《饥饿游戏》塑造当代女英雄

《饥饿游戏》塑造当代女英雄

There’s a short anxious scene in the new film “The Hunger Games” when its 16-year-old heroine, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), races through a deep, dark forest; falls down a hill; and rolls and rolls, only to rise up and thrust herself again into the unknown. Katniss, the lethally tough linchpin from Suzanne Collins’s trilogy and now a rather less imposing film heroine, is a teenage survivalist in a postapocalyptic take on a familiar American myth. When she runs through that forest, and even when she falls, there’s something of the American frontiersman in her, as if she were Natty Bumppo reborn and resexed.

电影《饥饿游戏》中有一段让人揪心的简短场景：16岁的女主人公凯特尼斯·埃弗蒂恩 (Katniss Everdeen，珍妮佛·劳伦斯Jennifer Lawrence饰演) 在黑暗的密林中飞奔，从山上摔下，不断翻滚，爬起来之后却仍然置身于未知的挑战之中。凯特尼斯就是苏珊·科林斯(Suzanne Collins)《饥饿游戏》三部曲当中那个强悍得要命的核心角色，如今则变成了一个不那么冷酷严肃的电影女主人公。她是一名奉行生存主义的少女，出现在一个熟悉的美国神话式的后天启时代版本当中。当她在森林中奔跑，甚至是当她摔倒的时候，她身上也会散发出一股美国拓荒者的气息，就像是再生的女性版纳蒂· 班波(Natty Bumppo，译者按，此人为美国文学当中的丛林英雄)。

For as long as this brief scene lasts, it seems possible that Gary Ross, the unlikely and at times frustratingly ill-matched director for this brutal, unnerving story, has caught the heart-skipping pulse of Michael Mann’s “Last of the Mohicans” if not that film’s ravishing technique and propulsive energy. Alas, Mr. Ross, the director of the genial entertainments “Pleasantville” and “Seabiscuit,” and whose script credits include “Big,” has a way of smoothing even modestly irregular edges. Katniss, who for years has bagged game to keep her family from starving, was created for rough stuff — for beating the odds and the state, for hunting squirrel and people both — far rougher than Mr. Ross often seems comfortable with, perhaps because of disposition, inclination or some behind-the-scenes executive mandate.

对于这个残酷惊悚的故事来说，加里·罗斯(Gary Ross)不像是个理想的导演人选，有时还显得与电影故事极不匹配，令人沮丧。然而，仅就以上那个短短的场景而言，他似乎抓住了迈克尔·曼恩 (Michael Mann)执导的电影《最后的莫希干人》(Last of the Mohicans)中惊心动魄的节奏感，哪怕他并没有学到那部电影的迷人技法和推进力道。唉，作为轻松娱乐片《欢乐谷》(Pleasantville)和《奔腾年代》(Seabiscuit)的导演，以及《飞越未来》(Big)一片的编剧，他总有办法抹平哪怕是小小的不规则棱角。长年通过打猎来填饱家人肚子的凯特尼斯是为受难而生的，比如与命运和权威搏斗、比如猎杀松鼠，或者是，猎杀人。其强悍的程度远远超过了罗斯先生通常表现出来的可接受标准，个中缘由可能是罗斯先生本人的性情和气质，也可能是某种幕后的行政指令。

It may be that Mr. Ross is too nice a guy for a hard case like Katniss. A brilliant, possibly historic creation — stripped of sentimentality and psychosexual ornamentation, armed with Diana’s bow and a ferocious will — Katniss is a new female warrior, and she keeps you watching even while you’re hoping for something better the next time around. (Mr. Ross is onboard to direct the follow-up, “Catching Fire.”) For some fans of the three novels, the screen version will inevitably be disappointing, especially for those keeping inventory of the details, characters, grim thoughts and cynicism that have gone missing. For others the image of a girl like Katniss taking up so much screen space with so few smiles may be enough to keep faith.

