美国国家公共电台 NPR New 'American Pastoral' Movie Is A '60s Tale Still Relevant Today

New 'American Pastoral' Movie Is A '60s Tale Still Relevant Today

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Miss New Jersey² and a former Mr. High School Football star get married. They have a beautiful daughter, a lovely house in the country and a peaceful, blessed life. But then the 1960s strike, and that little girl becomes a bomber³. Philip Roth's highly acclaimed⁴ 1997 novel has been made into a film.

"American Pastoral" stars Ewan McGregor as Seymour Swede Levov, Jennifer Connelly as his wife and Dakota Fanning as Merry, their daughter. The film is also directed by Ewan McGregor, who joins us now from the studios of NPR West. Thanks so much for being with us.

EWAN MCGREGOR: Thanks for having me.

SIMON: What spoke⁵ to you about this story?

MCGREGOR: Well, the first thing that touched me about it was the relationship between Swede and his daughter, Merry, the first time I read it, very much as a father-daughter story. And I am the father of four girls, so I know very much what that relationship is like and how powerful that relationship is. So I was moved by it and I think that's what grabbed me.

SIMON: I want to play a clip from early in the story. This is a father and daughter. He's gotten a plaque⁶ for keeping his glove factory open after the riots in Newark and his daughter, who's by now a teenager, tells him that the times are a-changin'.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AMERICAN PASTORAL")

MCGREGOR: (As Seymour Swede Levov) Look, they gave me this award. It's just a stupid plaque, but it means one thing. If you take a stand, people notice. If you oppose the war right here with all your strength - this is part of America, too, you know.

DAKOTA FANNING: (As Merry Levov) Read Marx. Revolutions don't begin in the countryside.

MCGREGOR: (As Seymour Swede Levov) We're not talking about revolution.

FANNING: (As Merry Levov) You're not talking about revolution.

SIMON: The novel came out almost a generation ago, and it was written a generation after the 1960s. What makes it speak so powerfully to what's going on now, do you think?

MCGREGOR: Well, there's lots in the story that sadly reflects things that are happening today. There's a sequence in the movie that explores the riots in Newark in '67 where the African-American community were on the streets there protesting against not being given equal pay and brutality⁷ from the force and - the police force - and there was no representation in the local council. And Merry, our daughter, Dakota's character, is politicized and radicalized and becomes a bomber, as you said. So that's obviously, sadly, still very current today, too.

SIMON: Yeah. It is considered one of the great novels of the 20th century. And without giving anything away, you've made some changes.

MCGREGOR: Yeah, a little bit here and there. I think if Roth was writing about that period in American history, he was using it - the family as sort of a lens to do so, if you like. And I tried to inject as much Philip Rothian-ness (ph) as I could into the film by showing different sides to arguments, by not making things black and white but by always trying to understand the characters in the movie, trying to understand why Merry does what she does, trying to understand Dawn, at the end of the story, why she...

SIMON: Dawn is the mother - is the mother and the wife.

MCGREGOR: Dawn is the mother, that's right, played by Jennifer Connelly - trying to understand how it is that she survives the tragedy in their life in the way that the Swede doesn't.

SIMON: Yeah, well, and one of the recurrent themes in the narrative⁸ is Merry's rebellion, personal or political, or as they used to say, the personal is political.

MCGREGOR: Yeah, I think that's interesting. That's, again, one of the themes that he explores is that everybody's trying to figure out where they went wrong. And Roth presents lots and lots of ideas - assimilation, religion. The Swede is a Jewish man who marries a Irish-Catholic American girl, moves away from Newark into sort of rich, white, Republican America. And, if you like, turns his back on not only his religion but his, maybe, his class or social standing⁹. But ultimately, perhaps she does what she does just because that's what she does, you know?

SIMON: Yeah, everything Swede's poured his life into suddenly is - or not so suddenly - is threatened. His child has run off. His wife suffers a breakdown¹⁰. Even the glove factory is on the skids¹¹ because of outsourcing. So as a director, how did you get the actor to portray¹² that?

(LAUGHTER)

MCGREGOR: The leading actor was fantastic, what a talented man he is. So he...

SIMON: (Laughter) Did he take direction well out of curiosity?

MCGREGOR: Very well, yes, very, very - never argued back, not once. I felt like from my first reading I understood who the Swede was. I could see myself in him. I could see my father in him to an extent. I've never been more prepared to play a part in my life, I don't think.

SIMON: You looked at Swede and saw both traces of yourself and your father?

MCGREGOR: Well, I can see parts of my dad in him and parts of myself in him, I suppose, because, you know, I'm exploring somebody who's a father, so my experience of that is both being one and also having had one. At the very end of the movie, I have four shots where I show in a sort of poetic¹³ fashion I suppose the rest of the Swede's life and I had my father take some pictures of himself that I gave to our amazing special effects makeup¹⁴ designer, Mike Marino. And so he sort of sculpted¹⁵ the old age makeup that I wear at the end of the film off pictures of my father. And for me, watching it is like me becoming my dad. It's quite amazing. And I showed my father the film in London just two or three nights ago. And my dad said, well, you know, if he's as handsome as I am by the time he's in his '70s he's not doing too badly (laughter). But I have to say, I sort of agree with him, you know. People have said, is it scary? And I said no, it's not scary. If I turn out like my dad, I'll be doing very well.

SIMON: Ewan McGregor, who stars in and directs "American Pastoral" with Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning, thanks so much for being with us.

MCGREGOR: Thank you very much for having me.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

3 bomber   

n.轰炸机，投弹手，投掷炸弹者

参考例句：

• He flew a bomber during the war.他在战时驾驶轰炸机。
• Detectives hunting the London bombers will be keen to interview him.追查伦敦爆炸案凶犯的侦探们急于对他进行讯问。

4 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 plaque   

n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板

参考例句：

• There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
• Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。

7 brutality   

n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮

参考例句：

• The brutality of the crime has appalled the public. 罪行之残暴使公众大为震惊。
• a general who was infamous for his brutality 因残忍而恶名昭彰的将军

8 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

11 skids   

n.滑向一侧( skid的名词复数 )；滑道；滚道；制轮器v.（通常指车辆） 侧滑( skid的第三人称单数 )；打滑；滑行；（住在）贫民区

参考例句：

• The aging football player was playing on the skids. 那个上了年纪的足球运动员很明显地在走下坡路。 来自辞典例句
• It's a shame that he hit the skids. 很遗憾他消沉了。 来自辞典例句

12 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

13 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

14 makeup   

n.组织；性格；化装品

参考例句：

• Those who failed the exam take a makeup exam.这次考试不及格的人必须参加补考。
• Do you think her beauty could makeup for her stupidity?你认为她的美丽能弥补她的愚蠢吗？

15 sculpted   

adj.经雕塑的

参考例句：

• a display of animals sculpted in ice 冰雕动物展
• The ladies had their hair sculpted by the leading coiffeur of the day. 女士们的发型都是当代有名的理发师做的。