美国国家公共电台 NPR It Wasn't Cool To Care In The 'Mid90s' — But Jonah Hill Does

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Actor Jonah Hill grew up in the age of irony¹. For many young people in the '90s, it was cool not to care about anything. Those who did were mocked. One definition of nerd is just somebody who's really into something. In the world of a new movie directed by Jonah Hill, caring can mean you're not manly². Rachel Martin has the story of a film about which Hill cares a lot.

RACHEL MARTIN, BYLINE³: Jonah Hill didn't want his first directing project to be just anything. He wanted a story that mattered to him personally. "Mid90s" isn't a story about his life, per se, but it is about the universal longing⁴ of a teenage kid who just wants to fit in.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MID90S")

LUCAS HEDGES: (As Ian) You think you're pretty cool.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As friend) You good?

HEDGES: (As Ian) Your ghetto⁵ [expletive] friends. You're just a little kid.

MARTIN: It's about a group of friends growing up in LA - yes - in the '90s, and skateboarding is at the center of their universe. Jonah Hill was determined⁶ to treat it with that kind of reverence⁷.

JONAH HILL: Skateboarding is always shown as, like, cowabunga, dude, and, like, you know? And it's offensive. And so skateboarding is really sensitive, even when they heard, oh, the kid from "Superbad's" going to make a skateboarding movie? You know, like, thumbs down.

MARTIN: That was the reaction?

HILL: Yeah. Skateboarding is the most protective, insular⁸ community, which is why it's so difficult to make a film involving it. It's butchered. You know, it's misunderstood. Imagine if there was, like, 10 movies about NPR hosts and none of them had ever...

MARTIN: We can only wish. Right?

HILL: (Laughter). That's my next film.

MARTIN: (Laughter). Right.

HILL: But none of them had ever stepped foot in a recording⁹ booth and interviewed anybody. You know what I mean?

MARTIN: Yeah.

HILL: So it's like any really proud subculture.

MARTIN: So that's the backdrop. At the center of the story is a 13-year-old named Stevie. Things are bad for him at home. His brother beats him up. He is lonely and looking for some kind of connection. Stevie sees this group of kids hanging out in front of a skate shop, and instantly, he feels close to their tribe.

HILL: It's the kind of closeness you can see from 10,000 miles away. It's sort of an idiosyncratic, perverse¹⁰ closeness layered with a lot of toxic¹¹ masculinity and, on the surface, cruelty, but such a deep connection and family situation.

MARTIN: Did you have that? Did you have that group of skateboarding friends?

HILL: I did. I've had it in many various ways, whether it was skateboarding, film. But I definitely felt like an outsider. I definitely felt like I didn't belong. And there's a certain person that skateboarding draws. You know, skateboarding now is such a - it's going to be an Olympic sport, for God's sakes, it's so mainstream¹². But when I started skateboarding, it was not cool, and society really looked down on you as a nuisance. One of the things I loved about it was the nonjudgmental-ness in certain ways of skateboarders. And I think that created a lens that I saw life through, whether it was sense of humor, musical taste, cinema taste. It really was an ethic¹³, an aesthetic¹⁴ for me that I carry with me to this day.

MARTIN: There was something about - maybe it's just me, but it was the patter of how the guys talked to each other. Maybe that's universal. Like, this is how adolescent boys are with each other. They are stupid.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "MID90S")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As boy) I love me a mature woman, though.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As shopkeeper) Get the [expletive] out of the front of my store.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As boy) [Expletive] you.

HILL: Yeah. And the only thing that's ever even come close - it's been such a magical experience showing this film because it is my heart. It is my heart and my soul. And the .01 percent where someone views the toxic masculinity or the homophobia as me thinking that's funny...

MARTIN: Right.

HILL: ...Has been heartbreaking because it was done so intentionally¹⁵ to hold a mirror up to how people in this generation grew up and the changes we're having to make in the wrong lessons we've learned. To me, they speak so aggressively about women and gay people that it's - that is how it was. And I felt it would be way more disrespectful to change history than to show it just as it was and let the audience see how ugly it feels.

MARTIN: Our pop culture critic here at NPR Linda Holmes said this about the film. Quote, "it felt like a salute¹⁶ to how toxic masculinity makes boys feel included, which is true," she writes, "but not sweet, as Hill seems to find it." How do you respond to that?

