How the Western Was Lost(and Why It Matters)暮色殘陽西部片

文/邁克爾·阿格雷斯塔 譯/陳麗

By Michael Agresta

電影《獨行俠》由杰里·布魯克海默制片，戈爾·維賓斯基執導。據報道，該片在制作過程中花費了2.5億美元，而且首映的周末適逢假日，卻僅收入5000萬美元。這一票房慘敗不僅沉重打擊了天價預算的好萊塢巨片、約翰尼·德普的演藝生涯和迪士尼，也許還在西部片哀傷的衰敗史上書寫了新的一章，具有決定性意義。

As superheroes, sequels, and international appeal influence Hollywood studios, films from the frontier are riding off into the sunset—just when America needs them most.隨著超級英雄、續集、國際吸引力等對好萊塢電影制片廠的影響逐漸加大，反映邊疆生活的西部片卻逐漸日薄西山——然而，現在正是美國最需要它們的時刻。

[2]自電影誕生以來，西部片一直是偉大而持久的一個電影類型。但現在，它的觀眾似乎真的開始越來越少了?！丢毿袀b》是四年內第三部在夏季上映卻遭受票房失敗的西部片，而且它是投資額最高的一部，超過了開創潮流之作《牛仔和外星人》與《西部英雄約拿·哈克斯》。西部片的影迷在人口結構上多為老人和白種人，正如共和黨的政治顧問會告訴你的那樣，這一特點并不擁有光明的前景。其他一些更為年輕的類型，如超級英雄片和機器人打斗片，比牛仔電影更能吸引年輕人和國際觀眾。

[3]現在，西部片處于一個尷尬的位置，需要一位英雄來拯救，而且速度還得快。假如《獨行俠》成為歷史上最后一部大制作西部片，那它將是電影史上一座悲傷的紀念碑，而且也會成為美國的一座悲傷的紀念碑。一個多世紀了，我們依賴西部片來教導我們歷史，反思我們目前的政治以及我們在世界上的地位。我們難以承受現在就失去這面鏡子，尤其是僅僅因為我們不喜歡這面鏡子反饋給我們的影像而摒棄它。

[4]西部片帶來了許多歷久彌新的愉悅——硬漢英雄、馬背上的動作場面、在壯美風景里發生的冒險故事、正義戰勝邪惡，等等。所有這一切在第一部西部片《火車大劫案》里就全都出現了。

[5]但是，假如我們在探討西部片時，僅僅把它濃縮為從野蠻人手里拯救家園、在荒野里追蹤壞人或者在山野里尋找財寶的英雄故事，那就忽視了西部片的真正意義。西部片之所以成為美國國家文化和全球形象的一個核心成分，是因為它給電影制作者提供了一個可以信賴的渠道，來探討美國歷史和人物的一些棘手問題。在這一類型片的經典作品中，我們了解到，對家園的真正威脅來自于那種被操縱的向富人傾斜的經濟體制，或者對壞人的追蹤演變成在以暴制暴的文化環境中對意義的追尋，又或者碧血金沙里的財富其實是美國夢投下的血腥幻影。

[6]通過上個世紀的西部片，我們可以追尋美國的自我形象的演變過程，從一個混亂吵鬧但道德自信的世界事務旁觀者，演變為一個無所不能、良心有愧的警長。在一戰之后，特別是二戰前夕，好萊塢極其擅長制作兇狠打擊敵人并拯救手無寸鐵的定居點民眾的英雄故事。而到了大蕭條時期，資本主義和美國例外論受到了質疑，牛仔英雄便常常被錯誤地當作罪犯，從而被迫需要證明自己的價值，當然他無一例外做出了證明。隨后，在50、60和70年代，隨著美國用一系列的政變、暗殺和愈加可疑的戰爭實現了其對大半個地球的統治，牛仔的形象也變得更加黑暗、復雜。如果你愛看西部片，那么可能你最愛的一些西部經典便出自這一時期——《原野奇俠》、《搜索者》、《虎豹小霸王》、《花村》（又譯《雌雄賭徒》）、意大利式西部片，等等。到反越戰的高潮時期，電影中的反英雄牛仔形象增加到和英雄牛仔的數量幾乎相當。

