原子弹之父与金发女郎 | 经济学人文化

2023-07-23 05:07

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Culture | Bombs and a bombshell

文化｜原子弹之父与金发女郎

英文部分选自经济学人20230722期科技板块

Culture | Bombs and a bombshell

文化｜原子弹之父与金发女郎

Realism with “Oppenheimer”, or escapism with “Barbie”?

是《奥本海默》这样的现实主义影片受欢迎还是《芭比》的逃避主义影片受追捧？

What the fortunes of this summer’s blockbusters will reveal about our times

今年暑期档大片的票房结果能反映出我们这个时代的现状

They make an intriguing pair of rivals: he in a brown suit and porkpie hat, she in a gingham dress and matching hair bow. His domain is a vast scientific-research facility in New Mexico; hers is a fluorescent pink party house with a slide. J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by an Irish actor, Cillian Murphy) spends his days corralling the finest scientific minds in America to create a nuclear bomb—work a colleague calls “the most important thing to ever happen in the history of the world”. Barbie (played by an Australian actress, Margot Robbie) may seem like she has the perfect life, but she has existential worries too. Do her friends and fellow dolls, she wonders, “ever think about dying?”

人们做了一组很有趣的对比：一边是男主身着棕色西服，头戴套叠式平顶帽（porkpie hat）；一边是女主身着一袭格子连衣裙，还专门搭配了蝴蝶结。男主在新墨西哥州巨大的科研机构里发光发热；女主则在有滑梯的荧光粉色派对屋里熠熠生辉。男主尤利乌斯·罗伯特·奥本海默（J. Robert Oppenheimer）【由爱尔兰演员基里安·墨菲（Cillian Murphy）饰演】终日忙于和美国最顶级的科学家们一起制造核弹——一项被一位同事称为“世界历史上最重要”的事业。女主芭比（Barbie）【由澳大利亚女演员玛格特·罗比（Margot Robbie）饰演】则过着看上去完美无缺的生活，但也会为存在性的问题烦恼。她总是在想她的朋友和玩偶同胞们，“是否曾思考过死亡？”

No recent movie match-up has been as eagerly awaited as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”. Released on July 21st in America and Britain, the two films will serve as a test of whether viewers can be coaxed off their couches to return to cinemas. The incongruity in the films’ subject and tone has delighted the internet. People have created memes, remixed the trailers into jarring “Barbenheimer” hybrids and debated whether to see the biographical drama or the fantasy comedy first.

《芭比》与《奥本海默》即将打响的票房擂台受到了高度的关注。两部影片将于7月21日在美国和英国上映，它们的票房将反映观众是否还愿意走进影院为电影买单。两部电影主题和基调大相径庭，这引发了网友的兴趣。人们创作了表情包，将电影预告片混剪成颇具冲突意味的《芭比海默》，还对先去看传记片还是奇幻喜剧争论不休。

注释：

memes: 最早出现在理查德·道金斯（Richard Dawkins）所著的《自私的基因》（The Selfish Gene）书中。词语本身来自于古希腊语mīmēma（μίμημα，发音：/ mí:mɛ:ma/ ），意思是“模仿的东西”。在道金斯的观点中，人类社会语言、观念、信仰、行为方式等的传递过程中，与基因在生物进化过程中所起的作用相类似的那个东西就叫做meme。在这种概念里，meme的翻译是模因。而在网络上，meme常翻译作“梗”。meme的一个非常具象的表现形式，就是“梗图”，表情包。“梗”文化传递的方式，和模因理论高度吻合，通常是可复制的图片+文字，以传递一种幽默、吐槽或讽刺情绪。

The brouhaha is partly a result of the film-makers. Christopher Nolan, the writer-director of “Oppenheimer”, is the closest thing Hollywood has to a mad scientist. He shoots on film and mostly eschews computer-generated imagery, blowing up an actual Boeing 747 for a previous film. The nuclear reactions in “Oppenheimer” were also created by producing actual explosions (albeit not nuclear ones), brightened by aluminium and magnesium powder. His films toy with narrative conventions and tricksy subjects, such as the unconscious mind and theoretical astrophysics. They have earned a combined total of around $5bn in ticket sales; “Dunkirk” (2017) is one of the highest-grossing films ever made about the second world war.

引起这场争论的部分原因在于电影制片人。《奥本海默》的编剧兼导演克里斯托弗·诺兰（Christopher Nolan）是好莱坞电影咖里最像疯狂科学家的人。他常用胶片拍电影，不青睐电脑特效。他曾在之前的一部电影里炸毁了一架真正的波音747飞机。《奥本海默》中的核反应场景也同样通过制造真实爆炸场景（尽管不是核爆炸）来拍摄：剧组使用了铝粉和镁粉让爆炸场景更明亮。他的电影一贯以叙事风格独特和主题高深难懂著称，例如潜意识和理论天体物理学。这些电影票房累计约50亿美元；其中《敦刻尔克》（2017）是有史以来有关二战主题的票房最高的电影之一。

Greta Gerwig, the director and co-writer of “Barbie”, has her own large fan club. She started out in the “mumblecore” genre of independent film (so named for its focus on dialogue) but has since had hits with “Lady Bird” (2017) and an adaptation of “Little Women” (2019). Her work claims humbler gross ticket sales of $300m. For “Barbie”, she has cited old Hollywood musicals and films about the afterlife, such as “Heaven Can Wait” (1943), as inspiration.

