Self-possession is a very intoxicating trait”
坚持自我是一种令人沉迷的特质
Four hundred giddy gay women gather one chilly London evening for a screening of The L Word: Generation Q. Viewing parties for the original show were legendary, often descending into rowdy debauchery. As someone who devoured all six seasons covertly under the quilt in my teenage bedroom, this is the first time I’ve ever attended one. The crowd around me bubbles with anticipation. We’ve been waiting a decade for this. For the return of that most fabled of sapphically inclined shows. And then, 10 minutes into the first episode, the most celebrated lesbian TV character of all time appears onscreen. She has artfully tousled hair, a nonchalant swagger and the chiselled jawline of someone destined to be a dreamboat. Onlookers whoop and holler in appreciation. The familiar figure disembarks a private jet and casually makes sex-eyes at a coquettish flight attendant, who she proceeds to bang on a kitchen counter within a matter of seconds. It’s at that precise moment, mid-worktop-smash, that the audience collectively dissolves into one girly, swirly, swooning mess. We have just been Shaned.
一个寒冷的伦敦之夜，400名令人目眩的女同性恋者聚集在一起共同观看The L word：Q时代。十几岁时躲在被子底下偷偷看完了整六部原始剧集的我未能感受到当初那种令人放纵堕落的传奇色彩。对我而言，我还是第一次参加这种观看派对，而我周围的人早就充满了期待。为了这最具色彩的“蓝宝石监狱”的回归，我们已经等了十年。然后，在第一集播放到十分钟的时候，那个有史以来最著名的女同性恋电视角色出现在屏幕上。她有着巧妙凌乱的头发，漫不经心的招摇，以及注定是梦中人才有的轮廓分明的下巴。看到这位熟悉的人物走下私人飞机，漫不经心地递出带有性暗示的眼神来撩拨一个风骚空姐，然后与她在厨房柜台做爱时，所有观众都欢呼起来。就在这个时刻，在厨房柜台中央，所有女观众都陷入让人痴迷的混乱中。我们都被Shane迷住了。
Before there was Stella in Orange Is The New Black, Dallas in Below Her Mouth or Frankie in Lip Service, there was Shane – a character so universally irresistible that every woman she met seemed to spontaneously drop her knickers in a nanosecond. As viewers, we weren’t always sure whether we wanted to be her or be with her, or perhaps it was a mindboggling amalgamation of the two. She inspired a generation of fuck boi Shane-anigans and questionable fashion trends, including skinny ties, smudgy soft-butch eyeliner and leather lace-up waistcoats worn with matching drawstring trousers. But her impact went far beyond eye candy and style inspo. Shane has become shorthand in our community. Even women who have never seen the series know who Shane is, what “Shane” means. To many, Shane didn’t just shape lesbian culture; Shane is lesbian culture. She is iconic, and not iconic in the flippant way the term is tossed about on social media nowadays. She’s not #iconic like the stack of pancakes you had for breakfast this morning. She is a legitimate, bonafide lesbian icon in a very real, very rare way. It is no exaggeration to say that Shane is one of the most influential, potent, powerful depictions of queer female sexuality there has ever been on TV. As I watch the audience melt a little more every moment she’s onscreen, I wonder, what exactly is it about Shane that makes her such a phenomenon?
在Stella出现在《女子监狱》，Dallas出现在《她唇之下》以及Frankie出现在《唇唇欲动》之前，Shane——这个能让每个遇到她的女人都自动脱下内裤的不可抗拒的角色——就已经出现在了屏幕之上。作为观众，我们不确定自己是想成为她，还是想成为与她交往的女人，又或者更贪心一些，成为两者的混合体。凭借瘦长的身体、柔软模糊的眼线、满是蕾丝的穿着，Shane引领了一种独属于她的时尚。但她也远不只是让人大饱眼福或者引领中性时尚，而是已经成为了女同社区对外的沟通方式。即便从未看过TLW的女人也知道Shane是谁。对于很多人来说，Shane不是女同文化的塑造者，而是她本身就是女同文化的一种。她是真正的标志性人物而不是现代媒体苦心打造的伪标志性人物。她不是你早餐煎饼那样的文化标志，而是一个真实的、合情合理的但又非常少见的女同性恋标志。毫不夸张地说，Shane是电视史上最具有支配力、影响力和充满力量的女同性恋角色。当我发现她的每一场戏都让观众们双膝发软时，我不由得思考，究竟是什么让Shane如此杰出？
A few weeks later I get my answer, from none other than the woman who plays her, Kate pinch me-is-that-really-you-I’m-talking-to Moennig. “She’s very specific, and specificity is so important,” Kate smoulders from across the Atlantic. Even down the phone line, she exudes innate rock star charisma. It may be 8am in her LA home, but I suspect she has that just-woke-up gravel in her voice whatever time of day it is. “Self possession is a very intoxicating trait. Shane has that and it’s authentic. To have a character so unapologetic of who she is, it’s refreshing to see.”
