美国国家公共电台 NPR Justin Tipping's Directorial Debut Follows Young Man's Pursuit Of His 'Kicks'

Justin Tipping's Directorial Debut¹ Follows Young Man's Pursuit Of His 'Kicks' 

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:50repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser² to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: 

How does a kid end up dead over a pair of sneakers? It's the kind of footnote you hear to a local crime story, and it always felt dismissive and unfair to Justin Tipping. He's a bit of a sneakerhead, and he knows from experience how it can happen.

JUSTIN TIPPING: Sneaker culture in general - I think specifically Air Jordans - they have an emotional weight to them. It's the social signifier of status and respect because Jordans are, like, the nexus³ of hip-hop and fashion. And the sneaker culture - a lot of kids and adults see it as a piece of art.

CORNISH: So when he got to direct his first movie, he decided⁴ to tell the story of a 15-year-old boy named Brandon who takes a brutal⁵ beating over a pair of vintage Air Jordans. Humiliated⁶, Brandon vows⁷ to get his shoes back at any cost.

Justin Tipping was born and raised in Oakland where part of the movie is set. And that's not the only thing he has in common with the film's hero. As a kid, he was jumped over a pair of designer Nikes.

TIPPING: They were the first release of the Prestos. And it was the first time you can kind of custom ID them on, like, the website.

CORNISH: And these are, like, a low-top shoe, kind of jazzy, striping on the side.

TIPPING: Yeah, and I had made them white on white on white on white so they could be as pristine⁸ as possible. And I had my initials engraved⁹ on them - JTIP.

CORNISH: You were a target basically (laughter).

TIPPING: Yes.

CORNISH: New shoes, name engraved.

TIPPING: Right.

CORNISH: And then what happens?

TIPPING: You know, I started approaching a group of kids. There was about 10 of them. And the first thing I hear is, he's got the Prestos. And it was that moment I knew it was all going to fall apart for me.

Up until that point I'd probably avoided violence or found a way to avoid violence, but in certain situations, it's just going to find you. And you just get hit. You fall. You're just kind of covering yourself, and slowly you just kind of give up. And yeah, that's what it's like to get jumped.

CORNISH: And when it's over, the feeling I got watching the film was just an overwhelming sense of humiliation¹⁰.

TIPPING: Yes. You know, I remember walking around school, and kids would go out of their way to stop me and tell me, wow, you got messed up and make fun of me and laugh at me. And then specifically I remember a moment where my brother looked at me - one of my older brothers - I had black eyes and a busted¹¹ lip. And he said, trying to console me, it's OK; you're a man now.

CORNISH: Right. The idea is, like, you survive this, right? He's comforting you.

TIPPING: Right.

CORNISH: You're OK.

TIPPING: It was a rite¹² of passage...

CORNISH: Yeah.

TIPPING: ...In society's eyes. And for me, in retrospect¹⁴, I completely disagreed with that idea that violence is somehow synonymous with what it means to be a man and how we define masculinity.

CORNISH: It sounds like you've been thinking a lot about, like, manhood - right? - and this idea that you can be, like, shamed into taking certain action or not taking action. And, like, has it made you look back at your childhood or high school or, you know, just kind of the codes you learned growing up and question them?

TIPPING: Yeah, definitely. You know, I was not the kid that was going to go after the kids that beat me up, but I definitely - made me look back and say oh, that was weird¹⁵. I was only allowed to feel anger. Or, oh, that was weird. I wasn't allowed to be sensitive. Like, if I cried, then I would get made fun of. And you know, the question is how do you end that cycle?

CORNISH: How did you think about ways to tell the story that would avoid cliches - right? - of just kind of, like, mindlessly-evil, villainous gangbangers - right? - like, no internal life, literally¹⁷ baring their fangs¹⁸.

TIPPING: I mean, it would be easy to just - here's a thug. This is the villain¹⁶, and that's it. Here's one to mention. But I always think about the time getting kicked and stomped¹⁹ and thinking about, well, what drove those kids to the point of kicking me, right? And you know, the way Flacco is raising a son as well.

CORNISH: Right, Flacco is the villain, the kind of ringleader of the assault.

TIPPING: Right. And for me, you know, it's like these kids have choices to make. And it starts with the youngest kid, and he could become Brandon. Brandon could - Brandon essentially²⁰ becomes the guy he hates. Hopefully he realizes that.

