美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Joker' Is Wild ... ly Dull

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Hollywood has been churning out superhero origin stories for decades, but a new film flips¹ the genre² on its head, telling the origin story of a supervillain. "Joker" stars Joaquin Phoenix⁴ as the man who would become Batman's greatest foe⁵. It's a controversial movie for the way it seems to embrace the villain³'s violent ways. NPR critic Glen Weldon is something of a Batman expert. He wrote a cultural history of him a few years back, and he has this review.

GLEN WELDON, BYLINE⁶: In the comics and cartoons and on film as played by Jack⁷ Nicholson...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BATMAN (1989)")

JACK NICHOLSON: (As Joker, laughing).

WELDON: ...And Heath Ledger⁸...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DARK KNIGHT")

HEATH LEDGER: (As Joker, laughing).

WELDON: The Joker is an agent of chaos⁹ - a gleefully violent sadist whose motivations remain mysterious, unknowable. Director Todd Phillips' new film seeks to strip away all mystery from the character and make his motivations very knowable. And in that much, at least, he succeeds. Meet Arthur Fleck¹⁰.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOKER")

JOAQUIN PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck/Joker) My mother always tells me to smile and put on a happy face. She told me I had a purpose - to bring laughter and joy to the world.

PHOENIX: He's a down-on-his-luck clown for hire, only he's having a little trouble getting hired. Arthur has a condition that causes him to burst into laughter at random¹¹ intervals¹².

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOKER")

PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck/Joker, laughing).

WELDON: It tends to creep people out.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOKER")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Is something funny?

(SOUNDBITE OF CRASHING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Stay down, freak.

WELDON: Arthur gets beat up a lot in this movie - once by a bunch of Wall Street bros on the subway, who taunt¹³ him by singing "Send In The Clowns." It's really the only time in this otherwise grounded film that we're asked to suspend our disbelief at all because seriously, we're supposed to believe that a straight finance bro would be off-book on the second and third verses of a Sondheim number? Come on. At least Arthur has a social worker to talk to. Except...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOKER")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) I have some bad news for you.

PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck/Joker, laughing).

WELDON: The city's cut the funding.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOKER")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) This is the last time we'll be meeting.

WELDON: He doesn't take it well.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOKER")

PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck/Joker) You don't listen, do you? You just ask the same questions every week. How's your job? Are you having any negative thoughts? All I have are negative thoughts.

WELDON: You see what director Phillips and his co-screenwriter Scott Silver are up to. You couldn't miss it if you tried. They want us to see Arthur as a victim pushed into becoming a monster by his mental illness and by a broken government. Now, some might find that irresponsible. What it certainly is is uninteresting. Sure, "Joker" is tense, grimy and claustrophobic. And Phoenix's performance is already getting Oscar buzz.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOKER")

PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck/Joker) People are starting to notice.

WELDON: But the film so desperately¹⁴ strives to reject comic-book trappings, so wants to be seen as edgy¹⁵, provocative¹⁶, adult that it simply apes the tone, style and content of other, better, more edgy, more provocative films like "Taxi Driver" and "The King Of Comedy" and "Fight Club." But those films had a point of view. They had something to say. They implicated¹⁷ us in their onscreen violence and the bad choices the characters made. "Joker" sees Arthur's transformation¹⁸ into a mass murderer as inevitable¹⁹. It's not a choice. It's something the world does to him.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "JOKER")

PHOENIX: (As Arthur Fleck/Joker) Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?

WELDON: It devotes so much energy to not being about a comic book villain that it neglects being about much of anything, really.

I'm Glen Weldon.

(SOUNDBITE OF HILDUR GUDNADOTTIR'S "CALL ME JOKER")

1 flips   

轻弹( flip的第三人称单数 )； 按（开关）； 快速翻转； 急挥

参考例句：

• Larry flips on the TV while he is on vacation in Budapest. 赖瑞在布达佩斯渡假时，打开电视收看节目。
• He flips through a book before making a decision. 他在决定买下一本书前总要先草草翻阅一下。

2 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

3 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。

4 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

5 foe   

n.敌人，仇敌

参考例句：

• He knew that Karl could be an implacable foe.他明白卡尔可能会成为他的死敌。
• A friend is a friend;a foe is a foe;one must be clearly distinguished from the other.敌是敌，友是友，必须分清界限。

6 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。

7 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

8 ledger   

n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿

参考例句：

• The young man bowed his head and bent over his ledger again.那个年轻人点头应诺，然后又埋头写起分类帐。
• She is a real accountant who even keeps a detailed household ledger.她不愧是搞财务的，家庭分类账记得清楚详细。

9 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

10 fleck   

n.斑点，微粒 vt.使有斑点，使成斑驳

参考例句：

• The garlic moss has no the yellow fleck and other virus. 蒜苔无黄斑点及其它病毒。
• His coat is blue with a grey fleck.他的上衣是蓝色的，上面带有灰色的斑点。

11 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

12 intervals   

n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息

参考例句：

• The forecast said there would be sunny intervals and showers. 预报间晴，有阵雨。
• Meetings take place at fortnightly intervals. 每两周开一次会。

13 taunt   

n.辱骂，嘲弄；v.嘲弄

参考例句：

• He became a taunt to his neighbours.他成了邻居们嘲讽的对象。
• Why do the other children taunt him with having red hair?为什么别的小孩子讥笑他有红头发？

14 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

15 edgy   

adj.不安的；易怒的

参考例句：

• She's been a bit edgy lately,waiting for the exam results.她正在等待考试结果，所以最近有些焦躁不安。
• He was nervous and edgy, still chain-smoking.他紧张不安，还在一根接一根地抽着烟。

16 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

17 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

18 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

19 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。