【纽约客影评】猩球崛起——进化,变成革命
来源:纽约客
2011-11-02 17:05
背景资料:《猩球崛起》是经典系列科幻电影《人猿星球》的前传,它讲述了由于人类自负导致了猿猴智力的发展,猿族与人类之间爆发战争,以及地球上的人类是如何在各种自私自利下,一步一步的走向灭亡.《阿凡达》的特效团队为本片制造出了上百个逼真的猩猩,加上先进的日观等下动作捕捉技术,视觉效果绝对令你震撼。
文中注释:
①.Pierre Boulle:皮埃尔.布里 (1912.2.20 – 1994.1.30) ,法国著名小说家,他一生著作等身,最著名的莫过于《桂河大桥》 (1952) 和 《人猿星球》(1963),后者被不断改编成电影电视,深受观众喜爱。
②.Frankenstein:弗兰肯斯坦,文学史上第一部科幻小说《弗兰肯斯坦》中的主角,这个疯狂的科学家用许多碎尸块拼接成一个“人”,并用闪电将其激活.起初这个拼接物很善良,但是,当他处处受到他的创造者和人们的嫌恶和岐视时,他感到非常痛苦。他憎恨一切,想毁灭一切.最终由于与人类不可调解的矛盾与创造他的科学家Frankenstein同归于尽。现在Frankenstain 一词已被收入日常英语中,译为“一个最终毁了它的创造者的东西”。
Among the trillions of binary digits skittering across screens this summer, a vibrant minority have been gathered into a shrewd, coherent, and fully felt movie. I’m speaking of the expertly crafted “Rise of the Planet of the Apes,” by far the best spectacle movie of the season, and one of the few films to use digital technology for nuanced dramatic effect.
今夏,由数以万亿计的二进制数字信号组成的电视节目充斥着荧屏,其中,一小撮活跃的信号组成了一部精致巧妙,情节连贯,让人感同身受的电影。我讲的就是制作优良的《人猿星球的兴起》——本季度目前为止最好看的奇观电影,它也是为数不多的应用数码技术达到细致入微戏剧性效果的电影之一。
“Planet,” of course, draws on the old species-reversal conceit worked out by Pierre Boulle in his 1963 novel, “La Planète des Singes,”a book that launched a cluster of movies and television shows, most notably Franklin J. Schaffner’s “Planet of the Apes” (1968). In that mock epic, the manacled, nearly naked Charlton Heston is rated an interesting specimen by a variety of simian overlords.
如你所想,“星球”一词是援引于Pierre Boulle 在1963年写的小说《人猿星球》,它讲述了由于人类自负导致物种的逆向进化。这本小说被改编成一系列的电影和电视节目,其中最著名 的是Franklin J. Schaffner于1968年执导的《人猿星球》。电影中,Charlton Heston 被种类繁多、济济为患的猿猴们俘虏,他戴着脚镣,近乎赤裸,并被看作是一个有趣的外物种标本。
The new movie draws not only on Boulle’s outrageous idea but on some of the most enduringly suggestive fables we know. It begins as a benevolent version of the Frankenstein story. Will (James Franco, trying harder than usual), a young genetic engineer working for a San Francisco biotech company, creates a serum that reverses brain damage. (He wants to treat his father, Charles—played movingly by John Lithgow—who has Alzheimer’s.) The company tests the serum on apes, one of which goes mad and has to be destroyed. But Will takes home the ape’s baby, Caesar, who has inherited his mom’s supercharged gray matter, and he and Charles raise him as a pet.
而今年的新作不仅传承了Boulle 奇异骇人的思路,也融入了我们熟悉的,最久为流传、引人联想的传奇故事。电影以一个和谐的弗兰肯斯坦式的场景开始。Will (James Franco饰演,这次他表演得更卖力),是一位年轻的基因工程师,在旧金山的一家生物科技公司工作。他发明了一种可以逆转人脑损伤的血清。(他的父亲Chales,由John Lithgow 精彩饰演,患有阿尔茨海默氏病,Will想治愈父亲的病)。公司用这种血清在猿猴身上做实验,而其中的一只疯掉了,必须处死。好心的Will 将它的孩子Caesar带回了家,和父亲Chales一起把他当成宠物养了起来。
Caesar swings through the house, leaping up and down stairs and throwing himself in and out of the attic, but he sits quietly at the dinner table, too. He listens, he grunts, he eats, he makes signs. He’s a darling little ape.But there’s a joke buried in our wonderment: we all anthropomorphize our pets, finding spirit, even conscience, in beautiful collies, in cool, blue-eyed Siamese cats, in potbellied pigs. Out of affection, we see what we want to see of ourselves.But Caesar really is like us, in many ways.
Caesar继承了他母亲的强健的运动体质,活动能力很强。他在屋里乱窜,在楼梯上跳上跳下,在阁楼里蹦进蹦出,但在餐桌边还是会安静的坐着。他听人讲话,发出叫声,吃喝东西,还会做肢体语言,是一只可爱的小猿猴。在我们惊叹于它的灵活的背后却有些讽刺:我们都将宠物拟人化——我们在漂亮的牧羊犬,蓝眼睛的暹罗猫,胖肚皮的小猪身上寻找某种精神,甚至是良心,而不是在人群中感受到这些.出于喜爱,我们从他们身上看到了一些在人类社会中想看到的东西。但是,Caesar 确实在很多方面与我们很像。
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翻译交流,想法互晒!有沪元奖励哦~