[7] 1980年代初期見證了羅納德·里根就任總統，也見證了藝術范兒十足卻過于浮夸的《天堂之門》的票房慘敗。隨后的十年，失望情緒彌漫，似乎修正主義西部片已經失敗，西部片不得不依賴千篇一律的愛國主義情懷方能撐起一片天空。80年代幾乎沒有產生可圈可點的西部片，而里根本人也是驕傲地將自己塑造為那種老派的、越戰之前的牛仔形象。但是，冷戰勝利之后出現了西部片的復興潮，這其中包括修正主義西部片，一個典型的例子便是克林特·伊斯特伍德的扛鼎之作《不可饒恕》。隨著后殖民西部片《與狼共舞》的大獲成功，凱文·科斯特納崛起成為一顆新星，他的形象比以往的西部片英雄更溫柔。隨即，2000年代，喬治·W.布什重新借用牛仔來塑造他的外交形象，不過他的外交政策遠沒有里根的外交政策成功，西部片再次縮回藝術片的象牙塔內。

[8]考量我們的歷史是西部片的任務，哪怕隨著時間流逝，那段歷史變得越來越令我們尷尬。這就意味著牛仔電影很容易搞砸，因為迄今所有的故事都涉及有爭議的問題。

[9]在巴拉克·奧巴馬執政時期，西部片出現了短暫的復興，似乎與美國重新展露苗頭的道德權威遙相呼應。如果說這一時期的西部片有一個共同的目標的話，那就是破除傳統，不再嚴格拘泥于白人、男性、異性戀的立場來看待歷史乃至現世的矛盾沖突。《牛仔和外星人》是后種族時代西部片頗為憤世嫉俗的嘗試——只要片中不出現印第安人，我們就又能成為好人啦！但是更嚴肅說來，《大地驚雷》《被解救的姜戈》和《獨行俠》都把非男性、非白種人的視角放在了突出位置。還有兩部比較引人矚目的片子也符合這一模式：很棒的《斷背山》和很糟的《飆風戰警》。不過，應該指出的是，以上所舉各例（除了《斷背山》）都是由白人男性導演執導的，而且《獨行俠》中印第安人唐托的扮演者幾無印第安血統可言。

[10]盡管歲末巨獻如《大地驚雷》和《被解救的姜戈》一舉獲得評論界好評、奧斯卡獎項和相當多的投資回報，但奧巴馬時代對這些旨在贏得更多觀眾的新奇西部片并不友善。使情況更加糟糕的是國際觀眾對牛仔電影的排斥，尤其是中國觀眾。所以，幾乎就在電影制作者們對于容納更為多元的視角愈發感興趣的同時，全球觀眾數量的增長遭遇了瓶頸。這個原因也可以用來解釋，為什么《獨俠者》很可能會成為最后一次真正嘗試在夏季電影里獨樹一幟的西部片。

[11]誰也不喜歡虎頭蛇尾，對于牛仔電影來說尤其如此。我們可以接受一個悲傷的結尾，甚至這一類型片的消亡，但至少請讓我們的英雄直面他的挑戰，完成他的使命，堅守他（或她）的陣地?？粗丢毿袀b》日薄西山，我們很難體會到西部片的出路在哪里。 □

The Lone Ranger’s failure at the box office not only dealt a blow to mega-budget Hollywood blockbusters, Johnny Depp’s career, and Disney1約翰尼·德普是該片主演，迪士尼是電影的發行公司。.The Jerry Bruckheimer-Gore Verbinski flop—which cost a reported $250 million to make and brought in just $50 million opening on a holiday weekend22《獨行俠》于2013年7月3日上映，恰逢美國法定假日獨立日，故稱假日周末。5000萬美元的數據不實，據多個電影網站的數據，該片首個周末的收入是2921萬。這對于一部投資2.5億美元的影片來說，可以說是票房慘敗。不包括事后發行的光碟收入，該影片的全球票房收入為2.6億，勉強收支相抵?！猘lso may mark a decisive chapter in the sad story of how the Western was lost.

