《愛樂之城》為何能打破歌舞片魔咒？

Although it’s acceptable for characters from Disney animations (動畫片) 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?

 迪士尼動畫中，人物說著說著話突然載歌載舞起來，觀眾們還能接受，但要是 “現(xiàn)實情景”中的演員也這么做，是不是會讓人感覺怪異呢?

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.

但音樂電影《愛樂之城》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)的開幕影片，今年一月創(chuàng)下了贏得七座金球獎的記錄，并獲得了包括最佳影片，最佳導演和最佳服裝設計在內(nèi)的14項奧斯卡提名。《愛樂之城》已于2月14日登陸中國各大影院。

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

但為什么忽然之間，一部音樂電影開始創(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)當前的政治氛圍讓人們想從輕松愉快的娛樂方式中尋求慰藉——尤其是像《愛樂之城》這樣的電影。這部電影講述了一對男女邂逅的簡單故事。故事發(fā)生在永遠陽光明媚的洛杉磯，這里所有的一切都被抹上了一層明亮的色彩，而對于那些希望短暫逃離這個世界的人來說，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，唯一一次我在兩個多小時里不會想起特朗普那些事，”《衛(wèi)報》編輯約翰•帕特森寫道。“《愛樂之城》令我擺脫了憤怒，冷嘲熱諷和焦慮，盡管只有一小會兒。”

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)濟大蕭條) hit the US.

如果你回想一下上次音樂電影的輝煌時刻，這一切就不難理解。在半個多世紀以前，上世紀30年代到50年代，經(jīng)濟大蕭條重創(chuàng)美國。

“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.

“政治家們在經(jīng)濟大蕭條期間，經(jīng)常派給好萊塢‘鼓舞美國人’的任務，希望娛樂業(yè)能夠在轉移美國人對于經(jīng)濟衰退的恐懼上發(fā)揮重要作用。” 希尼•胡貝爾在一篇名為《大蕭條中的音樂》博文里寫道。

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《愛樂之城》是一部充滿了夢幻氛圍的音樂劇，但它依然有著相當現(xiàn)實的一部分。這個男孩女孩相遇的故事最終并非幸福的大團圓結局。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，” 影片的導演達米安•查澤雷在接受《獨立報》采訪時表示。“將50年代的音樂劇的某些特點運用到現(xiàn)代都市，并以現(xiàn)代手法拍成電影，看看最終會產(chǎn)生什么效果，是一件很有趣的事。”