美劇《行屍走肉》:人性的考量 Invasion of zombies hits TV
Zombies are officially the new vampires.
喪屍正式成爲新版吸血鬼。The zombies in The Walking Dead terrified 10.5 million viewers last week. The show became the first cable series to win the US fall TV ratings this year, reported the Los Angeles Times.
上週，美劇《行屍走肉》中的喪屍們令1050萬觀衆心驚膽戰。據《洛杉磯時報》報道稱，該劇已成爲今年美國秋季有線電視收視率冠軍。But why is a show promoted with the slogan “Spread the dead” such a hit with the living?
但就是這樣一部標榜“散佈死亡”的劇集爲何能在活着的人之間獲得如此巨大的成功呢？
According to experts, Americans love zombies because they represent whatever happens to be their greatest fear at the time.
專家稱，美國人之所以喜歡喪屍，是因爲它們代表的恰好是美國人此時此刻內心的極度恐懼。“You can’t shoot the financial meltdown in the head – you can do that with a zombie,” said Max Brooks, author of the best-selling Zombie Survival Guide.
“你不能拿槍爆金融危機的頭——但是你可以對喪屍這樣做，”暢銷書《喪屍生存手冊》的作者馬克思•布魯克斯說。But the best thing about The Walking Dead is that it isn’t just about zombies. In this show they are more of a lens through which to observe the humans’ character and test their humanity to the limits.
但《行屍走肉》最棒的一點在於，它講述的不僅僅是喪屍。在這部劇中，透過鏡頭更多的是去洞察人性、測試人性極限。The story follows deputy sheriff Rick Grimes as he tries to lead his family and a small group of survivors to safety in a zombie-ridden world. Humans are the minority in this new landscape.
故事講述了在喪屍橫行的世界中，警長副手瑞克•格里姆斯帶領家人和一小羣倖存者到達安全地帶的故事。在這片新領地裏，人類成爲弱勢羣體。To avoid being bitten by zombies – which would turn them into zombies – the living have to either hide from them or shoot off their heads. As time goes by and the survivors get used to the bloodshed, a recurring question arises: who are the real monsters?
爲避免被喪屍咬傷（咬傷後急會淪爲喪屍），活着的人必須躲避他們或者打爆他們的頭。隨着時間的流逝，倖存者們習慣了流血，一個反覆出現的問題又再次被提及：誰纔是真正的怪物？Each time they compromise their values in the name of survival, the human characters are pushed closer to something their former selves would have seen as inhuman.
每當以生存的名義向自身的價值觀妥協時，人性被推向此前人們心中認爲的殘忍的一面。Rick, for example, used to be a man who upheld law and order before the zombie outbreak. In the first episode of Season One, when he has to pull the trigger on a legless zombie, he says “I’m sorry”. But at the conclusion of Season Two, he fatally stabs his former partner and best friend since high school. We see a man who has been changed by his nightmarish circumstances.
就拿瑞克爲例，在喪屍危機爆發之前，他曾是一個維護法律和秩序的人。在第一季的第一集中，當準備對一個無腿的喪屍扣動扳機時，他說了句“對不起”。但當第二季結束時，他刺死了前搭檔兼高中以來的摯友。我們看到了一個人是怎樣被夢魘般的境遇所改變的。A profound story of humanity aside, the show also harbors its appeal by featuring characters we can easily relate to – the pizza delivery boy, the abused woman, the old man who loves to give advice, the father and his son. They make us feel like a zombie apocalypse could hit us any moment.
除講述了一個有關人性，意味深長的故事外，該劇更是憑藉一些能夠引起我們共鳴的人物角色增添幾分魅力——送披薩的男孩、受虐待的女人、愛給忠告的老人、父親與兒子。這些人讓我們覺得喪屍危機隨時可能在我們身邊爆發。“We must keep watching to reassure ourselves that, if faced with a global meltdown, zombie-virus-related or otherwise, we could survive,” said Jen Chaney of The Washington Post.
“我們必須目不轉睛地收看，以便安慰自己，如果面對全球危機，殭屍病毒或者其他事情時，我們也能夠存活，”《華盛頓郵報》的珍• 錢尼說道。