[2] Since the dawn of film, the Western has been one of the great, durable movie genres, but its audience seems to be finally drying up. The Lone Ranger is the third Western to flop in four summers3夏季是影片銷售旺季，學校放假且影院提供了避暑的娛樂場所。發行公司會選擇其認為重要的大片在暑期或者, and the most expensive, capping a trend set by Cowboys & Aliens and Jonah Hex44《牛仔和外星人》由環球影業公司出品，2011年7月上映，取材于2006年斯科特·羅森堡的同名漫畫，影片預算1.63億美元，全球票房收入1.74億美元；《西部英雄約拿·哈克斯》由華納兄弟公司發行，于2010年6月上映，取材美國DC漫畫公司的同名漫畫，影片制作成本4800萬美元，全球票房收入1100萬美元。. Western fans are getting older and whiter with respect to the overall population, and as any Republican political consultant will tell you, that doesn’t bode well for the future. Other,newer genres like superhero movies and fighting-robot flicks have cowboy movies outgunned with younger generations and international audiences.

[3] Now the genre finds itself in the ironic position of needing a hero to save it, and quick. If The Lone Ranger goes down in history as the last of the bigbudget oaters, it’ll be a sad milestone for moviemaking—and for America.For a century plus, we have relied on Westerns to teach us our history and re flect our current politics and our place in the world. We can ill afford to lose that mirror now, especially just because we don’t like what we see staring back at us.

[4] Westerns provide many timeless pleasures—tough guy heroes, action set pieces on horseback, adventures in magnificent landscapes, good triumphing over evil. It’s all there already in arguably the first narrative film ever made, The Great Train Robbery5《火車大劫案》是1903年的一部西部片，全長12分鐘，由埃德溫·斯坦頓·波特（Edwin Stanton P.

[5] But to discuss Westerns as if they just boiled down to heroic stories of saving the homestead from savages,tracking the bad guy through the wilderness, or finding the treasure in the mountains would be to miss the real meaning of the genre. Westerns have earned their place at the heart of the national culture and American iconography abroad because they’ve provided a reliable vehicle for filmmakers to explore thorny issues of American history and character. In the enduring examples of the genre, the real threat to the homestead, we learn, is an economic system that is being rigged for the wealthy, or the search for the bad guy becomes a search for meaning in a culture of violent retribution, or the treasure of the Sierra Madre66本句作者引用了一個經典西部片《碧血金沙》的片名（The Treasure of the Sierra Madre）。該片又譯《寶石嶺》《浴血金沙》等，是著名導演約翰·休斯頓的扛鼎之作，由亨弗萊·鮑嘉主演，1948年上映，在21屆奧斯卡上斬獲最佳導演、最佳劇本、最佳男配等多項大獎，講述了一個貪欲摧毀一切的故事。is a diabolical mirage of the American dream.

[6] Through the past century of West-ern movies, we can trace America’s self-image as it evolved from a roughand-tumble but morally confident outsider in world affairs to an all-powerful sheriff with a guilty conscience. After World War I and leading into World War II, Hollywood specialized in tales of heroes taking the good fight to savage enemies and saving defenseless settlements in the process. In the Great Depression especially, as capitalism and American exceptionalism came under question, the cowboy hero was often mistaken for a criminal and forced to prove his own worthiness—which he inevitably did. Over the ’50s, ’60s, and’70s however, as America enforced its dominion over half the planet with a long series of coups, assassinations, and increasingly dubious wars, the figure of the cowboy grew darker and more complicated. If you love Westerns, most of your favorites are probably from this era—Shane, The Searchers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, McCabe &Mrs. Miller, the spaghetti westerns7西部片中的一個類型，泛指1960年代由意大利人導演及監制的西部片，演員和工作人員也多為意大利人和西班牙人。為了降低拍攝成本多選擇與美國西南部風景相似的西班牙作為外景拍攝地，表現美國西部和墨西哥革命等特殊時代的草莽英雄。人物形象不再善惡分明，出現反英雄、反烏托邦的一些特點。, etc.By the height of the Vietnam protest era, cowboys were antiheroes as often as they were heroes.