《芭比》的导演和联合编剧格蕾塔·葛韦格（Greta Gerwig）拥有庞大的粉丝群体。她一开始是拍 “呢喃核”（mumblecore）类型电影（独立电影的一个子类型，因注重对话而得名），但之后拍摄了名噪一时的《伯德小姐》（2017）以及改编版《小妇人》（2019）。她的作品总票房相较诺兰来讲要低得多，仅为3亿美元。拍摄《芭比》时，她从有关来世的好莱坞老音乐剧和电影中搜寻灵感，如《天堂可以等待》（1943）。

注释：

呢喃核（英语：Mumblecore）是美国独立电影界在2000年之后获得关注的一项运动。这个流派的电影特点是超低预算制片（常常由手持的数码摄影机完成）、关注20岁左右年轻人的情感生活、即兴创作的剧本、非专业演员出演。

The two films encapsulate some of the caprices of the modern movie industry. “Barbie” is one of many productions to exploit decades-old intellectual property. Mattel, a toymaker, has sold roughly a billion dolls since it first introduced Barbara Millicent Roberts (call her “Barbie”) to consumers in 1959. Ms Robbie, who is also a producer of the film, has said she was drawn to the project because the Barbie name is “more globally recognised than practically everything else other than Coca-Cola”. It is easy to imagine that a sequel is already in the works. “Oppenheimer”, by contrast, holds no such franchise potential. The scientist may be “one of history’s most essential and paradoxical” figures, as Mr Nolan has put it, but he is not likely to return for “Oppenheimer 2: Learning to Love the Bomb”. It is a serious, standalone drama—the kind of film made less frequently as studios focus on remakes, sequels and spin-offs. Its opening weekend is predicted to fetch $40m-50m in ticket sales, compared with around $80m for “Barbie”.

这两部电影是当代电影行业反复无常的缩影。《芭比》这部电影深度发掘了这一延续几十年的IP。玩具制造公司美泰自1959年首次向消费者推出芭比·密里森·罗伯兹（Barbara Millicent Roberts）娃娃（简称“芭比”）以来，已经销售了约十亿个芭比娃娃。这部电影的另一名制片人罗比（Robbie）女士说“芭比”这个名字的“全球知名度仅次于可口可乐”，所以她才会被这个电影项目吸引。（这样的情况下）续集已在制作中也就不难想象了。相反，《奥本海默》恐怕就没有拍续集的可能。正如诺兰导演所讲，奥本海默可能算是“历史上最重要且自相矛盾的人物之一”，但他不可能会拍《奥本海默2：爱上原子弹》。因为电影公司通常忙于翻拍、出续集和派生作品，所以像这样严肃而情节独立的电影，拍得比较少。预计《奥本海默》的首映周末票房收入在4-5千万美元，而《芭比》约为8千万美元。

Though “Oppenheimer” features stars such as Emily Blunt and Matt Damon, the sombre story is not obviously a crowd-pleaser. That it has also been made with a large budget of $100m reflects the faith that studios have in certain film-makers and the risks they allow them to take. “There have been films previously about the development of the atomic bomb in the 1940s and 1950s, and they haven’t been box-office successes,” says Sheldon Hall, a film historian and co-author of the book “Epics, Spectacles and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History”. “This film is being hinged on Nolan’s reputation,” he adds.

虽然《奥本海默》邀请了艾米莉·布朗特（Emily Blunt）和马特·达蒙（Matt Damon）等明星出演，但其忧郁的剧情很显然不会让全体观影者都献上五星好评。这部电影预算达1亿美元，这也反映出电影公司对特定电影导演的信任，以及愿意为这些导演所冒的风险。电影历史学家谢尔顿·霍尔（Sheldon Hall）是《史诗、精彩表演及热门大片：好莱坞历史》一书的联合作者，他认为：二十世纪四、五十年代，曾经上映了一些讲述原子弹研发故事的电影，但都不卖座。这部电影全靠诺兰的导演号召力。

The “Barbenheimer” rivalry brings a more serious question for the public: whether to favour realism or escapism. As war rages on in Europe, and countries including China and North Korea continue to develop their nuclear arsenals, the origin story of these weapons of mass destruction may feel too real and raw. Exploring the physicist’s concerns about his weapon’s horrifying power and the American government’s attempts to silence him, “Oppenheimer” is not a film that will ease viewers’ anxieties. The director has likened it to a horror flick. “Some people leave the movie absolutely devastated. They can’t speak,” Mr Nolan has said.

