crush on her, even though a lot of my friends stand for them. ‘If you were my girlfriend, I’d make you come in under a minute.’ is the coolest line in this show. Lava is cold but affectionate in her own way. The writer probably wants to break the stereotype that it is easier to love your own kind. I think Mae must bottle a hidden line up: Hey, I cannot love you just because you are lesbian too.

    Reframe your self

    After watching it a second time, I changed my impression of George. I shouldn’t have been so mean to her when I watched the first time last week. This time, I see her struggling in her new identity. She hurries so much to put lesbian label on herself by saying ‘I have a girlfriend’ to the wedding photographer and ‘I belong to here. I finger my girlfriend a lot’ to the bartender, in order to cover up her inner uncertainty. ‘Your sobriety. Your gender identity. Is there anything isn’t my responsibility?’ She is facing the greatest pressure in her life. Being with Mae is like pulling up seedlings in her mind to help herself grow, in friendship, and in the workplace. But actually, the key point is not about learning how to be a lesbian. Instead, she needs to learn how to express a real herself, uncover her real feelings to the people surrounded, just like Binky says ‘If you are bothered, just tell us.’

    There is another storyline of Mae’s narcotics anonymous meeting. This kind of support group is quite common to see in British/American dramas, like Killing Eve and Flack. As a student with a coaching background, I feel negatively surprised to see team members sitting in a circle and saying ‘I am an addict’ followed by self-introduction. Is it really work to settle a matter by giving themselves psychological suggestion that they still have problems? Or they just gather to find I am not the worst one. In EP 4, Lisa Kudrow hits the nail on the head. Everyone feel better or you feel better when people address the elephant in the room? Every time when Mae suffers a setback in relationship with George, she turns to Maggie and Lava. However, the temporary sense of belonging is self-deception.

    Like her mother, Mae is a strong, impulsive, stubborn women. But she also has the vulnerable side.

    ‘But you told me you loved me first. That was the best moment of my life. I’m embarrassed. I let myself think that someone like you could be with someone like me. I’m not a boy. I’m not even a girl. I’m like a failed version of both. Why am I such a freak?’

    She has so many feelings. What she wants is being accepted as what she is, being stick with a new healthy addiction. That is George.

    In the last episode in season 1, Mae decides to return to George. The plot seems to quite rush. I wouldn’t say they are the perfect couple and I still doubt the relationship will last. But I would like to regard them as a pair of ‘learning buddy’ in this journey. George is the still and quiet habitat and Mae is the Pac-Man. Story is over. Life needs to go on. They both have too much to learn, not only for love but for lives.

    Alien they seem to be. No mortal eye could see. The intimate welding of their history. by Thomas Hardy

    Other things I want to address

    Besides main characters, each supporting role is so lovely: Phil, Binky, Mae’s father, the bartender, and the bellboy in horror hotel. I love the script! I am especially impressed by Mae’s father. He has the wisdom of affairs handling and can read people’s mind accurately.

    "You are still and strong, you wear your heart on your sleeves, you are fiercely passionate."
    ‘Your young lady must be needing you now. She’s off on her own, adrift in uncharted seas.’

    He is absolutely one of the best father roles I’ve ever seen.

    Now I can say I am ready to graduate from Feel Good after finishing this review. Thank you, Lisa, you remind me of the scotch egg I’ve had in Yorkshire. I am glad you enjoy it too. I will probably visit Blackpool to see the beautiful sunset one day. See you guys in season 2!

    by Lssiedusky

    2020.3.31

  2. Mae Martin不仅是《Feel Good》的女主,是本片编剧之一,同时自己也确实是一位知名喜剧脱口秀演员。《Feel Good》不仅沿用了Mae的名字,故事也基本上是她现实生活的翻版。


    3月19日,Netflix发行了新剧《Feel Good》,豆瓣译名《心向快乐》,但我更喜欢之前的译名《迷醉伦敦》。这是一部甜甜的同性爱情剧,讲述了毒瘾缠身的单口喜剧演员Mae Martin和“直女”女朋友的新恋情。从相识到同居,只需要一集。

    Mae Martin: 才华横溢的喜剧脱口秀演员

    许多观众都为Mae的魅力所折服,而我看完剧只有一个感觉,导演太会选演员了,要知道单口喜剧并不是那么好演的,而Mae在舞台上自然到让所有人相信她作为一个喜剧脱口秀演员的才华。后来一查资料才知道,Mae Martin不仅是《Feel Good》的女主,是本片编剧之一,同时自己也确实是一位知名喜剧脱口秀演员。《Feel Good》不仅沿用了Mae的名字,故事也基本上是她现实生活的翻版。

    和《Feel Good》中的女主角一样,Martin来自加拿大。加入《The Young and the Useless》剧团以后,Mae便开始了自己的喜剧生涯,16岁时便获得Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award(为鼓励戏剧演员新秀设立的奖项)提名,是该奖项有史以来最年轻的提名人。

