2015年末上映的《老炮兒》在國內(nèi)引起了巨大反響。對這樣一部有關(guān)于上一代人江湖道義的影片，兩代人的感想也各有千秋。本文作者和父母在“家庭日”里一起去觀看了這部電影。作為上一輩的父母對影片感同身受，在這部影片里看到的是曾經(jīng)以道義為重的價(jià)值觀在如今社會遭受的沖擊，而身為90后的作者在這部影片中可以思考的是在金本位的現(xiàn)代社會中值得我們傳承的傳統(tǒng)價(jià)值觀是什么。正如六爺?shù)膬鹤铀?，現(xiàn)代社會這個(gè)江湖光靠“混”而沒有一技之長是行不通的，但全憑單打獨(dú)斗而拋棄全部的信義道德也同樣不可取。而這也是本片想要引起我們思考的地方——究竟是什么值得為之奮斗。

By Leo Luo

翁詩易 注

A trip to the movies with my parents usually turns out two ways: I’m both shaking my head and groaning as my parents say they didn’t get the movie, or it’s the other way around. This time it was no different. I was home for the holidays and we decided to go watch a movie together. Gritting my teeth in preparation for a long car ride home with me trying to explain the plot of the movie to them, I agreed. After all, family time came few and far between as I continued through university, and will only become less and less frequent as I enter the working world. But that night my parents decided to watch the movie that was all the rage in China: Mr. Six. Two and a half hours later, I walked out of the movie theatre confused, and not just because of the heavy Beijing drawl that slurred together the Chinese words. There was simply too much in the movie that I did not understand on a cultural and generational level. The car ride home, and many days afterwards, was filled with my parents and even my relatives explaining all the cultural and generation-specific references that were found in Mr. Six. And now, I think I’ve understood the movie, but not completely from the perspective that my parents and their generation see it.

The movie Mr. Six recounts the story of a former gang leader named Mr. Six who spends his days in Beijing wandering the hutongs behind the popular Hou Hai district. Although he has long since abandoned his days of mob fights against rival gangs, he still occasionally involves himself in spats between the police and his friends, or even sometimes performing good deeds for those in need of money, as dictated by his personal code of jianghu (honour among criminals). His tranquil life is turned upside down when his estranged son is kidnapped by a gang of young people who have nothing guiding their actions except money and pleasure. The movie illustrates the clash of generations between Mr. Six and the rich young people, drawing particular emphasis on how the excess of money has spoiled the young generation into lacking any respect for either traditions or anyone outside their circle. Despite coming from a low social class and possessing a criminal background, Mr. Six and his former gang members (and later on, his son) were cast as the only characters who upheld the values of loyalty and honour found in old Beijing. The movie seemed to represent a pitiful call of nostalgia for a simpler time and simpler relationships between those called friends and family.

While my parents fell in love with the movie, I found that I drew grimmer conclusions. Speaking as a young person who still needs to worry about making a living, I agreed with Mr. Six’s son when he confronted his father over his lack of applicable skills. His son accused his father of being a thug, which only sent him to jail for his constant fighting, no matter who he was sticking up for. As my record of rejected job applications keep reminding me, loyalty and honour are not employable. If students nowadays cannot find jobs even with advanced degrees, how can they have the time to always be there for their friends during moments of trouble? Although the movie portrays Mr. Six as the paragon of old world values despite his criminal background and low social class, I cannot fully endorse Mr. Six as a role model for me and my generation. While Mr. Six stays rooted in the past because it is the only thing he knows (and frankly, wants to know), young people should be seizing every opportunity they can to expand their horizons. Innovation must be at the forefront of our minds, from fields like science to literature to even politics. As both business and social connections weave the world together, we must spend our energy embracing the values of entrepreneurship and ambition in order to have the best chance of making a living.

However, the movie relays another important, but perhaps wishful message, regarding values that is also directed towards my generation. During the final scene of the movie, when Mr. Six stared down his foes at the frozen lake behind the Summer Palace with his sword in hand, it seemed like he was going to die alone. At that moment, dozens of cars swerved up to the lakeside and all of Mr. Six’s former gang members tumbled out, from the successful businessman dressed in designer brands to the limping veteran who eked out a living repairing bikes on the streets. Each clutched some sort of weapon in hand as they gathered behind Mr. Six, shouting “Whoever makes an enemy of Mr. Six, makes an enemy of all of us!” The sight of these brothers uniting for their friend at his greatest time of need left me with a half-smile. On the one hand, I did not break into a full grin because moments like those are staples that movies live off of, but rarely happen in real life. It isn’t so easy to risk everything, from reputation to even physical injury, to help out a friend. But on the other hand, I appreciated that scene because of its call to reflection, especially for young people. It reminds us to ponder what is worth making money for. While wealth makes life comfortable, it’s the friends and family who stay at our side that make life worth living. And those bonds are only kept alive through remaining loyal and approachable even when social statuses change or when one falls on hard times. In other words, I believe that spending money on grabbing a beer with someone I can call a brother far outweighs sipping the finest merlot in the world alone.