[7] The dawn of the 1980s brought the inauguration of Ronald Reagan and the box-of fice debacle of the artsy,overblown Heaven’s Gate8《天堂之門》是1980年邁克爾·西米諾執導的一部西部電影。該片耗資4000萬美元，雄心勃勃的要成為西部片巨作，但整體乏善可陳，冗長無聊，未刪節版長達325分鐘。西米諾在拍這部電影時，前作《獵鹿者》剛獲得許多獎項，事業如日中天，但《天堂之門》毀了一切。由于這部電影的失敗，投資方聯藝電影公司解體，進而導致美國導演對電影的控制逐漸減弱，制片廠對電影占據了完全的主導地位。. There’s a sense of disappointment to the decade that followed, as if the era of revisionist Westerns99西部片的一個類型，指的便是前文提到的60年代中期至70年代的那些具有反英雄色彩的西部電影。had failed and a less nuanced patriotism would have to carry the day. Few memorable Westerns were made in the ’80s, and Reagan himself proudly associated himself with an oldfashioned, pre-Vietnam cowboy image.But victory in the Cold War coincided with a revival of the genre, including the revisionist strain, exemplified in Clint Eastwood’s career-topping Unforgiven10《不可饒恕》是伊斯特伍德于1992年執導的一部西部片，被認為是修正主義西部片的經典，入圍當年的9項奧斯卡提名，并最終獲得最佳影片、最佳導演、最佳男配和最佳剪輯四項大獎，被美國電影學會選為美國電影史上最偉大的100部電影之一。. A new, gentler star emerged in Kevin Costner, who scored a post-colonial megahit with Dances With Wolves.Later, in the 2000s, George W. Bush reclaimed the image of the cowboy for a foreign policy far less successful than Reagan’s, and the genre retreated to the art house again.

[8] It’s the task of Westerns to address our history, even as decade by decade that history becomes more and more embarrassing to us. That means cowboy movies are easy to bungle, because by now they all take place on contested ground.

[9] Under the presidency of Barack Obama, there has been a short-lived Western revival that would seem to match America’s tentative new moral authority. If the genre in this era can be said to have a unifying aim, it’s to divest itself and its audiences of11to divest sb of sth 使擺脫，使失去。a strictly white, male, heterosexual perspective on history, and by extension on present day conflicts. Cowboys &Aliens is a cynical attempt at a postracial Western—just take the Indians out of the equation so we can be good guys again! —but with more sincerity,True Grit, Django Unchained, and The Lone Ranger have all put non-male,non-white perspectives front and center.(Two other notable movies, the wonderful Brokeback Mountain and the awful Wild Wild West, also fit this model.) It’s worth pointing out, however, that all of these examples (except Brokeback Mountain) were directed by white men,and The Lone Ranger has Tonto played by an actor12影星約翰尼·德普扮演唐托，德普主要是英國白人血統，據說有3/2048的非洲血統，沒有印第安人的血統。with only the slightest claim to American Indian ancestry.

[10] Although end-of-year prestige movies like True Grit and Django Unchained have broken through to achieve critical acclaim, Oscars, and substantial return on investment, the Obama era has not been kind to newfangled Westerns that aimed for large audiences.Exacerbating the problem is the rejection of cowboy movies by international audiences, particularly the Chinese. So even as filmmakers have become more interested in incorporating a diversity of viewpoints, they have hit against what appears a global demographic ceiling. It’s another reason why The Lone Ranger will probably be the last attempt to build a true summer tent-pole in the genre.

[11] Nobody likes a weak ending, and this is especially true for cowboy movies. A sad outcome we can accept, even the death of a genre, but at least let our hero meet his challenge, ful fill his destiny, stand his (or her) ground. Watching The Lone Ranger slink off into the sunset, it’s hard to feel any sense of resolution for the Western. ■