    在脱口秀演出之余,Martin还是加拿大CBC电视台电视喜剧小品系列《Baroness von Sketch Show》的编剧,并凭借出色的剧本撰写才华获得过2次加拿大银幕奖最佳编剧奖。2011年,Martin移居英国,开始在英国参与一些电视和广播节目。2018年,Martin首次出现在Netflix《全球喜剧人》系列中。

    Martin的关键词:性别流动

    Martin虽然的确与男性和女性都交往过,但她拒绝被贴上“同性恋”或者“双性恋”的标签,她一直谈论的便是,性别是流动的,性倾向也一样。如果你翻看Mae以往的脱口秀节目,你会发现她和剧中一样,在各种各样的舞台上调侃自己的“年少无知”,自己沉迷毒品的黑暗经历,自己的爱情故事。

    在BBC第4频道,Martin有一档专题栏目《Mae Martin's Guide to 21st Century Sexuality》(Mae Martin的21世纪性别指南),专门讨论社会与性别问题。在另一些舞台上,Martin也谈论过“为什么你是同性恋”、“与异性交往”、“生来如此”、“天性还是规训”,这些节目的碎片拼凑起来,便成了我们看到的《Feel Good》。

    《迷醉伦敦》为什么这么戳心?

    喜剧的内核,是悲剧,《Feel Good》也一样。剧中George在遇到Mae以前都是异性恋,因而难以跟父母和身边的朋友启齿自己有了女朋友的事,而这也成为了两人矛盾的触发点。Mae在自己的节目中吐露心声,说自己不再穿颜色鲜艳的衣服,但更怕George将自己视为男性。

    我们都知道,即使是在性少数群体中,也是存在“鄙视链”的,“双性恋”在同性恋群体中其实是非常不受待见的。《Feel Good》所反映的核心在于同性恋的性别认同,可能与大多数人的认知不同,许多同性恋并不认为自己的社会性别与生理性别相反。

    尽管取材于Martin的真实人生,George这个角色其实是许多人的集合体。

    “搬来英国之后,我和一些女孩约会过,她们中的确有一些从来没有和女生在一起过,我会和她们共同经历这个过程。实际上,这个过程是既辛苦又有趣的,同时很多事情也会给我们带来很多压力。我觉得我能够理解这种动态的变化,我们只想要展示性别流动的事实。她从来没有想过自己会变成这样,但她突然爱上了一个女孩,然后立马感受到了要重新建立自己的身份与认同的压力。其实她并不是必须要去面临这些压力,她只是爱上了一个人而已。她必须要重新去建构自己的性别认同,甚至是自己的世界观。我们真的很希望观众能够感受到剧集中体现的对George的同理心。”

    还有第二季吗?

    “我是个彻头彻尾的浪漫主义者,我整个20岁的人生似乎都是围绕爱情展开的,所以我想写一个爱情故事。我们想写一个充满难堪但同时也很诚实的现代爱情故事,我希望人们重视感情。关于这些角色,我们想讲的还有很多,我们很乐意拍第二季。”

    采访部分文字译自Thrillist对Mae Martin的采访:How Mae Martin Mined Her Life Story for Her Bingeworthy Netflix Comedy。

  3. 标题来自于Mae在她现实中的stand up comedy opening中最喜欢说的一句话,很可爱也很讽刺。

    剧情本身就是女同爱上直女之后的爱恨纠缠,剧情以外有趣的东西可就太多了。

    Childhood matters (Google Scholar)

    Mae在表演中“吐槽”过很多次她的家庭,让我印象比较深的一个是她模仿她妈妈(为什么不能添加视频烦)

    她和她妈妈聊天说觉得自己成年人生活“flat”,妈妈:“大概因为你很久没吸毒也没对任何人上瘾了。”然后她开始模仿父母一边开第五瓶酒一边谈论着自己的孩子说不知道孩子怎么长成这样是遗传了谁。(来源:Netflix Mae Martin专辑)我不知道Mae对自己的童年定义到底是快乐还是不快乐,但我觉得她既然选择用这句话做开场,一定是有所思考的。

    We all need a little addiction to get through this fucking miserable life. Her addiction is love relationships and straight women.

    她本人也是性取向流动性的行走代言人。油管有很多采访,当然还有她自己的演出里都有提到,她觉得自己不符合LGBT任何一个角色,并且认为这样的标签很无趣。20岁之前的她,有过小男友,20-30是和女孩子们度过的美好时光,现在30出头又重新开始与男性约会, she really is something else!

    (我很喜欢的一本相关话题的书: )

    能够把自己的生活搬上银幕,让无数观众产生共鸣,不是才华是什么?