面对凯特尼斯这样的强悍角色，罗斯先生可能太过温柔善良了。凯特尼斯是一名新型的女战士，她脱去了多愁善感和欲望对象的花饰，以狩猎之神的弓箭和刚烈意志来武装自己，她是一个光彩照人甚或具有历史意义的角色。即使你希望她的下一部电影能拍得更好一些，她还会一直吸引你的眼球。(罗斯正在导演《饥饿游戏》的续集《燃烧的女孩》(Catching Fire)。)对于这三部小说的一些粉丝来说，电影版会不可避免地让人失望。电影遗漏了小说当中的一些细节、角色、冷峻思考和愤世情绪，对这些东西如数家珍的观众将会倍感失望。但对于另外一些人来说，仅仅是凯特尼斯在银幕上冷峻的形象，就足以让他们追捧。

The screenplay by Mr. Ross, Ms. Collins and Billy Ray hews dutifully close to its source material, at least in wide strokes. Katniss lives in District 12 of Panem — as in panem et circenses, Latin for bread and circuses — a totalitarian state that has risen from the postwar ashes of North America. Every year a boy and a girl ages 12 to 18 are chosen from each Panem district to compete in the gladiatorial games of the title, a fight that owes something to that ancient Roman blood sport and something else to the Greek myth of the Minotaur, the part man, part bull that devoured Athenian youths given in tribute. The Minotaur is eventually slain, but that’s getting ahead of Katniss.

至少大体上来说，罗斯先生、科林斯女士和比尔·雷(Bill Ray)合写的剧本做到了尽职尽责和忠于原著。凯特尼斯住在帕讷姆国(Panem)的12区。“Panem”来自拉丁短语“panem et circenses”(食物与马戏)，意思是“食物”，帕讷姆国则是一个诞生于北美战火余烬之中的极权国家。帕讷姆国各区每年都得选出两名12到18岁的孩子，男女各一，让他们去参加与电影同名的角斗游戏。这种游戏一部分源自古罗马帝国的那种血腥竞赛，一部分源自关于人身牛头怪(Minotaur)的希腊神话，这头怪物会吞噬雅典城进贡的少男少女。神话里的牛头怪最终被杀，不过，凯特尼斯暂时还办不到同样的事情。

The film takes off at the selection ceremony, or reaping, a nationally televised event complete with armed soldiers and a bubbly bubblehead M.C. (Elizabeth Banks), during which Katniss’s younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields), is chosen. Katniss quickly volunteers to take Prim’s place, becoming, with Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), District 12’s tributes. The two are whisked off to the Capitol, where they’re plucked and primped by a team of gaudily hued stylists (overseen by a gilt-lidded Lenny Kravitz as Cinna), a potentially razor-sharp sequence that should underscore the Capitol’s decadence but here comes across as a variant on Dorothy’s cheery wash- and brush-up when she enters the Emerald City. Katniss may not be in Kansas, but neither does she seem in palpable danger.

电影以选人仪式，或者说，叫“收割仪式”也可以，这是一件全国电视直播的盛事。仪式中有全副武装的战士，也有甜腻造作的花瓶女主持 (伊丽莎白.班克斯 Elizabeth Banks饰演)。凯特尼斯的妹妹普瑞姆罗斯 (薇箩.谢尔兹 Willow Shields饰演)被选上了，凯特尼斯立刻申请顶替妹妹的位置，最后就与匹塔·梅拉克(Peeta Mellark，由乔西.亨彻森 Josh Hutcherson饰演)一起被选为12区的贡品。两个人被迅速送到神殿，一群衣着花里胡哨的化妆师(化妆师的头儿是Cinna，由打着闪耀眼影的连尼.克拉威茨 Lenny Kravits饰演)为他俩梳妆打扮。这个镜头原本可以深刻地揭露神殿的腐朽，电影里的景象却与多萝西(Dorothy，美国童话《绿野仙踪》当中的人物)进入翡翠城(Emerald City)时那种欢快的洗漱场面大同小异。凯特尼斯兴许的确不在堪萨斯(译者注，《绿野仙踪》当中多萝西的家乡)，但她似乎也并未面临什么明显危险。

That changes once she and Peeta are transported to the outdoor arena where, with wits and weapons, they battle the other tributes and assorted perils generated by the game makers (including a dandified Wes Bentley), who dole out death via computer touch screen. There, in a rapidly cut massacre that pits boy against girl and finds youngsters killing and falling and dying in a frantic, fragmented blur, Mr. Ross and his editors, Stephen Mirrione and Juliette Welfling, set the stage and stark mood. For her part Katniss, though frozen in fear, follows the advice of her and Peeta’s mentor, Haymitch (an overly cute Woody Harrelson), and runs in the opposite direction. It’s a strong, visceral scene that quickens the pace and pulse, and distills the story’s horror — suffer the little children to enter the arena — in blunt visual terms.

