经济学人下载:家庭娱乐专栏--回到水中(1)

Books & arts
文艺板块

Home entertainment
家庭娱乐专栏

Back in the water
回到水中

Hidden depths
隐藏的深渊

Bungling officials confront an invisible threat in a blockbuster about a fish. “A film about a shark” was Steven Spielberg’s description of “Jaws”, the movie released in 1975 that established his box-office power as a director. More elaborate interpretations abound for his tale of a ravenous great white terrorising the genteel seaside town of Amity on Long Island. Is it a comment on corruption after Watergate, a parable of the Vietnam war or an illustration of Freudian castration anxiety? Fidel Castro, in an excursion into film criticism, reckoned it was a devastating Marxist critique of American capitalism.
在一部关于鱼的大片中，拙劣的官员们面临着无形的威胁。史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格将《大白鲨》描述为“一部关于鲨鱼的电影”，这部电影于1975年上映，奠定了他作为一名导演的票房号召力。这部电影讲述了一只非比寻常的巨大白鲨威胁着一个叫艾米蒂长岛的幽静的滨海小镇的故事，人们对这个故事的解释众说纷纭。它是在水门事件发生后针对腐败问题进行评论吗？它是表示对越南战争的隐喻吗？还是为了例证弗洛伊德阉割焦虑症？菲德尔·卡斯特罗在一次尝试影评时，认为这部电影是一部宣扬马克思主义，批判美国资本主义的伟大作品。

The movie supports so many theories because of its layered plot and styles—one reason it is amenable to repeated viewings. Nerve-tingling suspense is intercut with picket- fence melodrama and humour. It is a buddy movie crossed with an adventure on the high seas. From the perspective of the pandemic, though, “Jaws” seems at heart to be a film about the untameable power of nature. An invisible, relentless assailant makes no distinction as to whom it attacks. Like some leaders today, the officials who must confront it are vacillating and helpless.
这部电影之所以支持着这么多的理论，是因为它的情节和风格层次分明，这也是它容易让人反复观看的原因。神经紧绷的悬念与栅栏式的情节与幽默交织在一起。这是一部在公海上冒险的伙伴电影。不过，从大流行的角度来看，《大白鲨》在本质上似乎是一部关于大自然不可估量的力量的电影。存在一个看不见的，无情的袭击者，它会无差别进行袭击。官员们必须去面对这个袭击者，他们就像今天的一些领导人一样，摇摆不定，束手无策。

Much of the tension is achieved through the power of suggestion. The shark is not fully seen until long into the story (mostly because the mechanical models constantly malfunctioned). As in the lockdown, when the streets outside are the domain of a deadly bug, the sea that gives the beast its cover is the enemy, too, made ominous and forbidding by the spare and portentous score. Where can you turn when a killer might be anywhere?
这部影片中大量的紧张感是依靠联想的力量进行塑造的。故事开始了很久，人们才完整地看到这只鲨鱼（主要是因为机械模型经常出现故障）。就像是在封锁时期时，外面的大街被某种致命的微生物占据，为野兽提供庇护的大海也是敌人，电影中额外的且充满预兆性的配乐营造了不详和可怕的氛围。凶手可能会出现在任何地方，这时你能朝向哪里？