    Lisa Kudrow

    看过《老友记》的人都不会对Phoebe这个角色无印象。剧中大部分时间Lisa都是在电话视频里出现,就零星几句台词,我仿佛看到了我爱的那个神经质却有原则的Phoebe,也是六个人里我最爱的角色。

    In case you never watched Friends, let me tell you what I love about Phoebe Buffay. She had two moms and a dad. One mom killed herself when she was 13, another showed up in her life until she was 26 and dad went to prison. Yet she turned out fine. The society failed her, but she chose not to revenge. She had seen the worst in humanity but still loves the world as it is. This is the true heroism.


    George.

    16岁对同性一无所知的我真的就是用互联网自学成才。12岁可以用网络来自学英文,对于爱情又何尝不可?22岁的我在感情中遇到问题时,仍然会向Google求助。

    在她身上我看到了我第一任女友&初恋的影子,在所有人面前我永远都是她的“朋友”。


    用我最喜欢的两句台词结尾

    Love really does make people Feel Good.

    Now, What's your addiction?

  4. 看完了。我觉得很好看。囊括了我们女同性恋群体会遇到的许许多多的问题,当然我觉得同样,这其中的一些感情问题是谈了恋爱的人都会遇到的。唉,觉得篇幅还不够长,但是其中真的蕴含了太多。

    想到什么就写什么吧。

    乔治父亲的离开和她后来和梅的父亲坐那个小车车的样子——她真的很怀念父爱吧。虽然她和梅的父母见面的时间很短暂,但是我觉得能看出她对那种久违了的父爱的憧憬。

    然后就是当你陷入了这个群体之后,你才意识到之前认为只是寻常的事其实是多么的充满偏见。乔治所教的课程和班级上发生的事情,在她和梅交往之前肯定是存在的,但那时候,大概就像现在很多人的“事不关己高高挂起”一样吧,她不觉得是什么大不了的事——毕竟不发生在自己身上。而当她自己差不多也算成为其中一份子的时候,她才能被这些伤害到或者意识到有些曾经自以为正常是多么伤人。

    哈哈哈哈哈直女被掰弯后的心路历程

    梅的困惑,我觉得以前也曾是我的困惑,对方到底想让我成为什么样子?什么样子是我真正想成为的我自己?一开始看预告的时候,是的梅的外形就非常T呗,也有那么一丝丝忧虑是不是会包含着刻板印象。我觉得本剧某方面比较神就是它虽然篇幅不长,但是仅仅通过几个画面就让我感受到了想传达的东西——比如梅会想尝试穿一件小吊带裙,但是同时又羞于让乔治知道这件事。在她心里还是害怕乔治只是把她当男性伴侣来看待——这在女同性恋+直女的组合中很常见,其实就算是两个拉拉在一起我觉得也会有……

    看到这句的我:呵,直女

    这算是刻板印象的余孽吗?当然也有人喜欢这种相处模式,这也是我最近很纠结的一点,好像这种模式你无法确切地评价好与坏,但是希望大家在谈恋爱的时候都能找到和自己模式相同的人。

    不过乔治最后在思考了,在了解了,在改变自己了,我觉得就很厉害。她明白了谁才是自己真正的朋友,也知道自己究竟想要什么,以及去尝试接纳新的自己。(这可能是大家追直女过程中的理想画面了吧XD)

    家庭问题我觉得也算本剧表达的一个副中心?无论是梅那强势的母亲还是乔治选择离开的父亲以及对爱情失望的母亲(但我们也可以看出,你越表现出嫌弃反而越证明你在乎)。家庭问题有时候反而是一个很容易被忽视的问题,家长们有时候会说“每个家庭都这样!”来逃避应该承担改变的责任。都这样的家庭就正常吗?

    看到此处有笑到

    不知道会不会有第二季,因为觉得还是有些地方没有说清楚,也有些地方表达得蜻蜓点水一般。但此时打下这些文字的我又觉得,不用说清楚我们也可以顺着畅想下去。

    乔治正视了自己的内心,她选择了更值得当朋友的人,她也会对梅给予支持;

    梅虽然复吸了orz(而且那个Day1的小牌牌还是掖着藏着),但是剧的最末尾,我觉得她下一句就要向乔治坦诚自己复吸了,这是一个好的开始,我想也是她收获安全感的开始。

    最后想到的是那个(完了我忘了名字了就是互助会最后和梅一起吸Du的那位)。

    他竟然是打电话叫来了自己的保证人,我还挺震惊的,因为他俩一起吸的时候我内心真的“oh fuck”。保证人那番话真的蛮感人的……是一个,特别合格,值得当做依靠的保证人了。

    哎,仍在回味中。

    附上梅对成瘾的一个新的解读,我觉得,哇,内心的有些问题豁然开朗。

    我们都在对什么东西成瘾呢?