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世界电影工厂之路 好莱坞险些输给了这座城市

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OK, take a look at that palm tree right over there.

闲话少说,我们来看那边的那棵棕榈树。
That's not a California palm tree, it's a Florida palm tree.
那不是加利福尼亚的棕榈树,而是佛罗里达的棕榈树。
And I'm currently in a city that had more than 30 movie studios and made 100s of films.
我现在所在的这座城市有30多家电影制片厂,制作的电影达100部之多。
This city was locked in a fight with Hollywood and if it won, it could have changed our culture.
这座城市曾陷入了与好莱坞的一场较量,如果当初赢的是它,或许,我们的文化就是另一番模样了。
But this gutted old movie studio is just about all that's left of it today.
然而,这座被烧毁的老电影制片厂几乎已经成了现今唯一的证据了。
And the fact that this city lost says something about early movies and how hard it is for cities to embrace change.
这座城市的失败不仅说明了早期电影的一些问题,也说明了城市要想拥抱变化是何等困难。
But if things had gone just a little differently, Jacksonville, Florida, might have been the world's movie capital.
然而,如果当初形势稍有不同,佛罗里达州的杰克逊维尔或许已经成为今日的世界电影之都了。
This is a typical movie studio around 1910.
1910年代的制片厂差不多都是这个样子。
Notice the ceiling?
注意到天花板了吗?
It's glass covered by thin paper.
那时的电影制片厂的天花板是用蒙了一层薄纸的玻璃吊成的。
Physical film strips at the time needed so much light that the studios were like greenhouses,
由于当时的电影胶片需要很强的光线,所以,那时的制片厂就像温室一样明亮。
and pricey artificial lights were just starting to get good in the 1910s.
然而,昂贵的人造光源1910年代才刚刚开始出现。
Most early American silent movies were made in New York — and this lighting requirement created some problems.
美国早起的大多数默片都是在纽约拍摄的,然而,胶片对灯光的这一要求也带来了一些问题。
It was just one of the reasons movie studios felt "the call of jacksonville."
恰是因为这些问题,电影公司才听到了“杰克逊维尔的呼唤”。
New York's light didn't compare to "the rays of the sun" in warmer climates, and this was especially important with primitive film.
纽约的(人造)光还是无法与温暖气候下的“阳光”相比,自然光对原始胶片又极为重要。
Cold weather also hurt cameras, and cameramen claimed it caused static that produced cracks and scratches on the film.
寒冷的天气还会伤害到相机,摄影师称寒冷的天气会产生静电,导致胶片出现裂缝或划痕。
Location was limited as well.
不仅如此,纽约的拍摄地点也很有限。
New York could play a city, but producers wanted to be near beaches and jungles.
纽约扮演城市当然没问题,但制片人还是想离海滩和丛林更近一点。
Jacksonville and LA both did that - but Jacksonville was a relatively short 26 hour train ride from New York.
杰克逊维尔和洛杉矶都具备这一资质,但杰克逊维尔距离纽约更近,只有26个小时的火车车程。
So it became a winter hub.
于是,杰克逊维尔就成了冬季电影拍摄活动的中心。
The Vim headquarters in New York wanted a presence in Jacksonville,
总部位于纽约的“活力喜剧”制片厂想在杰克逊维尔设点,
so they set up an outpost, and the famous Thanhouser Film Company did the same.
于是,他们在杰克逊维尔设立了一个分厂,著名的森豪斯电影公司也采取了同样的举措。
Massive new studios were built.
新制片厂如雨后春笋般涌现。
This is the former home of Eagle Studios — a Jacksonville native studio —in 1916,
这是1916年成立的老鹰制片厂——杰克逊维尔本地的一个制片厂——的旧址,
where they shot movies like this one: A Bathtub Elopement, featuring goofy silent film comedian Marcel Perez.
《浴缸私奔》这部电影就是该制片厂拍的,担任本片主演的是总以傻乎乎的银屏形象示人的默片喜剧演员马塞尔·佩雷兹。
This is the production office.
这是他们的制片办公室。
This is the safe where they stored flammable film.
这是他们存放易燃胶片的保险柜。
And this is the on-lot generator.
这是他们的摄影机。
So why is it empty today? OK, this is almost it.
那么问题来了,它怎么就空了呢?嗯,差不多是这样。
Imagine this happening in your city.
想象一下,下面这一切就发生在你的城市。
Right now I'm at Monroe and Davis in Jacksonville,
现在,我在杰克逊维尔的门罗街和戴维斯街的路口,
where a mob of more than 1,000 extras almost completely destroyed a saloon in the movie "The Clarion."
曾经,就是在这里,1000多名群众演员在拍摄电影《号角》时砸了一个酒吧。
Like, totally destroyed it. OK, do I look like that guy?
砸得稀烂的那种。快看快看,我演得像吗?
This happened more than once.
这种事还发生了不止一次。
Here's a crowd chasing a baby carriage down the street in downtown Jacksonville.
这是杰克逊维尔闹市区的一群人在追一辆婴儿车。
It held a very large "baby."
婴儿车里的是一个巨“婴”。
By the mid-1910s, Jacksonville residents were starting to get sick of movies overrunning their town.
到了1910年代中期,杰克逊维尔的居民开始厌倦那些人整天在他们小镇拍电影了。
Jacksonville had extended a "genuine welcome" to film, like Vim Comedy and Eagle Film.
一开始,杰克逊维尔对“活力喜剧”和“老鹰电影”之类的制片厂是持“诚挚的欢迎”态度的。
The mayor was a film booster who thought film would bring a "new era to Jacksonville."
当地的市长还是电影的拥趸,以为电影会带领杰克逊维尔迈入“新时代”。
He had the support of every production company in Jacksonville, and the city was set to be a hub.
他也得到了杰克逊维尔所有制片厂的支持,这座城市也即将成为电影的一大核心产地。
He was up for election in 1917, a year after that big riot during the shooting of "The Clarion."
1917年,也即电影《号角》那场大骚乱结束的一年之后,这位市长正准备参加选举。
Businessmen were behind the mayor and he asked the people of Jacksonville to vote for him
得到了各大企业联合支持的他希望杰克逊维尔当地的百姓也能投票给他,
and support the motion picture film companies he brought in.
支持他引进的那些电影公司。
He lost.
但他失败了。
It was a vote against corruption, but also against the movies running wild through Jacksonville.
那场投票不仅变成了一场反腐投票,也成了一场反对电影拍摄肆意干涉杰克逊维尔当地生活的投票。
During this time, Hollywood had grown a lot, despite being further away from New York.
就在这期间,远离纽约的好莱坞已经悄然崛起。