当几周后，我与扮演Shane的Kate Moennig通了电话，，我便知道了答案。“她很特别，而且这特别是最为重要的”Kate沉郁的声音从大西洋彼岸传来时说。即便只是通电话，她天生的摇滚明星魅力也一览无遗。当时似乎是洛杉矶的早晨8点，而她正在自己家中。但我怀疑无论何时她声音都具有那种刚刚醒来的沉郁感。“无论何时都坚持自我是一种令人沉迷的特质。而Shane恰好拥有它。她永远不会因为自己的行为而自责，这让人耳目一新。”
Through her singular performance as the unofficial lord of the lesbians, Kate showed us a different way we could exist in the world. As she points out, Shane is enviably at ease with herself. She’s known she was gay since her first crush in primary school. We learn in season one that her name was Tiffany Gardner: “She’s just sitting there in the sand playing hard to get… That girl took my sunshine meal toy, then she took my heart.” The only non-femme in a glossy ensemble of ultra-preened lipstick lezzies, Shane embodied the beauty of androgyny and made being visibly queer suddenly seem really quite cool after all.
作为一个非典型的女同性恋，Kate用独特的表演方式展示出了一种与众不同的生存方式。正如她所说的那样，Shane是个易于接受自我的人。她小学时就知道自己是个同性恋，TLW第一季就告诉观众她的初恋对象是Tiffany Gardner——一个只是玩沙就俘虏了Shane的心和阳光午餐玩具的女孩。作为唯一一个非纯女性化的角色，Shane只需要精致的口红与紧身裤就能体现雌雄同体的中性美。她看上去非常酷儿也非常酷。
But let’s find out a little more about the woman behind the legend. Born in Philadelphia, Kate was the only daughter of a Broadway showgirl and a violin-maker. “A tough little kid, a tomboy, I was pretty fearless. I certainly took more risks then than I do now.” Coming from a family of showbiz veterans, including her Emmy-winning aunt Blythe Danner and A-list cousin Gwyneth Paltrow, it’s no surprise that Kate decided to pursue acting at an early age. “It made the most sense to me. I figured I’d go for it and see what kind of ride I’d get, and if it didn’t work out, I’d figure out something else. But I’ve been pretty fortunate so far.” After graduating from New York’s prestigious American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, her breakthrough role was on Dawson’s Creek spin-off Young Americans. Then, at the tender age of 24, she was cast as Shane, a part that would change not only her life, but the lives of queer women around the world.
