新闻周刊:《楚门的世界》20周年:未卜先知掀真人秀浪潮(1)

The Truman Show at 20

《楚门的世界》20周年

How a Jim Carrey's movie became the most prescient film of the late '90s

金·凯瑞的电影如何成为90年代末最有先见之明的电影

By Zach Schonfeld

作者：扎克·斯科菲尔德

Peter weir¹ keeps his webcam covered with tape these days.

最近，彼得·威尔用胶带将其网络摄像头覆盖。

He doesn't want anybody watching him.

他不想让任何人监视他。

Can you blame him?

你能怪他吗？

Weir, after all, directed The Truman Show,

毕竟，威尔执导了电影《楚门的世界》，

the incisive² satire-drama from 1998

这是1998年的一部犀利的讽刺剧，

that seems startlingly prescient today.

在今天看来仍具有不可思议的先见之明。

Back then, the movie drew acclaim³ for its imaginative storyline and barbed commentary.

当时，这部电影因其富有想象力的故事情节和尖刻的评论而广受好评。

Two decades later, it resembles a veiled warning,

二十年后，这部电影就像一个含蓄的警告，

both as an astute⁴ predictor of reality TV's enormous rise

既是真人秀节目大受欢迎的精确预测者，

and as a cultural forerunner⁵ to the age of digital surveillance.

又是数字监控时代的文化先驱。

So profoundly has the film invaded the pop cultural psyche⁶

这部电影侵入流行文化灵魂如此之深，

that there is now a psychiatric delusion⁷ named after it.

以至于现在还有一种以它命名的精神病。

The film stars Jim Carrey as the happy-go-lucky insurance salesman Truman Burbank, a man whose every moment,

影明星金·凯瑞在电影中饰演无忧无虑的保险推销员楚门·伯班克，

unbeknownst to him, has been broadcast on television,

在毫不知情的情况下，他无时不刻出现在电视直播上，

turning his life into a 24-hour reality show.

他的生活被打造成了24小时真人秀。

Millions have watched him grow up, go to school, fall in love, get married, eat, sleep, brush his teeth.

数百万人看着楚门成长、上学、恋爱、结婚、吃饭、睡觉、刷牙。

Things get interesting when he begins to suspect he is the involuntary star of America's favorite TV series.

当楚门意识到自己在毫不知情的情况下成为美国最受欢迎电视节目里的明星时，事情开始变得有趣起来。

Twenty years ago, Truman's life of constant surveillance seemed like a flight of paranoia⁸.

二十年前，楚门的生活一直受监视似乎是妄想。

After reading the original screenplay by Andrew Niccol,

威尔读过安德鲁·尼科尔的原剧本之后，

Weir thought "it was just wonderfully speculative⁹ fiction," the director tells Newsweek.

认为“这只是精彩的投机小说，”这位导演告诉《新闻周刊》。

"My main concern was credibility of it; there wasn't enough precedent¹⁰."

“我主要关心可信度；根本没有足够的先例可参考。”

Some friends told him the plot stretched the limits of believability:

一些朋友告诉他情节已超出可信范围。

"No one would watch a thing like that," they said.

“没有人会看这样的东西，”他们说。

"Who wants to watch reality?"

“谁想看现实？”

Answer: a lot of people.

答案是：很多人。

Reality TV wasn't entirely¹¹ new in 1998.

1998年，真人秀已经算不得什么新鲜事物。

The first such show, Candid¹² Camera, came on in 1948,

1948年，第一部真人秀《坦率的摄影机》开播，

and MTV's Real World began in 1992.

1992年，美国音乐电视网MTV的真人秀《真实世界》开播。

But it wasn't until the American Survivor¹³ debuted¹⁴ in 2000 that the genre¹⁵ became a mainstream¹⁶ obsession¹⁷

但是直到2000年《幸存者》首次亮相，真人秀节目才火爆起来，成为主流

(the season finale drew more than 50 million viewers).

（《幸存者》最后一集收视人数达5000万）。

For the next decade, reality TV would dominate prime-time television,

接下来的十年里，真人秀节目占据了电视的黄金时段，

giving one star, Donald Trump¹⁸, a springboard to the White House.

并成为一位真人秀明星——唐纳德·特朗普通往白宫的跳板。

1 weir   

n.堰堤，拦河坝

参考例句：

• The discharge from the weir opening should be free.从堰开口处的泻水应畅通。
• Big Weir River,restraining tears,has departed!大堰河，含泪地去了！

2 incisive   

adj.敏锐的，机敏的，锋利的，切入的

参考例句：

• His incisive remarks made us see the problems in our plans.他的话切中要害，使我们看到了计划中的一些问题。
• He combined curious qualities of naivety with incisive wit and worldly sophistication.他集天真质朴的好奇、锐利的机智和老练的世故于一体。

3 acclaim   

v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞

参考例句：

• He was welcomed with great acclaim.他受到十分热烈的欢迎。
• His achievements earned him the acclaim of the scientific community.他的成就赢得了科学界的赞誉。

4 astute   

adj.机敏的，精明的

参考例句：

• A good leader must be an astute judge of ability.一个优秀的领导人必须善于识别人的能力。
• The criminal was very astute and well matched the detective in intelligence.这个罪犯非常狡猾，足以对付侦探的机智。

5 forerunner   

n.前身，先驱（者），预兆，祖先

参考例句：

• She is a forerunner of the modern women's movement.她是现代妇女运动的先驱。
• Penicillin was the forerunner of modern antibiotics.青霉素是现代抗生素的先导。

6 psyche   

n.精神；灵魂

参考例句：

• His exploration of the myth brings insight into the American psyche.他对这个神话的探讨揭示了美国人的心理。
• She spent her life plumbing the mysteries of the human psyche.她毕生探索人类心灵的奥秘。

7 delusion   

n.谬见，欺骗，幻觉，迷惑

参考例句：

• He is under the delusion that he is Napoleon.他患了妄想症，认为自己是拿破仑。
• I was under the delusion that he intended to marry me.我误认为他要娶我。

8 paranoia   

n.妄想狂，偏执狂；多疑症

参考例句：

• Her passion for cleanliness borders on paranoia.她的洁癖近乎偏执。
• The push for reform is also motivated by political paranoia.竞选的改革运动也受到政治偏执狂症的推动。

9 speculative   

adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的

参考例句：

• Much of our information is speculative.我们的许多信息是带推测性的。
• The report is highly speculative and should be ignored.那个报道推测的成分很大，不应理会。

10 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

11 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

12 candid   

adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的

参考例句：

• I cannot but hope the candid reader will give some allowance for it.我只有希望公正的读者多少包涵一些。
• He is quite candid with his friends.他对朋友相当坦诚。

13 survivor   

n.生存者，残存者，幸存者

参考例句：

• The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
• There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。

14 debuted   

初次表演，初次登台（debut的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• In late 2003 a full-size SUV, the Pathfinder Armada, debuted. 2003年末，全尺寸SUV的探路者无敌舰队，推出。
• The album debuted at number two and quickly went platinum. 专辑一亮相就荣登排行榜第二名，很快就取得了白金销量。

15 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。

16 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。

17 obsession   

n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感)

参考例句：

• I was suffering from obsession that my career would be ended.那时的我陷入了我的事业有可能就此终止的困扰当中。
• She would try to forget her obsession with Christopher.她会努力忘记对克里斯托弗的迷恋。

18 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。