1

Mismanagement of companies in Jacksonville, World War I, and an influenza outbreak didn't help the Florida city.

制片厂的管理不善、第一次世界大战加之流感的爆发都在给佛罗里达的杰克逊维尔帮倒忙。
There was a lot of bad luck.
杰克逊维尔的霉运是一茬接着一茬。
After the 1917 election, a lot of studios closed up shop in Florida.
1917年大选后,许多制片厂都关闭了他们在佛罗里达州的分厂。
The city had, in effect, voted against a future in movies.
该市投票反对的其实是将该市的未来押在电影上。
In the meantime, hit movies, like those made by legendary director DW Griffith, had made Hollywood a home for film.
然而,此次此刻,热门电影,比如传奇导演DW·格里菲斯导演的那些热门电影,已经将好莱坞变成了电影的故乡。
Hollywood was ready to be a movie town.
好莱坞已经准备好成为一座电影之城了。
Jacksonville couldn't make the jump.
鲤鱼跳龙门,杰克逊维尔则没能完成这一跳。
Jacksonville shows us an alternate universe for movies.
杰克逊维尔向我们展示了一个电影的平行宇宙。
One where different comedy teams became legendary,
不少喜剧团队在那里问鼎封神,
where the duo of Laurel and Hardy was "Plump and Runt" instead.
老瑞哈迪这对组合成了杰克逊维尔电影宇宙里的“大胖子和小矮子”。
And there are other reasons too, beyond movie stars.
除了电影明星,杰克逊维尔未能成功还有别的原因。
That sign up top should say Norman Laboratories.
那座屋顶的标志本来是“诺曼实验室”。
After Eagle Studios closed, a producer named Richard Norman bought it.
“老鹰电影”制片厂关门后,一位名叫理查德·诺曼的制片人买下了这栋房子。
While Hollywood made movies featuring actors in blackface,
好莱坞忙着拍黑脸滑稽剧时,
Norman Studios made films like the Flying Ace, starring heroic black characters, played by black actors.
诺曼制片厂拍出了《王牌飞行员》这样用黑人演员出演黑人主角的电影。
It was one of a few film studios that focused on black audiences and black characters, and it sat outside the Hollywood system.
像诺曼制片厂这样聚焦黑人观众和黑人角色的制片厂并不多,它选择了游离在好莱坞电影体系之外。
It wasn't the mainstream.
它没有从大流。
If things had gone a little differently in Jacksonville,
如果杰克逊维尔当初的情形稍有不同,
our culture could have been shaped by an entirely different set of stories.
塑造我们的文化的或许就是另一系列故事了。
But instead, all we have are a few restored films and some buildings that are waiting for the same.
但现实就是现实,杰克逊维尔依然只是留下了几座现已修缮的制片厂,以及一些仍有待修缮的建筑。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
eagle ['i:gl]

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n. 鹰
vt. (高尔夫)鹰击

 
genuine ['dʒenjuin]

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adj. 真正的,真实的,真诚的

联想记忆
heroic [hi'rəuik]

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adj. 英雄的,英勇的,巨大的

 
alternate [ɔ:l'tə:nit,'ɔ:ltə:neit]

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adj. 交替的,轮流的,间隔的
v. 交替,

 
generator ['dʒenəreitə]

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n. 发电机,发生器

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static ['stætik]

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adj. 静态的,静力的,静止的,静电的
n.

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ceiling ['si:liŋ]

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n. 天花板,上限

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comedy ['kɔmidi]

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n. 喜剧,滑稽,幽默事件

 
corruption [kə'rʌpʃən]

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n. 腐败,堕落,贪污

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primitive ['primitiv]

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adj. 原始的
n. 原始人,文艺复兴前的艺

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