让我们深入了解下这传奇背后的女人吧。Kate出生于费城，是一位百老汇表演女郎和一位小提琴制造者的独生女。“在一个孩子的时候我就非常无畏，看上去就像一个假小子一样。那时的我比现在更具有冒险精神。” Kate出身于演艺界，有一个获得过艾美奖的阿姨Blythe Danner以及一线女明星表姐Gwyneth Paltrow，所以她从小就决定投身演艺界实在不让人意外。“这对我来说很有意义。我一直想知道我会经历什么样的旅程。如果不成功，我也会想别的办法。不过到目前为止，我还是挺幸运的。” 从纽约著名的美国戏剧艺术学院毕业后，她在《恋爱时代》的衍生剧《暑期班的夏天》里出演了一个突破性角色。然后，她24岁的时候，她出演了Shane。这个角色不仅改变了她的生活，也改变了全世界女同性恋的生活。
八卦：Kate和暑期班夏天的男主演谈过恋爱。
Kate knew from the beginning that she was working with an extraordinary group of people. She describes the cast’s immediate synergy as “lightning in a bottle”. TV had never seen a series like The L Word and it had certainly never seen a character like Shane. The lesbian James Dean, she was a female incarnation of the perennially male, emotionally withholding heartthrob. “I always had a soft spot for Shane, because she’s a bit misunderstood. Her quest was always to find someone that accepted her for who she was. She’s a bit lonely, but her friends are her family, and I think a lot of people can relate to that.” The key to capturing her unique essence is working out what makes her tick and, after playing her for so many years, Kate knows the very bones of Shane. “She’s comfortable in her own skin. She is who she is and she’s not apologetic about it. Nor is she flaunting it in everyone’s face, because when people have that inherent confidence they don’t need to. That’s what made sense to me when I was investigating who she was. It was always going back to this quiet confidence.”
Kate一开始就知道她将和一群出色的人一起工作，而对于演员之间的反映她也使用了“瓶中闪电”①来作为形容。电视史上从没出现过像TLW那样的电视剧，当然也就从没出现过像Shane这样的角色。女同性恋的James Dean②尽管在情感演绎上动人心弦，但却是男性扮演的女性形象。“Shane经常被人误解，这让我对她总是心软。她有些孤独，也一直都在找一个能接受自己的人。不过对她来说，她的朋友就是她的家人，我想大家也都知道这点。”在扮演Shane这么多年后，Kate知道Shane骨子里是什么，她抓住了Shane骨子里那股特质并让她变得真实起来。“她是一个很自在的人，她知道自己在做什么，对此她无需道歉。她无需炫耀，因为每一个自信的人都不需要炫耀。了解她，对我本人来说非常有意义，因为她总能带我回到这种平静的自信之中。”
- Laurel Holloman在接受采访时形容自己和Jennifer Beals再度合作出演Q时代用的是相同的形容词。
- James Dean（1931-1955），以颓废动人的形象著称。我怀疑此处是用来形容Shane的形象。
She tells me the greatest challenge of playing Shane is “trying to understand why she does the things she does”. “Why would she end this relationship? Why would she sabotage that? It comes down to the fact that I don’t think she believes, deep down, that she deserves these things. She has the Midas Touch and she’s able to get pretty much whatever she wants, but when she has it she thinks to herself either, ‘I don’t deserve this’ or ‘I don’t want this’.”
她告诉我说扮演Shane最大的挑战就是“要理解她为什么做这件事”。“她为什么总是终结某段情感？她为什么要破坏它？说到底，我认为她内心深处还是缺乏自信。她具有可以得到一切的能力，可每次得到后，她就会觉得自己不配拥有它，或者说，不想拥有它。”
When The L Word ended in 2009, Kate’s career continued to flourish. Her first big post-Shane gig was on crime drama Ray Donovan, playing Lena – described by Showtime as “a no-nonsense lesbian who is both sexy and tough”. “That show was a very dark film noir, male-dominated world. It was such a culture shock, because of the different energy. A complete 180 from The L Word.” After seven seasons on Ray Donovan, last year she did a stint on acclaimed comedy, Grown-ish, as gay gender studies professor Paige. “You know, Grown-ish actually felt the closest to The L Word in terms of camaraderie. That show was very reminiscent.” But while Kate has played many brilliant, often queer, characters, there’s no role quite like Shane and no show quite like The L Word.
2009年，TLW结束后，Kate得到了另一个角色，那就是在《清道夫》中扮演Lena——一个被Showtime电视台称为“性感又坚强，同时也不折不扣是个同性恋”的角色。那是一部由男性主导的黑色罪案剧，对Kate来说经历过TLW后，这种180度的大转变更像是一种文化冲击。演完7季《清道夫》后，她在《成长不容易》中扮演同性性别研究教授Paige。“《成长不容易》所展现的友情像极了The L Word，这让我想起过去。”不过，尽管Kate扮演了许多不同的出色的女同性恋角色，但依旧没哪个角色像Shane那样，也没哪部剧像TLW那样。
Since as early as 2012, Kate was discussing a potential comeback with costars Jennifer Beals (Bette) and Leisha Hailey (Alice), and The L Word’s creator Ilene Chaiken. “I really missed working with the girls. We always felt like the original show ended prematurely. We did have a lot more story to share, but since we only had six seasons, it got truncated.” It was initially unclear what form a new iteration might take, but the success of reboots like Will & Grace presented a possible framework. A political climate that was growing increasingly hostile towards marginalised people, and Trump’s devastating election victory in 2016, made the return of The L Word seem all the more urgent. As Jennifer writes so eloquently in an op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter, “We knew we had to do something… We were storytellers after all… Let the stories provide visibility and agency.”