CORNISH: Right, he's in danger of becoming the bully²¹ with a gun.

TIPPING: And the bully could be - end up becoming Brandon's uncle. This false sage¹³ who says, you know, this is a dog-eat-dog world. Or he can realize the madness in his life. And all of these characters can at the end hopefully find a way to have a slight shift in their moral barometer²² in life and walk a better path, hopefully.

CORNISH: In the end, did this world feel bleak²³ to you? And I ask because, you know, you grew up in East Bay (laughter). And, like, do you feel like it lands in a hopeful place?

TIPPING: I think it lands in a bittersweet place. Well, I never wanted it to feel bleak throughout. I always wanted there to be some levity²⁴. And I think that even if you grew up there, you're still a kid. And you crack jokes, and you still see beauty in the world.

There's just these, you know, events that take place that are scary, but it doesn't always have to take away from your teenageism (laughter), which is just having fun with friends. It was just important for me to, you know, remind the audience and the viewers that this does happen every day, and we need to continue the conversation.

CORNISH: Well, Justin Tipping, this is obviously a personal project, and thank you very much for sharing, you know, telling us more about it.

TIPPING: Thank you for having me.

1 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

2 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。

3 nexus   

n.联系；关系

参考例句：

• Shared ambition is the vital nexus between them.共同的志向是把他们联结在一起的重要纽带。
• Either way,the nexus between the consumer and consumer prices is important.无论那个方面，消费者与消费价格之间的关系是至关重要的。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

6 humiliated   

感到羞愧的

参考例句：

• Parents are humiliated if their children behave badly when guests are present. 子女在客人面前举止失当，父母也失体面。
• He was ashamed and bitterly humiliated. 他感到羞耻，丢尽了面子。

7 vows   

誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿

参考例句：

• Matrimonial vows are to show the faithfulness of the new couple. 婚誓体现了新婚夫妇对婚姻的忠诚。
• The nun took strait vows. 那位修女立下严格的誓愿。

8 pristine   

adj.原来的，古时的，原始的，纯净的，无垢的

参考例句：

• He wiped his fingers on his pristine handkerchief.他用他那块洁净的手帕擦手指。
• He wasn't about to blemish that pristine record.他本不想去玷污那清白的过去。

9 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。

11 busted   

adj. 破产了的，失败了的，被降级的，被逮捕的，被抓到的 动词bust的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You are so busted! 你被当场逮住了！
• It was money troubles that busted up their marriage. 是金钱纠纷使他们的婚姻破裂了。

12 rite   

n.典礼，惯例，习俗

参考例句：

• This festival descends from a religious rite.这个节日起源于宗教仪式。
• Most traditional societies have transition rites at puberty.大多数传统社会都为青春期的孩子举行成人礼。

13 sage   

n.圣人，哲人；adj.贤明的，明智的

参考例句：

• I was grateful for the old man's sage advice.我很感激那位老人贤明的忠告。
• The sage is the instructor of a hundred ages.这位哲人是百代之师。

14 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

15 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

16 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

17 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

18 fangs   

n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座

参考例句：

• The dog fleshed his fangs in the deer's leg. 狗用尖牙咬住了鹿腿。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Dogs came lunging forward with their fangs bared. 狗龇牙咧嘴地扑过来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 stomped   

v.跺脚，践踏，重踏( stomp的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She stomped angrily out of the office. 她怒气冲冲，重步走出办公室。
• She slammed the door and stomped (off) out of the house. 她砰的一声关上了门，暮暮地走出了屋了。 来自辞典例句

20 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

21 bully   

n.恃强欺弱者，小流氓；vt.威胁，欺侮

参考例句：

• A bully is always a coward.暴汉常是懦夫。
• The boy gave the bully a pelt on the back with a pebble.那男孩用石子掷击小流氓的背脊。

22 barometer   

n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标

参考例句：

• The barometer marked a continuing fall in atmospheric pressure.气压表表明气压在继续下降。
• The arrow on the barometer was pointing to"stormy".气压计上的箭头指向“有暴风雨”。

23 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

24 levity   

n.轻率，轻浮，不稳定，多变

参考例句：

• His remarks injected a note of levity into the proceedings.他的话将一丝轻率带入了议事过程中。
• At the time,Arnold had disapproved of such levity.那时候的阿诺德对这种轻浮行为很看不惯。