这一切都在凯特尼斯和匹塔被送达露天竞技场后完全改变了。他们运用武器和自己的智慧与其他的贡品进行殊死搏斗，并且还要克服游戏设计者(其中包括打扮时髦的韦斯.本特利 Wes Bentley)安排的种种危险，那些游戏设计者通过触摸电脑屏幕就可以夺去游戏选手的生命。通过快速切换的镜头，罗斯先生和影片剪辑斯蒂芬.米瑞恩(Stephen Mirrione) 及朱丽叶.维弗灵(Juliette Welfling)展现了一场震撼人心的大屠杀场面，其中的少男少女彼此厮打，杀戮、跌倒、死亡，所有一切交织成了一片疯狂破碎的模糊影像。这一切为片中角色准备好了舞台，并定下了冷峻的基调。凯特尼斯虽然十分恐惧，但是仍然遵照她和匹塔的导师黑密契·阿勃纳西(Haymitch Abernathy)(由伍迪.哈瑞森 Woody Harrelson饰演，扮相可爱得过了头)的建议，跑向了相反的方向。这是一个力度强烈、惊心动魄、让人血脉贲张的场景，通过毫无隐讳的视觉形式集中体现了故事的恐怖：让孩子踏上血腥的角斗场。

Nothing else in the arena comes close to that initial fight in its sheer primal impact. Working with Tom Stern, Clint Eastwood’s longtime cinematographer, Mr. Ross tries to find mystery in the forest, in its canopy of trees and thick undergrowth, but never locates a deeper dread, despite the computer-generated fireballs and hounds, and especially the other tributes. Part of what makes the “Hunger Games” books so effective is that they literalize the familiar drama of adolescence, translating the emotional assaults, peer pressure, cliques and the tortured rest into warfare. “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” did the same on television, except there the villains were supernatural demons. In “The Hunger Games” the real enemies are adults, including, of course, the parents catching the show on TV.

这场最初的搏斗充满了原始的冲击力，角斗场里的其它任何事物都无法与之相比。本片摄像技师汤姆.斯特恩(Tom Stern)曾长期为导演科林特.伊斯特伍德(Clint Eastwood)工作, 在他的协助之下，罗斯先生竭力在遮天蔽日的树冠和茂密的灌木丛中寻找森林的秘密，并以电脑制作的火球、猎犬、尤其是其他“贡品”来烘托效果，但却始终没能表现出更深层次的恐惧。《饥饿游戏》小说之所以如此摄人心魄，部分原因是它对司空见惯的青春期波澜进行了文学化处理，把情感冲击，同伴的竞争压力，拉帮结派行为和其它种种苦恼演绎成了战争。电视剧《吸血鬼猎手巴菲》(Buffy the Vampire Slayer)具有同样的特点，区别在于其中的反面人物是超自然的恶魔。而在《饥饿游戏》当中，真正的敌人是成年人类，当然也包括通过电视观看角斗游戏的父母们。

Fans of the Japanese cult film “Battle Royale” may see some overlap with its allegory about students sent to an island to fight to the death, and others may be reminded of Orson Scott Card’s science-fiction novel “Ender’s Game,” about children trained to battle an alien species. If you’ve seen the pint-size assassins in the recent action flicks “Kick-Ass” and “Hanna,” which feature prepubescent girls who lock, load and shoot without batting a lash, you may think you’ve also seen it before. You haven’t, not really. Although the girls in those movies are vaguely sexualized, their age exempts them from the narrative burdens of heterosexual romance. They don’t have to bat those lashes at the boys, and they don’t need to be saved by them either, as in the “Twilight” series.