早在2012年，Kate、Jennifer与Leisha就与TLW的创造者Ilene Chaiken商讨过重启事宜。“我真的很想念和大家一起工作的日子，我们也一直觉得TLW结束地太早了。我们还有很多东西想和大家分享，但我们只有6季时间可以阐述，所以很多东西都被删节了。”最开始大家还不知道用什么方式延续比较好，直到《威尔和格蕾丝》给予了大家灵感。越来越敌视边缘人群的政治气氛，以及2016年Trump毁灭性地当选总统，都让TLW的回归变得更加紧迫。正如Jennifer接受THR采访时所说的那样：“我们必须做些什么……我们都是故事的讲述着……让我们用故事来代替我们述说吧。”③
- “Jennifer Beals Explains Why the World Needs ‘The L Word’ Again”（我记得应该有译文但是找不到了。全文大意就是JB发现时至今日世界各地还在网络上讨论TLW让她们认为有重启的必要，另外就是想大家再次合作，认为Trump当选总统是对LGBTQ群体的毁灭。同时新的时代有新的故事需要表述。）
原网址：https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/jennifer-beals-explains-why-world-needs-l-word-again-guest-column-1259388
Kate shared that piece on social media with the caption: “Jennifer Beals never fails to amaze me. This is beautiful”. Her love for her costars is effusive. “The sisterhood and the bond runs so deep,” she says emphatically. “Jennifer is one in a million and I adore her so much.” Kate and Leisha speak on the phone before 9am most mornings and hang out constantly. Back on set in the noughties, Mia Kirshner nicknamed them “pants”, because you’d never see one half of the pair without the other. In The L Word’s sequel, Shane and Alice’s lived-in, genuinely hilarious banter is a joy to behold. How similar is that onscreen rapport to their real-life bezzie ship? “Leisha’s not as snarky as Alice, but yeah, Leisha and I have a very playful dynamic. So when we get to work together, we always look to find things in the scene that aren’t there on the page and add more to it, because we have such a rich history.” Before Gen Q filming commenced, they attempted to rewatch vintage episodes. Kate chuckles, “It didn’t really pan out the way we hoped. We couldn’t bear watching ourselves. We were like, ‘Ok, I think we got the gist of it’.”
Kate在社交媒体上发布了这样一段文字：“Jennifer Beals总是让我感到惊讶，她真漂亮！”对于共事的演员们她总是很热情，“纽带维系着深厚的姐妹情谊。”Kate斩钉截铁地道，“Jennifer是万里挑一的人，我非常喜欢她。”Kate和Leisha喜欢在早上9点前通电话然后约定出游地点。而拍摄原始剧集的那几年，Mia Kirshner给她俩起了个绰号叫“裤子”，因为她们总是一起出现而不是单独出现。续集里的Shane和Alice也不像是分别过，她们总是相互打趣，妙趣横生。银幕内外的她们到底有多相似呢？“Leisha没有Alice那么挑剔，不过我们之间的互动非常有趣。所以一起工作的时候，我们希望能把日常相处引入到剧集中来，我们实在认识太久了。”Q时代开拍前她俩还试着回顾原始剧集，Kate大笑说道：“不像预计那样，我们没能看下去，我们实在受不了当时屏幕上的自己，于是我们说道‘算了，我们已经知道原来的角色到底是怎么样的’。”
She was nervous about slipping back into Shane’s Converse, but having two of her closest pals by her side definitely helped. The first scene she filmed was just the OGs. “It was very surreal to be sitting there looking at each other, thinking to ourselves, ‘Alright, well 10 years later we’re picking up where we left off’. The anticipation had built up so much that you think you won’t be able to find it. But then when it comes down to actually doing it, you’re sitting among two people that you know so well that are suddenly back in their characters. It was like riding a bike. It was just scary to think of getting back on that bike.”
