2020-08-01

【Aiden in English】

        I have yet seen a movie about aliens where I felt fully immersed in their world. What I mean by that statement is that with every fictional alien society, I find myself picking holes in logic or viewing the overwhelming laziness in the details.

        For example, Krypton, in the latest Man of Steel film starring Henry Cavill sporting the newest rendition of an ironically patriotic uniform, presented a seemingly complex reality for the opening twenty minutes. When Kal-El’s (Superman) father flew through the crumbling war-torn city of the alien world, I found myself very engaged in the setting. “Wow, this is terrific detail and world-building,” I thought.

        Then, with a second of analysis, I realized that such an advanced civilization that can send spaceships through wormholes shouldn’t be using biological flying mounts for transportation. Later, when that pterodactyl-like creature spun through falling debris and explosions, I wondered why a biological flying mount could ever escape a weapon developed by scientists who can travel through wormholes. And call me overthinking or stupid, the entire image of Krypton somewhat dissolved.

        However, that is not the only turn-off for my overly-critical taste. Plots of movies tend to lean towards the “just because” line of thought. While “just because” occasionally suffices, often times the movies sloppily mask the simplistic reasoning with a political message or a bogus character trait. Kal-El is Superman because he loves humanity. Fair enough. However, that love should not grant a power surge when facing the gravity of Krypton (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, just watch the movie). 

        In Star Wars, the ultimate “just because” is the Force. If the Force is with you, any insurmountable problem magically dissipates. Facing a row of enemy troopers while blind and armed with only a wooden staff (Rogue One)? The Force is with you. Stranded outside a ship in the vacuum of space where your skin is likely frozen and blood likely in a gaseous state (The Last Jedi)? The Force is with you. As a writer who enjoys creating scenarios of conflict and solution, it always feels as though the Force is a “get out of jail” card, except that the writers spam the hell out of its uses.

        Other famous examples of “just because” include “love transcends space-time” from Interstellar regarding sending messages back in time and the absurd reasons why Godzilla fights for humanity in every recent sequel (I haven’t seen the old versions, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt).

        But are there movies where I don’t question a thing? Absolutely. The Dark Knight is by far my favorite superhero film and may very well sit as my overall favorite. The story between two characters revolving around order and chaos, justice and anarchy, black and white is developed perfectly. I continuously try to find areas of contention, but there’s always a reasonable justification. For example, the origins of characters, mainly the Joker, are left ambiguous. As I see it, Christopher Nolan intentionally does so in order to shroud their intentions as a mystery. No one knows how the Joker received those painful scars, or why he burns the pile of money, or why he feels the need to tear down society, and I guarantee that we will never know. On the flip side, Batman is a hero with seemingly no motivation other than a rather cliché superhero origin of “my parents were murdered.” However, among the many thousands of video essays and internet raves regarding The Dark Knight, the common consensus is that Batman is not a hero, but rather symbolically society adapting to chaos and destruction. Much like how physicists see life as resistance to entropy, Bruce Wayne is the force against disorder and requires no explanation for his actions.

        As a result of movies like The Dark Knight, I can’t live with cheesy motives fueling complex characters. No human is thin enough to be affected by a break-up in a way that results in mass-murder or villainous acts; it’s a multitude of factors compiling into the wave of ambition. Stories that encapsulate that aspect also capture my attention and admiration. Those who fail tend to create some character garbage like Star Wars or even better, Green Lantern.

【紅霞譯文】

        我尚未看過能讓自己徹底融入角色世界的外星人電影，言外之意，所有虛構的外星社會要麼邏輯上漏洞頻出，要麼劇情拖泥帶水。

        舉例來說，新片《超人：鋼鐵之軀》由亨利·卡維爾主演的氪星族身着迎合時宜的愛國制服，開場廿分鐘就揭開看似複雜的現實。當卡爾·艾爾（超人）的爸爸讓他飛離飽受戰亂之苦的外星人世界，電影場景深深吸引了我：“哇，拍攝水平堪稱世界一流。”

        仔細再想，我方才意識到一個單憑蟲洞就能將宇宙飛船發射升空的高級文明不該把魅影坐騎用作運輸工具。後來，當設計成翼手龍狀的天外飛物被炸成碎片旋轉墜落，我想要搞清楚魅影坐騎為何能避開科學家精心打造可以穿越蟲洞的武器，說我多慮也好，罵我笨蛋也罷，氪星族整體形象略有遜色。

        然而，這並不影響我愛找茬的癖好。電影情節慣於落入“僅僅因為”的俗套，雖然偶爾“僅僅因為”未嘗不可，但電影經常屈從於政治意向或虛設人格。卡爾·艾爾是超人，因為他熱愛人類，說得沒錯。不過，面對氪星引力（假如你聽不懂我的意思，那就去看電影再說），這種愛沒法產生電涌。

        在《星球大戰》中，終極“僅僅因為”就是原力，如果原力與你同在，那麼所有難以克服的問題都會消失。面對一群義軍，僅靠手持木棍的盲俠成嗎（《星球大戰外傳：俠盜一號》）？原力與你同在，哪怕被困在飛船外真空宇宙之中，皮膚也許會凍結，血液可能呈氣態（《星球大戰8：最後的絕地武士》）。原力與你同在，對於善於設計衝突與解決方案的作家來說，原力如同“保釋”卡，除非文采殆盡。

        其它“僅僅因為”的範例還包括 《星際穿越》中“愛能超越時空”，說的是有關及時回傳訊息以及像《哥斯拉》各部新版續集為人類而戰這種荒謬理由（我還沒看過舊版電影，權且對片中懸疑保留看法）。

        但究竟有沒有我毫無質疑的電影？肯定有的，迄今《黑暗騎士》是我喜愛的超級英雄，算得上本人最喜歡的科幻片。故事塑造兩個角色，完美再現了秩序與混亂、公平正義與無政府狀態、黑與白之間的博弈，我一直在努力尋找爭論的地方，可始終難解謎底，例如：角色身世（主要是小丑）全都含糊不清。依我看，導演克里斯托弗·諾蘭故弄玄虛，沒人了解小丑的痛苦傷疤是怎麼來的，他幹嗎燒掉搶來的錢、為啥毀滅社會，我敢打賭大家永遠找不出答案。再說，蝙蝠俠是英雄，除了背負“我父母被謀殺”這樣俗套超級英雄式血海深仇外，似乎別無動機。然而，在成千上萬有關《黑暗騎士》視頻文章和網絡狂歡中，人們普遍認為蝙蝠俠算不上英雄好漢，充其量只是一個雜亂無章和千瘡百孔的社會象徵，正如物理學家認定生命必須與熵增抗爭一樣，布魯斯·韋恩是抵抗邪惡的力量，這一點毋庸置疑。

        正因為像《黑暗騎士》這樣的電影問世，我才看不慣複雜角色都別有動機，其實沒有人會容忍大規模殘殺行徑，善惡到頭終有報。說到這裡，影片中善惡交融令我感慨，這些隱惡揚善的表現手法讓《星球大戰》相形見拙，更叫《綠燈俠》自愧弗如。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2017: Capitol Debate Camp Day-3(國會辯論夏令營第三天)

2014: YMCA Camp─Play B-Ball w/ Fever(基督教青年會營─帶病上陣)

Crosslink(相關博文):

11th Grade(高中三年級)