《愛(ài)樂(lè)之城》為何能打破歌舞片魔咒？

Although it’s acceptable for characters from Disney animations (動(dòng)畫(huà)片) to suddenly break into songs and dances in the middle of a conversation, it’d still be weird (怪異的) for “real life” actors to do the same, wouldn’t it?

 迪士尼動(dòng)畫(huà)中，人物說(shuō)著說(shuō)著話突然載歌載舞起來(lái)，觀眾們還能接受，但要是 “現(xiàn)實(shí)情景”中的演員也這么做，是不是會(huì)讓人感覺(jué)怪異呢?

But the impromptu (即興的) songs and dances are what La La Land - a musical film - is all about. This pattern worked surprisingly well: The film opened last year’s Venice Film Festival, won a record-breaking seven Golden Globes in January, and it already has 14 Oscar nominations (提名), including best picture, best director and best costume design. La La Land was released in China on Feb 14.

但音樂(lè)電影《愛(ài)樂(lè)之城》的即興歌舞正是如此。這一模式效果出人意料的好：這部電影是去年的威尼斯電影節(jié)的開(kāi)幕影片，今年一月創(chuàng)下了贏得七座金球獎(jiǎng)的記錄，并獲得了包括最佳影片，最佳導(dǎo)演和最佳服裝設(shè)計(jì)在內(nèi)的14項(xiàng)奧斯卡提名。《愛(ài)樂(lè)之城》已于2月14日登陸中國(guó)各大影院。

But why is it that a musical is making history all of a sudden?

但為什么忽然之間，一部音樂(lè)電影開(kāi)始創(chuàng)造歷史?

It’s believed that the current political climate is driving people toward light-hearted entertainment for relief – especially movies like La La Land, which tells a simple boy-meets-girl story. The tale takes place in an ever-sunny Los Angeles, where everything is painted in a positive light, which may be another attraction for those looking to escape the world for a short while.

人們相信，(美國(guó))當(dāng)前的政治氛圍讓人們想從輕松愉快的娛樂(lè)方式中尋求慰藉——尤其是像《愛(ài)樂(lè)之城》這樣的電影。這部電影講述了一對(duì)男女邂逅的簡(jiǎn)單故事。故事發(fā)生在永遠(yuǎn)陽(yáng)光明媚的洛杉磯，這里所有的一切都被抹上了一層明亮的色彩，而對(duì)于那些希望短暫逃離這個(gè)世界的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這或許是電影又一引人之處。

“This was the only time for me since Nov 8 that I was successfully able to shut out all thoughts of Trump World for over two hours,” wrote The Guardian’s editor John Patterson. “La La Land, if only for a while, quite rid me of anger, cynicism (憤世嫉俗) and anxiety.”

 “這是11月8日以來(lái)，唯一一次我在兩個(gè)多小時(shí)里不會(huì)想起特朗普那些事，”《衛(wèi)報(bào)》編輯約翰•帕特森寫(xiě)道。“《愛(ài)樂(lè)之城》令我擺脫了憤怒，冷嘲熱諷和焦慮，盡管只有一小會(huì)兒。”

This is not hard to understand if you think about the last time musical films had their moment of glory. It was more than half a century ago, back in the 1930s through to the 1950s, when the Great Depression (經(jīng)濟(jì)大蕭條) hit the US.

如果你回想一下上次音樂(lè)電影的輝煌時(shí)刻，這一切就不難理解。在半個(gè)多世紀(jì)以前，上世紀(jì)30年代到50年代，經(jīng)濟(jì)大蕭條重創(chuàng)美國(guó)。

“Politicians often allotted (指派) Hollywood the task of ‘cheering Americans up’ during the Depression, hoping that the entertainment industry could play a key role in distracting (使……轉(zhuǎn)移注意力) Americans from the horrors (恐懼) of the economic downfall,” wrote Sydney Huber on the blog Music During the Great Depression.

“政治家們?cè)诮?jīng)濟(jì)大蕭條期間，經(jīng)常派給好萊塢‘鼓舞美國(guó)人’的任務(wù)，希望娛樂(lè)業(yè)能夠在轉(zhuǎn)移美國(guó)人對(duì)于經(jīng)濟(jì)衰退的恐懼上發(fā)揮重要作用。” 希尼•胡貝爾在一篇名為《大蕭條中的音樂(lè)》博文里寫(xiě)道。

Despite being a musical filled with a dream-like atmosphere, La La Land has its fair share of realism. The boy-meets-girl story doesn’t end in a happily-ever-after way. Instead, they have to make a choice between their relationship and their careers, like many couples in the real world.

盡管《愛(ài)樂(lè)之城》是一部充滿了夢(mèng)幻氛圍的音樂(lè)劇，但它依然有著相當(dāng)現(xiàn)實(shí)的一部分。這個(gè)男孩女孩相遇的故事最終并非幸福的大團(tuán)圓結(jié)局。恰恰相反，他們必須在戀情與事業(yè)中做出選擇，就像很多現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中的情侶那樣。

“There is a modern energy to it,” Damien Chazelle, the film’s director, told The Independent. “It was fun to take certain [characteristics] from fifties musicals, but put them in a modern city and film them in a modern way, and see what resulted from that.”

“影片中有種現(xiàn)代的力量，” 影片的導(dǎo)演達(dá)米安•查澤雷在接受《獨(dú)立報(bào)》采訪時(shí)表示。“將50年代的音樂(lè)劇的某些特點(diǎn)運(yùn)用到現(xiàn)代都市，并以現(xiàn)代手法拍成電影，看看最終會(huì)產(chǎn)生什么效果，是一件很有趣的事。”