In ‘Godzilla x Kong,’ They Came. They Pounced. Who Suffers?

哥吉拉与金刚：人类死活谁在乎？

By the end of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire,” the latest in the so-called Monsterverse franchise from Warner Bros., multiple cities around the world have been rendered essentially uninhabitable and treasured monuments have been turned to dust. Godzilla, Kong and their adversaries flatten sections of Rio de Janeiro, ripping buildings in half during their climactic brawl, as a monster that can shoot ice from its mouth coats the coastal setting, presumably freezing a bunch of citizens as well.

华纳兄弟推出的所谓「怪兽宇宙」系列最新作品「哥吉拉与金刚：新帝国」结尾时，世界各地多座城市都被搞得根本不宜人居，多个珍贵地标化为齑粉。哥吉拉、金刚与牠们的敌手将里约热内卢多处夷为平地，在最终高潮斗殴时将建筑劈成两半，同时有一只能口吐寒冰的怪兽冰封海岸场景，想必也冻住一堆民众。

Earlier, the two big guys punch their way through the pyramids in Cairo as tourists and locals scramble away from falling rocks. On top of that, at one point, Godzilla also takes up temporary residence in the Colosseum in Rome after he stomps through that locale. It’s frankly pretty cute the way he curls up to nap in the ancient amphitheater like a puppy, but the fact that he probably killed thousands of people getting to his makeshift bed isn’t really addressed.

先前，这两只庞然大物还一路打到开罗金字塔，游客和当地人仓皇躲避坠落的石块。不仅如此，在某个片段，哥吉拉还在大步闯进罗马圆形竞技场后，于该地暂时住下。他像只小狗般蜷曲身体，在这座古老剧场里小寐的模样著实相当可爱，但他在到达他的临时床铺途中，大概杀了成千上万的人，此一事实却没有好好处理。

Over the years, films starring Godzilla and his pals have varied wildly in how they deal with the creatures’ victims — they have been serious and outright silly. While sometimes, Godzilla can be a way to explore very human fears, at other times, he’s just an outlet to watch things go boom. “Godzilla x Kong” puts him firmly in this noisy camp, which makes the treatment of death just seem careless.

这些年来以哥吉拉和他的伙伴们为主角的电影，在处理这些怪物的受害者时，方式各自迥异，从严肃以对到彻底滑稽都有。虽然有时哥吉拉可以是探索真正人性恐惧的方式，但其他时候，他可能只是要看到万物失控的宣泄口。「哥吉拉与金刚」确实的把哥吉拉放入这个纷闹的阵营里，让其对死亡的刻画显得漫不经心。

But as the Monsterverse has gone on, the material has gotten goofier, landing us where we are with “Godzilla x Kong.” It’s a pattern that also occurs in the original run of Japanese Godzilla films. Yes, Ishiro Honda’s 1954 original is a reflection of nuclear anxiety made in the shadow of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. But by 1968, Honda made the bonkers “Destroy All Monsters,” in which Godzilla and his kaiju buddies on an island known as Monsterland are released by an alien species known as Kilaaks and attack global hubs such as Moscow and Paris.

但随著「怪兽宇宙」持续发展，这个题材变得日益滑稽可笑，让我们到达「哥吉拉与金刚」这个境地。这个模式也发生在日本原作哥吉拉系列电影。是的，导演本多猪四郎在1954年的原作是一部对核子焦虑感的反思，诞生于广岛与长崎所受轰炸的阴影下。但到1968年，本多拍了无厘头的「怪兽总进击」，剧中哥吉拉和他的怪兽同伴，被叫做「基拉克星人」的外星物种从名为「怪兽岛」的岛屿释放，并袭击莫斯科、巴黎等全球重镇。

“Godzilla x Kong” also has something else in common with the superhero genre: In this movie, Godzilla and Kong are supposed to be the good guys stopping monsters that are more evil than they are. If so, why does no one care that they kill so many people in the process? The audience might, but no one on screen gives a damn.

「哥吉拉与金刚」也和超级英雄电影有其他共通点：电影里哥吉拉和金刚理应是阻止比牠们更邪恶怪兽的好人。若如此，为何没人在意牠们过程中夺走这么多性命？观众可能在意，但萤幕上没人理会。

文／Esther Zuckerman 译／高诣轩

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【张佑生】

按照年分来算，概念出自日本原爆阴影的「哥吉拉」今年已经70岁，大蜥蜴衍生的电影近40部，获得金氏世界纪录认证为最多产的系列。哥吉拉亦正亦邪，有时候是毁灭者，有时候变守护神，对抗更邪恶的势力，最新一集找来原产地美国的大猩猩（金刚）合作。

美、日联手抗敌，现实世界中的目标是…？哥吉拉与金刚联手打怪，过程中无辜民众死伤无数，美军术语称为collateral damage（附带损害），加萨冲突就是血淋淋的现成例子，半年已超过3.3万人罹难、7.5万人受伤。哥吉拉从诞生便充满政治性，有必要解读其政治意涵。纽时认为，电影对「附带损害」的处理轻描淡写，漫不经心。

描述房舍被夷平用的字是flattened：The earthquake flattened thousands of homes.轻松一点，消除腹部赘肉可以说flatten your stomach.竞赛被对手「打趴」也可用这个字。Rip跟Stomp也是动作感强烈的单字，前者强调又快又猛，后者是刻意跺脚、发出噪音，借此表达愤怒。