美国国家公共电台 NPR The Success Of Society Run Amok: What Does 'The Purge' Say About Us?

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

In a not-so-distant dystopian future, people are pitted against their neighbors one night a year. And on that night, all crime, including murder, is legal. That is the premise¹ of an incredibly successful horror movie franchise². The fourth installment³ of "The Purge⁴" series opened today, and NPR's Neda Ulaby wondered what about these stories of society run amok keeps audiences coming back. Here's what she found out.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE⁵: "The Purge" films have on average made almost 2,000 percent at the worldwide box office. The newest one explains how the Purge came to be.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE FIRST PURGE")

VAN JONES: (As Reporter #2) Is the Purge a political device?

MARISA TOMEI: (As Dr. Updale) It is a psychological one. If we want to save our country, we must release all our anger in one night.

ULABY: The idea is that if people blow off steam, crime rates go down.

GRADY HENDRIX: It's a cool idea.

ULABY: That's Grady Hendrix. He's an expert on horror literature and film.

HENDRIX: And you know, movies don't have a lot of cool ideas. So when you find one, you may as well make as many sequels as you can.

ULABY: Hendrix says the "Purge" films work in the tradition of those urban menace movies so big in the 1970s - "Death Wish," "Taxi Driver."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "TAXI DRIVER")

ROBERT DE NIRO: (As Travis Bickle) Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.

HENDRIX: This idea that our cities are just these, like, horrible death traps and the second you let your guard down, you'll get murdered by weirdos.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PURGE")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Somebody please just open the door for me.

(SOUNDBITE OF WEAPONS FIRING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) They're coming. They're coming...

ULABY: At a moment when gentrification has changed the conversation about crime on city streets, the power of the Purge also derives⁶ from an older horror trope, the idea of blood sacrifice, played out in "The Hunger Games" books and movies and, Hendrix says, the classic Shirley Jackson short story "The Lottery⁷."

HENDRIX: Where, for a society to be healthy, you just have to kill people sometimes.

ULABY: The politics of the Purge haven't been exactly subtle. In one, the heroine is a crusading senator who calls out the National Rifle Association.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR")

ELIZABETH MITCHELL: (As Charlie Roan) The money generated from the Purge lines the pockets of the NRA and insurance companies.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

JAMES DEMONACO: The end justifies⁸ the means.

ULABY: James DeMonaco wrote all the "Purge" movies. In a promotional interview with Movieclips Coming Soon about the first one back in 2013, he said he purposefully made the backstory shadowy.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

DEMONACO: We kind of say that America was starting to crumble⁹ - crime, poverty, stock market crash, many wars. So everything kind of went haywire. A new government regime came in and got us back on track by creating the Purge.

ULABY: The baddest guys in the series tend to be wealthy elites¹⁰ who enjoy private manhunts and deem certain people expendable, like the homeless or political opponents.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR")

RAYMOND J. BARRY: (As Caleb Warrens) We are going to use this year's Purge to do some spring cleaning, gentlemen.

HENDRIX: Survival is the most important thing.

ULABY: Writer Grady Hendrix says that basic message resonates when so many people struggle just to make ends meet.

HENDRIX: And I think one of the things that's interesting with the "Purge" movies is, at a time when the idea of a safe space is so ridiculed¹¹ - I mean, really, to talk about safe spaces, you're almost using a word that's become a pejorative¹². However, the "Purge" movies do traffic in the horror of saying there are no safe spaces.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) They have chainsaws, and they're coming inside.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHAINSAW REVVING)

HENDRIX: Your house isn't safe. Your store isn't safe. Your family isn't safe.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As character) Here they come.

HENDRIX: There is nowhere you can go to get away from or be protected from someone who wants to get at you.

ULABY: Americans are feeling more divided than ever according to numerous polls. Hendrix says a story about losing common humanity feels relevant.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE PURGE: ELECTION YEAR")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #4: (As character) How the hell did it get to this?

ULABY: Regardless of politics, the "Purge" movies share a sense of the decay of the American dream. Horror movies are often a catharsis. The "Purge" films live up to their name.

Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

2 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

3 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

4 purge   

n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁

参考例句：

• The new president carried out a purge of disloyal army officers.新总统对不忠诚的军官进行了清洗。
• The mayoral candidate has promised to purge the police department.市长候选人答应清洗警察部门。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 derives   

v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• English derives in the main from the common Germanic stock. 英语主要源于日耳曼语系。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derives his income from freelance work. 他以自由职业获取收入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

8 justifies   

证明…有理( justify的第三人称单数 )； 为…辩护； 对…作出解释； 为…辩解（或辩护）

参考例句：

• Their frequency of use both justifies and requires the memorization. 频繁的使用需要记忆，也促进了记忆。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• In my judgement the present end justifies the means. 照我的意见，只要目的正当，手段是可以不计较的。

9 crumble   

vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁

参考例句：

• Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
• Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂，意志永不动摇。

10 elites   

精华( elite的名词复数 )； 精锐； 上层集团； （统称）掌权人物

参考例句：

• The elites are by their nature a factor contributing to underdevelopment. 这些上层人物天生是助长欠发达的因素。
• Elites always detest gifted and nimble outsiders. 社会名流对天赋聪明、多才多艺的局外人一向嫌恶。

11 ridiculed   

v.嘲笑，嘲弄，奚落( ridicule的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Biosphere 2 was ultimately ridiculed as a research debade, as exfravagant pseudoscience. 生物圈2号最终被讥讽为科研上的大失败，代价是昂贵的伪科学。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She ridiculed his insatiable greed. 她嘲笑他的贪得无厌。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 pejorative   

adj.贬低的，轻蔑的

参考例句：

• In the context of ethnic tourism,commercialization often has a pejorative connotation.摘要在民族旅游语境中，商品化经常带有贬义色彩。
• But news organizations also should make every effort to keep the discussion civil and to discourage the dissemination of falsehoods or pejorat