Kate很担心自己没法演出Shane的感觉，好在两位亲密的朋友都在身边。她拍的第一场戏就是重逢：“坐在那里看到彼此重回十年前，这种期待积压已久，以至于自己认为根本无法找回当初的感觉。但是当坐在熟悉的人中间时，那种感觉就回来了。这就像骑车一样，光是用想的方式去骑很久没骑的车就会让人感到害怕。”
“We were our own intimacy coordinators”
我们自己就是亲密行为协调员
In the new season, Bette’s running for mayor, Alice has her own talk show and baby Angelica is in high school. Uncle Shane, as Angie calls her, is now obscenely wadded due to her international chain of hair salons, which presumably specialize in the mid-length shag. “She’s incredibly wealthy suddenly. She has this incredible house and you’re just wondering, ‘Where the hell did all this money come from?’ It’s completely outlandish, but who knows what could happen? Maybe she loses all of her money.” There’s plenty of scope for future plot development as Gen Q has already been commissioned for a second season. Along with Jennifer, Leisha and Ilene, Kate is an executive producer, meaning she has input on Shane’s storylines. “You’re not in charge of writing it. It’s more about steering the ship of your character in the right direction. You have a host of new writers and they have watched the show, but they don’t know your character like you do.”
在新一季中Bette参与了市长竞选，Alice有了自己的脱口秀节目，而原本还是孩子的Angelica上了高中。Angie口中的中长发Shane叔叔，因为开着国际连锁发廊而变得有钱。“她突然变得特别有钱，还有属于自己的好房子。你会奇怪‘这钱到底哪里来的’，但谁知道这中间发生了什么呢？也没准以后她就没钱了。”故事还有足够的发展空间，实际上Q时代已经正式续约第二季了。Jennifer, Leisha，Ilene和Kate同为制片人就意味着Kate对Shane的故事有一定的干预权。“我不需要编写故事，但我要确保她的发展方向是对的。尽管新编剧们都看过原始剧集，但她们并不会像扮演者那样了解角色。”
Although there was some criticism levelled at the original, mainly for its representation of bi women, trans men and people of colour, there’s no denying that when it burst on to screens back in 2004, The L Word was truly groundbreaking. It paved the way for the plethora of queer characters we enjoy today. Last year’s annual GLAAD Where We Are On TV report confirmed a record high for LGBTQI representation, with 10.2% of broadcast primetime characters identifying as something other than cis and straight. Even more excitingly, for the first time the majority of them were women. So you could be forgiven for asking, how necessary is it to have The L Word return now the telly landscape is so much more rainbow hued? Kate is thoughtful in her response. “It’s incredibly important and it helps move the needle forward. The great thing is that there are so many other programmes that have LGBTQI characters and those shows, I believe, are doing quite well. You have POSE and Vida and others, and it’s wonderful. And then we get to be a part of that conversation. That’s the thing about TV. You get sucked into characters and storylines that you maybe don’t know much about and then you can relate to them. That’s the beauty of it.”