“芭比海默”争霸战还给观众出了一道很严肃的问题：直面现实还是逃避现实。当前，欧洲战争肆虐，朝鲜等国持续进行核武器研发，而这个讲述大规模杀伤性武器起源的故事可能让人感觉太过真实太赤裸裸。《奥本海默》不是那种能缓解观众焦虑的电影，剧中有物理学家对自己发明的武器的恐怖威力的担忧，也展现了美国政府想方设法让他保持缄默。导演诺兰把这部电影比做恐怖电影。他说：有些观众看完这个电影完全崩溃了，说不出话来。

Ms Gerwig’s production is more playful. She has described the set—which contributed to a global shortage of pink paint—as “a dopamine generator”. The film’s tone is funny and slyly self-referential. It toys with the alluring comfort of dream worlds. At one point Weird Barbie, a doll that has been handed around and mistreated, offers Barbie a choice, symbolised by a high heel and a Birkenstock sandal: “You can go back to your regular life, or you can know the truth about the universe.” Barbie chooses the stiletto and is quickly chastised. “You have to want to know, OK? Do it again.”

葛韦格女士的作品更活泼。她把影片的布景形容为“多巴胺制造机”——这让全球粉色颜料供不应求。这部电影很有趣，还带有狡猾的自我指涉意味。它引发了对梦想世界诱惑的思考。有一个片段，一只被人传来传去、随意摆弄的娃娃怪芭比（Weird Barbie）让芭比在一只高跟鞋和一只勃肯凉鞋中做选择，她解释其中的象征意味：“你可以回到规律的生活中，或者选择了解宇宙的真相。”芭比选择了高跟鞋，但很快就受到了怪芭比的斥责。“你必须要有好奇心，好吗？再选一次。”

“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” offer another version of the Birkenstock-stiletto dilemma. History suggests more viewers will opt for escapism. During the Great Depression, many of the highest-grossing films were musicals and historical epics. The same was true during the second world war. Movies that did broach the subject of conflict, including “Gone with the Wind” and “Sergeant York”, were often set in the past; those that were contemporaneous, such as “Casablanca”, tended to tell love stories rather than tales of grisly combat. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam war, the biggest movie in America was “Funny Girl”. In 2007, during the financial crisis, it was a film in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise.

《芭比》和《奥本海默》演绎了另一种“勃肯鞋与细高跟”的困境。历史经验表明更多的观众会选择逃避现实。在大萧条期间，很多高票房爆款电影都是音乐电影和史诗片。二战期间亦是如此。以冲突为主题的电影通常都将情景设置在过去，比如《乱世佳人》（Gone with the Wind）和《约克军曹》（Sergeant York）；而如《卡萨布兰卡》（Casablanca）这类讲述同时期故事的电影多是刻画爱情，而非恐怖的战争。1968年，正值越南战争最激烈时期，美国的当红电影是《妙女郎》（Funny Girl）。2007年，全球金融危机期间，加勒比海盗系列电影（Pirates of the Caribbean）独领风骚。

David Thomson, another film historian and author, reckons that, at a time of economic strain, war and populism, viewers will not want to see a serious film as much as they will want to see a frivolous one. “Comedies have always done well at the movies,” he says, because they do “something that the movies were made for, which is to reassure people and give them a couple of hours of escape from pretty big problems.” Who wants reality when life in plastic is so fantastic?

另一位电影历史学家及作家大卫·汤姆森（David Thomson）认为，在经济紧张、战争爆发、民粹主义盛行时期，相比于严肃作品，观众更愿意看轻松的电影。大卫说：“一直以来喜剧都不输其他电影题材”，因为喜剧“实现了电影的初衷——让观众安心，让他们从棘手的问题中逃避几个小时”。既然胶片中的虚构世界如此精彩，那谁还愿意面对现实呢？

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观点|评论|思考

本周感想

Alfredo，男，真实主义歌剧发烧友

《奥本海默》和《芭比》这两部类型截然不同的影片主题和立意也大相径庭，引发了观众对于面对还是逃避现实的讨论。

《奥本海默》是现实主义影片，展现了人物内心的矛盾与担忧，将观众带入到严肃和深刻的思考中。诺兰一直以其独特的叙事与主题闻名，然而，由于这一影片的主题比较特定，影片中描绘的问题都是现实世界中仍然存在的挑战，电影可能会让一些观众感到沉重焦虑。

相比之下，《芭比》这部逃避主义影片则展现了一个看似完美无缺的梦幻世界。主人公过着充满欢乐和奇幻元素的生活，但她也在思考存在主义的问题。导演格蕾塔·葛韦格将影片打造为“多巴胺制造机”，希望给观众带来愉悦感，同时也通过自我指涉来引发对梦想世界的思考。其制片人认为，这个角色从全球范围来看几乎和可口可乐一样有着广泛知名度，因此电影吸引了众多芭比娃娃的粉丝，并能让观众短暂逃离现实，寻找片刻安宁。

这两部电影的预计票房同时也反映了观众的倾向：尽管《奥本海默》有着明星阵容和巨额预算，但严肃的剧情和题材可能会让观影者对其的评价有所分歧；而《芭比》因其轻松愉快的氛围和活泼有趣的故事则或许更易受到观众的青睐。

不管怎么说，笔者看过首映的朋友都说前者好，在国内看了后者的都说比较一般（不代表笔者本人观点，也不代表公众号观点:）。

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