HILL: I just disagree. I found that it was connective tissue, which is unfortunate. I still think these people were there for each other, even though they had a lot of behavior I don't think is cool. The point of the movie is that nothing's black or white. I'm not a moralist. I'm not here to, like, tell an audience how they should feel. I think the way they speak about women and gay people is really a messed-up way to go about that. And then at the end of the film, they still are there for one another. So I don't think anyone is purely¹⁷ good or purely bad. I hope to create complex characters that constantly are challenging what you think of them.

MARTIN: Can I ask you about the casting? Because there's not a lot of names that people would perhaps recognize. I mean, the acting¹⁸ is pretty phenomenal, especially the star of the film and the guys who play the people in his boarding tribe.

HILL: (Laughter). That's really nice. I mean, the singular most moving experience in my life was casting first-time or non-actors. And they became these people and became actors and artists. One of the kids, Owen, the kid with the long, curly hair, who's very, like, light and fun and funny, at lunch, I was - you know, all the kids would joke around, talk trash and stuff. And I saw he looked really pensive¹⁹, and that was abnormal. And you feel kind of big brotherly or protective over them. So I was concerned. And then I looked down, and he had his, like, rumpled-up script under the table, and he was rehearsing his lines during lunch.

MARTIN: (Laughter).

HILL: You know? And this is a kid who had never thought about acting before.

MARTIN: Which is so funny, right? Because the guys, the characters they're playing, are struggling to be perceived like they don't care about anything. It's not cool to care.

HILL: In the '90s, especially, it was the lamest²⁰ thing ever to say that you cared or tried. At least, in the culture I grew up in.

MARTIN: Right.

HILL: And what I love about spending time with these kids now is that they are motivated. And these kids give such naturalistic performances. I am just so proud of them. It's very moving.

MARTIN: You've got the directing bug²¹ now?

HILL: You know, my whole dream my whole life was to be a writer-director. I fell into this 15-year acting career where I got to learn from a lot of my heroes. And it's something I have wanted to do and would have done sooner. It's just that you only get one chance to make your first film, and I really wanted to wait till it was something that really meant something to me. I love this film. I stand by it, and I hope to just keep making things that I care about. That would be a great life. I should be so lucky.

MARTIN: The film is called "Mid90s." Jonah Hill is the director. Thanks so much for talking with us.

HILL: Yeah. It was a pleasure. Thanks for having me.

1 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

2 manly   

adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地

参考例句：

• The boy walked with a confident manly stride.这男孩以自信的男人步伐行走。
• He set himself manly tasks and expected others to follow his example.他给自己定下了男子汉的任务，并希望别人效之。

3 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。

4 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。

5 ghetto   

n.少数民族聚居区，贫民区

参考例句：

• Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
• I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

7 reverence   

n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬

参考例句：

• He was a bishop who was held in reverence by all.他是一位被大家都尊敬的主教。
• We reverence tradition but will not be fettered by it.我们尊重传统，但不被传统所束缚。

8 insular   

adj.岛屿的，心胸狭窄的

参考例句：

• A continental climate is different from an insular one.大陆性气候不同于岛屿气候。
• Having lived in one place all his life,his views are insular.他一辈子住在一个地方，所以思想狭隘。

9 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

10 perverse   

adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的

参考例句：

• It would be perverse to stop this healthy trend.阻止这种健康发展的趋势是没有道理的。
• She gets a perverse satisfaction from making other people embarrassed.她有一种不正常的心态，以使别人难堪来取乐。

11 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

12 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

13 ethic   

n.道德标准，行为准则

参考例句：

• They instilled the work ethic into their children.他们在孩子们的心中注入了职业道德的理念。
• The connotation of education ethic is rooted in human nature's mobility.教育伦理的内涵根源于人本性的变动性。

14 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

15 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

16 salute   

vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮

参考例句：

• Merchant ships salute each other by dipping the flag.商船互相点旗致敬。
• The Japanese women salute the people with formal bows in welcome.这些日本妇女以正式的鞠躬向人们施礼以示欢迎。

17 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

18 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

19 pensive   

a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的

参考例句：

• He looked suddenly sombre,pensive.他突然看起来很阴郁，一副忧虑的样子。
• He became so pensive that she didn't like to break into his thought.他陷入沉思之中,她不想打断他的思路。

20 lamest   

瘸的( lame的最高级 )； 站不住脚的； 差劲的； 蹩脚的

参考例句：

• You can check out some of the lamest excuses ever used to dump. 你可以挑着看看那些曾被用来甩人的最蹩脚理由。

21 bug   

n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器

参考例句：

• There is a bug in the system.系统出了故障。
• The bird caught a bug on the fly.那鸟在飞行中捉住了一只昆虫。