尽管原始剧集因为双性恋、变性者和有色人种的描写受到不少批评，但不可否认的是2004年上映时，The L Word确确实实开创了先河。它为现在的酷儿角色铺平了道路，去年的GLAAD证实LGBTQ角色创历史新高，黄金时段剧集中有10.2%的角色既非直人也不认同自己的原有性别。更令人兴奋的是，其中绝大部分人为女性。所以可以毫无顾忌地说TLW的回归让电视剧集绽放出彩虹般的美丽。Kate对此的反应显然经过深思熟虑：“TLW回归的重要性在于它可以帮助LGBTQ群体继续往前，但更棒的是现在许多电视都有LGBTQ角色而且都非常好。例如《姿态》、《真我人生》还有别的其他的什么剧，然后我们就成为了其中的一部分。这就是电视。观众们被从也许未了解过的角色与故事所吸引，然后与之共鸣，这就是电视剧集的美。”
Another of the glorious things about television, and The L Word in particular, is all those juicy sex scenes. In the original run, Shane clocked up more onscreen hook-ups than any other character. Let’s take a moment to reminisce, shall we? There was the strap-on pool sex with Hollywood housewife Cherie Jaffe, the ill-fated threesome with Dawn Denbo and Her Lover Cindi, that time she screwed not one, not two, but three members of the same bridal party and who could forget when she got it on with Alice’s mum, Lenore (Sharmen was hot and everything, but personally I ship Shenore). According to The Chart, by season four Shane had slept with 963 different women. Imagine how high that number must be now. And how does Kate feel about it all? “Sex is a part of life and if there’s a solid reason for having that scene and it’s propelling the story and the character forward, absolutely. Because it can say a lot without saying anything.”
而值得称道的另一方面，尤其对The L Word来说，就是那些丰富多彩的性爱场面。原始剧集中Shane上过的人比其他角色都多。让我们来回顾一下，有来自好莱坞的家庭主妇Cherie Jaffe，三人行的Dawn Denbo及她爱人Cindi，以及令人难以忘怀的Alice的妈妈Lenore（Sharmen从各个方面来说都很性感，但就我个人来说我还是更喜欢Shenore）。连线图上显示在第四季的时候Shane一共睡过963个不同的人，再想想现在，那数字一定高到感人。Kate对这又有什么想法呢？“性本就是生活的一部分，也是推动故事和角色发展的理由之一。不需要台词，性也能表达很多东西。”
The L Word’s steamy scenes were always gripping, but Gen Q’s seem, to me at least, even more nuanced. Kate explains that the actors now work with an intimacy coordinator. “That’s a new practice that got put in place a few years ago. They’re the negotiator, essentially. Their job is to have the actors’ best interests at heart in these potentially compromising scenarios. We didn’t have that back in the day, but mercifully on the original show it was an incredibly safe environment where no one ever felt taken advantage of. We were always looking out for each other. We were our own intimacy coordinators.”
原始剧集的性爱场面总是激动人心，而Q时代，在我看来，与原始剧集有些微妙的区别。Kate解释说按规定现在拍床戏需要亲密行为协调员④在场。“这是近几年推出的新做法，借此确保演员的最大利益。而当初我们拍摄原始剧集时没有这样的问题。那时环境安全的令人放心，没有人觉得自己被利用。我们总是彼此照顾，对我们来说，我们自己就是彼此的亲密行为协调员。”
- 经过哈维·温斯坦性侵事件与Metoo事件后，Alicia Rodis推动了一个非营利组织名为国际亲密拍摄协会，借以避免演员遭受实质性性侵。亲密行为协调员的工作是要确保以下事项：
- 所有的工作人员及演员都知道亲密行为是整个故事中的一部分；
- 让参与亲密行为演出的人员之间进行沟通，并且提供举报性骚扰及性侵犯的管道；
- 演员都同意亲密行为的场景；
- 所有亲密行为的场景都依照事先同意的编排方式进行；
- 鼓励演员在亲密行为拍摄后用一些特殊的方式作为结尾，表示重返现实生活。
While Shane’s had no shortage of bedfellows, there was, of course, one romantic pairing in particular that captured the hearts of legions of viewers. Fans were hooked right from Shane and Carmen’s very first encounter. You know the scene I’m talking about. They’re in a recording studio, Shane caresses Carmen’s lower back tattoo and, as they get busy getting jiggy, an EZ Girl remix keeps stuttering, “k-k-k-kissing, f-ff-fucking”. YouTube, which launched the same year Sarah Shahi joined the cast, was flooded with homemade supercuts of their best, and filthiest, moments. But, alas, in season three a million queer hearts simultaneously shattered when Shane did the unthinkable and jilted Carmen at the altar. That was 14 years ago and people are still not over it. Kate is still regularly asked whether Carmen will ever make a comeback. “That’s been a constant from the day Sarah left to now.” Why does she think so many audience members want Sharmen to be endgame? “Because Sarah Shahi is a force to be reckoned with. It’s kind of like forbidden fruit in a way. You want it, but you know you can’t have it. Also, I think the relationship ended quite suddenly, so that threw everyone for a loop.” Did their sizzling chemistry come naturally? “Absolutely. We just hit it off instantly. It’s a bit incestuous to say, but she’s like my sister.” Fans will be chuffed to hear that Kate is very up for a reunion. “Oh yeah, I would love Sarah to return. I mean, Sarah’s a busy girl, but even just an episode would be so rewarding and would give closure to something that people have been waiting for for so long. It would help Shane, as well, to gain closure.”