Watching Mr. Six also reminded me of a similar movie called Midnight in Paris, directed by Woody Allen and starring Owen Wilson. The movie told the story of an aspiring author named Gil who idolizes the era of the “Lost Generation” in Paris, and is magically transported back to those years each midnight. As I watched Gil converse face to face with his heroes like Earnest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, not to mention falling in love with a charismatic beauty, I was treated to a glimpse of the liveliness of that era that no textbook could capture. Although Gil eventually realised that he had to learn to live in the present, he had relished those visits to the 1920s where he could cure his nostalgia. While both movies played with the theme of nostalgia for bygone eras, Midnight in Paris celebrates the past while Mr. Six laments its passing. Perhaps this message resonated the most with my parents and their generation because they grew up in Beijing during the 1970s and 1980s. For them, the character of Mr. Six was a symbol of the values that they were raised with. Concepts such as unquestionable loyalty to friends, respect for elders, and upholding traditions were second nature to them, and Mr. Six embodied all of these qualities. The contrast between Mr. Six and the kind of young people that his son was involved with only emphasized the loss of those values in this day and age. It was like watching their childhood hero thrashing to stay afloat against the floodwaters of modern society. But I found that when boiled down to their cores, both Midnight in Paris and Mr. Six are two sides of the same coin. Both movies illuminate how the past represented pinnacles of beauty or righteousness, which can only be found in nostalgic memories that cannot fit in with the current generation. Yet from another point of view, perhaps that is the true worth of nostalgia: it shows me and my generation which values and traditions are worth holding on to, no matter how society changes or how much money we make. After all, it’s not enough just to live, we must hold onto what is worth living for.

Vocabulary

1. wistful: 沉思的，引起懷念的。

2. 我跟爸媽一起去看電影，到最后只會有兩種結(jié)果：要么我爸媽說他們沒看懂，我只能搖著頭冷哼，要么就是反過來。groan:（不滿意而）發(fā)出哼聲。

3. grit one’s teeth: 咬牙，此處為下定決心，鼓起勇氣之意。

4. all the rage: （口語）風(fēng)靡一時(shí)的事物；Mr. Six: 電影《老炮兒》，該片講述了當(dāng)年名震京城一方的頑主六爺被時(shí)代所拋棄，現(xiàn)在孤身一人跟他的幾個(gè)老哥們固守著自己的生活方式。

5. drawl: 拉長腔調(diào)的說話方式；slur: 含混不清地說。

6. recount: 敘述；gang: （常聚在一起鬧事打斗的）一幫年輕人。

7. abandon: 放棄；mob: 暴民，烏合之眾；rival: 競爭的；spat: 小沖突，爭吵；dictate: 影響，控制；code: 規(guī)范，行為規(guī)則。

8. tranquil: 平靜的；turn upside down: 使陷入混亂；estranged: （關(guān)系）疏遠(yuǎn)的；kidnap: 綁架；a gang of: 一伙。

9. clash: 沖突；spoil: 寵壞。

10. cast as: 把……分類，認(rèn)定某人為……；uphold: 贊成。

11. pitiful: 可憐的，令人同情的；nostalgia: 懷舊之情，后文nostalgic為其形容詞。

12. grim: 糟糕的，令人沮喪的。

13. confront: 面對；applicable: 合適的，適用的。

14. thug: 惡棍，暴徒；stick up for: 支持，維護(hù)。

15. paragon: 模范；endorse: 認(rèn)可，贊同。

16. frankly: 坦白講；expand one’s horizon: 開闊視野。

17. at the forefront of: 處于最前列，處于最重要的位置。

18. weave: 編織；embrace: 欣然接受；entrepreneurship: 企業(yè)家精神。

19. relay: 傳達(dá)；direct toward: 針對。

20. foe: 敵人。

21. 這時(shí)湖岸邊駛來了很多輛車，從車上蜂擁而出的全是六爺以前的幫派弟兄，有穿著名牌服裝的成功生意人，也有靠修自行車勉強(qiáng)維生的跛腳老兵。swerve: 轉(zhuǎn)彎，突然轉(zhuǎn)向；tumble out: 蜂擁而出；limping: 跛腳的；veteran: 老兵；eke out a living: 勉強(qiáng)維生。

22. clutch: 抓著，緊握。

23. break into a full grin: 露齒大笑起來；staple: 主要部分；live off of: 依靠，依賴。

24. help out: 幫助某人脫離困境。

25. ponder: 仔細(xì)考慮，沉思。

26. outweigh: 比……重要；merlot: 梅洛葡萄酒，是世界上著名紅酒品種之一。

27. Midnight in Paris: 電影《午夜巴黎》，2011年由伍迪?艾倫編劇并執(zhí)導(dǎo)，歐文?威爾遜主演的一部以法國巴黎為背景的浪漫喜劇和奇幻電影。

28. aspiring: 有抱負(fù)的；idolize: 極端崇拜；era: 時(shí)代；Lost Generation: 迷惘的一代。第一次世界大戰(zhàn)以后出現(xiàn)于美國的一個(gè)文學(xué)流派，代表作家有海明威、菲茲杰拉德、福克納等。

29. converse: 交談；Earnest Hemingway: 歐內(nèi)斯特?海明威，美國作家和記者，20世紀(jì)最著名的小說家之一，代表作有《老人與?！?、《太陽照常升起》等；F. Scott Fitzgerald: 弗朗西斯?斯科特?菲茨杰拉德，20世紀(jì)美國最杰出的作家之一，代表作有《了不起的蓋茨比》、《夜色溫柔》等；treat sb. to sth.: 用……招待；charismatic: 有魅力的；liveliness: 活力，活躍；capture: 逼真地表現(xiàn)。

30. relish: 喜愛，享受。

31. lament: 哀悼，痛惜。

32. resonate with: 與……產(chǎn)生共鳴。

33. embody: 體現(xiàn)。

34. thrash: 翻騰，猛烈擺動(dòng)；afloat: 漂浮著的。

35. boil down to: 歸結(jié)為，歸根到底。

36. illuminate: 闡明；pinnacle: 頂峰；righteousness: 正義，公正。

（來源：英語學(xué)習(xí)雜志 編輯：丹妮）