日本邪典电影《大逃杀》(Battle Royale)有把学生送到岛上让他们决一死斗的情节，该片的影迷可能会对《饥饿游戏》产生似曾相识之感，其他人可能会由此想到奥森·斯科特·卡德 (Orson Scott Card)那部关于训练儿童去和外来物种决斗的科幻小说《安德的游戏》(Ender’s Game)。在最近的动作片《海扁王》(Kick-Ass)和《汉娜》( Hanna)当中，青春期尚未开始的小姑娘们甚至连睫毛都不眨就可以直接拉枪机、上膛、、开枪。如果你看过这些小不点儿杀手，兴许也会觉得《饥饿游戏》有点儿眼熟。其实不是，不全然是。那两部电影里的女孩虽然被赋予模糊的性征，可她们的年龄决定了她们无需承受异性恋情节的负担。她们不需要向男孩颤动自己的睫毛，也不需要等待男孩的拯救， 一如像《暮光之城》(Twilight)系列里面的女孩那样。

What invests Katniss with such exciting promise and keeps you rapt even when the film proves less than equally thrilling is that she also doesn’t need saving, even if she’s at an age when, most movies still insist, women go weak at the knees and whimper and weep while waiting to be saved. Again and again Katniss rescues herself with resourcefulness, guts and true aim, a combination that makes her insistently watchable, despite Mr. Ross’s soft touch and Ms. Lawrence’s bland performance. One look at District 12, which Mr. Ross conceives as a picturesque old-timey town — filled with withered Dorothea Lange types in what was once Appalachia — and it’s clear that someone here was enthralled with the actress’s breakout turn in “Winter’s Bone” as a willful, resilient child of the Ozarks.

凯特尼斯之所以值得令人热切期待，甚至在这部电影的惊险程度并没有达到相应水平的情况下依然让令人迷醉，原因是她不需要别人拯救。尽管她这个年龄的女生在大多数电影里面仍然会双膝发软，哭哭啼啼地等着被救赎。在这部电影当中，凯特尼斯一次又一次地凭借谋略、胆量和不死的信念救了自己的性命。这些特质使她变成了一道让人不得不看的风景，即便是罗斯的孱弱风格和女主角珍妮佛.劳伦斯的平庸表演也无法将她抹杀。当观众看到罗斯构造的美丽的阿尔巴契亚《多箩西·兰格》(Dorothea Lange)色彩的旧时小镇——12区，突然出现了在电影《冬天里的骨头》(Winter’s Bone)扮演里密苏里的那个坚强女孩，在这个时候，人们会感到欣喜。

A few years ago Ms. Lawrence might have looked hungry enough to play Katniss, but now, at 21, her seductive, womanly figure makes a bad fit for a dystopian fantasy about a people starved into submission. The graver problem is a disengaged performance that rarely suggests the terrors Katniss faces, including the fatalism that originally hangs on her like a shroud. What finally saves the character and film both is the image of her on the run, moving relentlessly forward. Unlike those American Adams who have long embodied the national character with their reserves of hope, innocence and optimism, Katniss springs from someplace else, a place in which an American Eve, battered, bruised and deeply knowing, scrambles through a garden not of her making on her way to a new world.

几年前，劳伦斯兴许拥有适合扮演凯特尼斯的饥民体型。但是，现在她已经21岁，她那妩媚性感的体态与一个关于人类因饥饿而臣服的反乌托邦故事格格不入。更严重的问题是，她漫不经心的表演并没有展现出凯特尼斯面临的种种恐怖，包括那个原本像裹尸布一样包裹着凯特尼斯的必死宿命。最终拯救这个角色和这部电影的是她那种不停奔跑、一往无前的形象。长期以来，各种男性英雄凭借坚毅的信念、纯真和乐观的精神成为美国特质的象征，《饥饿游戏》的女主角凯特尼斯却与他们不同。她从另外一个世界横空出世，在那里，一位受到打击、伤痕累累、深谙世故的美国女英雄正在跌跌撞撞地穿过一座不属于她的花园，冲向一个新世界。