The outrageous translation of the name in the American drama “Hacks” is comparable to that of the American drama “Better Call Saul”, the latter being translated as “coquettish lawyer” and the former being translated as “desperate writer”. In fact, until the first three months of its launch, “Hacks” failed to set a title.
In order to meet the Emmy nomination deadline of May 31, 2021, this high-quality comedy was rushed to the air with almost no publicity — and it did win an Emmy for best comedy series . In this two-story comedy featuring old-school talk show actor Deborah and aggressive young talk-show writer Ava, Deborah won the Emmy for Best Comedy Series Great heroine.
Unsurprisingly, the story begins in the mutual hostility of the two, and is reversed by a mutual scolding with humor, wisdom, stinginess and courage. The two sides gradually establish a basic recognition of each other, and Ava has become Deborah’s talk show copywriter. Writer, the whole story unfolds gradually. The two protagonists in the play are in the talk show industry and the online writers market. Opportunities and money come too easily, and they are full of instant hits. The elders lack respect, and the young lack humility.
The age groups represented by the two protagonists are also very clear: one is a successful person in a high position, wise and mysterious, during his career leap, he turned a blind eye to the sexual harassment incidents he and his peers encountered, and now he is young and new. Lack of trust, seems mean; the other is a typical millennial Internet celebrity, with impetuousness and high self-esteem cultivated by social network soil, frequently frustrated, shouting to seniors “You are plundering the resources of our generation. The vested interests leave us with a bad world”, which is always “politically correct” in various discussions, full of doctrines, but neglected in practice.
Even if you don’t look at the cast list, you can feel that this is a TV work with women as the main creative team. Although the circumstances are different, both women have encountered the same problems – young Ava met a humorous and gentle young man at the most unsuccessful and difficult time of work; older Deborah faced the threat of new people at work. At that time, I met the care of an authoritative male boss. In this mostly mean and fast-paced TV series, the director and screenwriter did not hesitate to expand the details and lay the groundwork. In the music and flowing shots, the tenderness from wealth, power and men is almost dreamlike. Perhaps only women understand how tempting these gestures and cares are when life is difficult. It seems that most of life’s problems can be solved with just a hand. However, what is even more interesting is that the romantic encounter of the two protagonists is a broken dream. It is still the two of them who grit their teeth, deal with difficult things bit by bit, and support each other.
This drama, which features a talk show actor, is full of hilarious rants about American society and the plight of women. “Hacks” is naturally a high-quality drama, but the repeated mentions of class, gender and other issues are also exhausting, which once made me wonder if I was watching a drama version of the Internet trending list. What has the age of social networking changed? After an event happened, people flocked to participate in the voice, and the good and the evil were vividly displayed in the same event. So what did the talk show bring us at this time? A smarter head, with sharper sentences and a little bit of snarky sarcasm and humor, to unleash some of the people’s pent-up emotions?
Perhaps, at a time when many industries rely on traffic for a living and strive to attract attention, emotions themselves are meaning and productivity. On Weibo, in the circle of friends, or in the short videos of Douyin Kuaishou, everyone is a desperate writer.