尽管Shane从不缺乏床伴，但其中一对还是浪漫到捕获观众的心。粉丝们着迷于Shane与Carmen的第一次邂逅——你知道我说的哪个场景——录音室里Shane抚摸着Carmen下半身纹身时，混音女声不断重复着“亲吻我，上我”的那个场景。而在Sarah Shahi加入剧组的同年推出YouTube则充斥着自制的最棒最下流的时刻。但是第三季，Shane做出了难以置信的事——她逃婚了，这让100万颗酷儿心同时碎了。尽管那发生在14年前，但时至今日依旧有很多人会问Kate Carmen是否会回来。“从Sarah离开的那天起就不断有人询问着，”为什么观众希望Shane和Carmen最后在一起呢？“因为Sarah Shahi是无法忽视的存在。某种程度上她像是禁果，你想要她，但你无法拥有她。而且，我认为感情结束的太突然也是大家不断回顾的原因。”她们的化学反应是自然产生的吗？“当然，我们一拍即合。虽然这听上去有点像乱伦，但她对我来说就像是姐妹一样。”听到Kate说很想重聚，粉丝们一定会大吃一惊。“是啊，我很想Sarah回来。我是说，我知道她很忙，但是即便只参演一集也会给期待已久的观众们以安慰，而且，这也有助于Shane与自己达成和解。”
Watching the revival, I’m eager to meet Shane’s latest love interest. Who on earth could match up to Carmen’s magnetism? Enter pop goddess and the only woman to successfully entice Shane all the way up the aisle, Quiara, played by the super-talented and genetically blessed Lex Scott Davis. “Lex worked really hard in finding that quiet strength that would have someone like Shane commit. She comes off incredibly strong, incredibly poised and incredibly grounded.”
看完整部剧集，我想知道Shane最近的爱情里到底有谁能和Carmen相提并论？而唯一一个能引诱Shane走上婚姻红毯的流行天后Quiara是由天赋异禀且基因优良的Lex Scott Davis扮演。“Lex表现得非常有力量，非常镇定，非常安定，这让是一种能让Shane做出承诺的宁静的力量”
Whoever she’s involved with, Shane is always an engaging character, but she’s also so much more than that. She sparked an epiphany in countless women, encouraging us to acknowledge our own identities and embrace our true desires. And, as it turns out, Shane had a similar effect on the person playing her. During a recent interview on RuPaul’s What’s The Tee? podcast, Kate reveals how The L Word helped her discover her own sexuality. “I went to Catholic school for 13 years, so I wasn’t really in an environment to explore that, especially in the 80s and 90s… Back then, that shit did not exist. I didn’t think about it so much in high school and, oddly enough, when I got The L Word, that’s when my wheels started turning.” I ask why the series was such a light bulb moment for her. “Well, I worked on a show for six years with a group of women, Ilene Chaiken being at the helm of it, and people like Rose Troche and Guinevere Turner and all these incredible writers and actors. It was a female-driven show and the majority of them were very comfortable in who they were, and so I was able to be in that energy field. It was so exciting and so eyeopening to be around.”
不管和谁在一起，Shane都是迷人的，但她不仅仅只是如此。她让无数女性顿悟，鼓励她们承认自我，拥抱内心深处真正的欲望。而且，事实证明，Shane对她的扮演者Kate也有着相当的影响。在最近一次RuPaul电台采访“What’s The Tee?”中，Kate透露TLW是如何帮助自己发现真正性取向的：“我上了13年的天主教学校，所以我压根没处在什么探索的环境之中，尤其是80年代和90年代时……那时候，这些东西根本不存在。即便到了高中，我都没考虑过自己的取向问题，直到参演了TLW，轮子才开始缓缓挪动。”我问她为什么这部剧会点亮她，“我在一部拥有Ilene Chaiken、Rose Troche还有Guinevere Turner，以及其它许许多多不可思议作家和演员的环境中工作了6年。在这部由女性主导的剧集中，大部分人都认同自己的身份，对所处位置也感到自在。因为她们，我能发现自己，认同自己。”
In 2017, Kate married Brazilian musician and film director Ana Rezende in an intimate ceremony with 15 guests. Had Ana seen The L Word before they met at a party “a good long while” ago? “She wasn’t some big fan of the show, but she had certainly watched it. That show seemed to have impacted a lot of people, which is so rewarding to hear.” And what does her wife think of her being back in her most famous role? “Oh, she’s so proud that she sees all the work we’ve put in finally come to fruition.”
2017年，在15名宾客的见证下，Kate与巴西音乐家及电影导演Ana Rezende结婚了。在她们认识前，Ana看过TLW么？“她并不是这部剧的粉丝，但她确确实实看过它。这部剧影响了很多人，这句话就是极高的赞赏了。”那她对于自己的妻子要重新扮演这个出名角色有什么看法？“她对此感到非常骄傲，因为我们取得了巨大的成果。”
“Your chosen family is just as powerful, if not more powerful, than anything in the world”
家人也许不会是世界上最强大的，但它依旧强而有力
Throughout our conversation, Kate maintains her Shanelike demeanour. She is charming, gracious and one of the most chilled-out people I’ve ever spoken to. She’s at her most animated when talking about her beloved costars. Like Shane, Kate has endless affection for her closest friends. She is also completely devoted to animals. Her Instagram feed consists almost entirely of snaps of her pets, and even the odd video clip accompanied by a comically jaunty musical soundtrack. The link in her bio takes you not to a fawning celebrity profile, but directly to the donation page of an animal rescue centre.
在我们谈话过程中，Kate始终保持着她近乎Shane的风范。她迷人、有风度，同时也是我见过的最放松的人。当她谈及最喜欢的共事者时她看上去兴致勃勃，和Shane一样，她对亲密的朋友有着无尽的爱。她也很喜欢小动物。她INS上全是自己的宠物照，甚至还有一段滑稽配乐的搞笑视频。就连个人简介也不是什么讨好的人物介绍而是动物救助中心的捐赠界面。
I have one last question before I let Kate get back to her life, her wife and her adorable furry friends: what has being on The L Word taught her? She pauses for a moment, then lands on, “Friendship. The show’s taught me about friendship”. The L Word was never just about insanely hot sex scenes or who was cheating on who. It was about the revolutionary power, comfort and validation that comes from seeing queer female friends together on screen. And, for many of us – particularly we closeted, watching-under-the-duvet souls – those characters were the first gay friends we found. They gave us a sense of belonging, made us laugh when we felt despair and convinced us that we were neither shameful nor alone. And for all her romantic missteps, Shane was a loyal, loving friend, just as Kate is to Leisha and Jennifer. As Kate herself puts it so perfectly, “Love comes in many forms and friendship is one of them. Your chosen family is just as powerful, if not more powerful, than anything in the world.”
我最后的问题是回到生活中，看看她妻子和毛茸茸的朋友然后告诉我TLW教会了她什么？她停顿了一下然后回答道：“友谊。这部剧教会了我什么是友谊。” The L Word的主题从来不是火辣的性爱场面又或者是背叛，而是女性酷儿们共聚屏幕上时展现的具有革命性的力量、相互之间的肯定与慰藉。而且，对我们很多人来说，特别是我们还未出柜时，那些角色，就是我们第一个同性恋朋友。她们给予我们归属感，让我们在绝望时放声大笑，让我们知道自己既不可耻也不孤独。尽管Shane在爱情上错误累累，但在友情上她忠诚也充满爱心。就像Kate对Jennifer和Leisha那样，也正如Kate自己所述的那么完美：“爱有很多种方式，友谊正是其中一种。你所选择的家人也许不会是世界上最强大的，但它依旧是你强有力的支柱。”
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