美国国家公共电台 NPR In 'Downsizing,' A New Addition To The Large History Of Tiny People In Film

 

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

A financially strapped¹ couple is taking steps to make a big change.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DOWNSIZING")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS #1: (As character) Please state your full legal names.

MARTIN: Actually, it's a very small change.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DOWNSIZING")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS #2: (As character) Following the procedure, your bodies will be approximately 0.0364 percent of their current mass and volume.

MARTIN: The premise² of the new movie "Downsizing," starring Matt Damon, which opens this weekend, is people choosing to be made physically³ very small. It's the latest of a long and, well, odd cinematic tradition of characters shrinking on the big screen. NPR's Neda Ulaby has more.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE⁴: It goes back to at least 1901 with a silent movie called "The Dwarf⁵ And The Giant." There are classic shrinking movies like "Fantastic Voyage" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids." In "Downsizing," scientists shrink people to save the environment.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DOWNSIZING")

SOREN PILMARK: (As Andreas Jacobsen) The cause of all the catastrophes⁶ we have seen today is overpopulation. We're proud to unveil the only practical remedy to humanity's greatest problem.

ULABY: Tiny people have tiny carbon footprints. But shrinking is being marketed to the middle class as a way to live large. When you're only 5 inches tall, you can move to a grand mansion⁷ the size of a dollhouse in a special tiny planned community where your savings⁸ stretch much further than in the big world.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DOWNSIZING")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS #3: (As character) In Leisureland, your $52,000 translates to $12.5 million to live on for life.

ULABY: The irony⁹ is intentional¹⁰, says "Downsizing" director Alexander Payne.

ALEXANDER PAYNE: People are getting small in order to consume more.

ULABY: Something about the experience of being small is magnified by real life now, he says. Just open a newspaper.

PAYNE: The enormity of hideousness¹¹ we're reading certainly makes me feel quite small and powerless.

ULABY: The notion of getting small to save the planet is nothing news, says film historian Julie Turnock. She points to a horror movie from 1936 called "The Devil-Doll" where scientists try to fight world hunger by making people shrink.

JULIE TURNOCK: The technology in that movie is developed for the same reason - to save resources.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE DEVIL-DOLL")

HENRY B WALTHALL: (As Marcel) Think of it, Lavond, every living creature reduced to one-sixth its size, one-sixth its physical need. Food for six times all of us.

ULABY: Things don't turn out well in "The Devil-Doll," which came out during the Great Depression. Turns out a lot of movies about shrinking people reflect economic anxieties.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN")

GRANT WILLIAMS: (As Scott Carey) We owed a great deal of money, and I had no job.

ULABY: Like "The Incredible Shrinking Man" from 1957.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN")

WILLIAMS: (As Scott Carey) Every day it was worse; every day a little smaller.

ULABY: "The Incredible Shrinking Man" speaks to all kinds of Cold War concerns from radioactive exposure to shifts in gender¹² roles. The hero, says Julie Turnock, is literally¹³ shrinking in stature¹⁴.

TURNOCK: The person at the top is now at the bottom. And the patriarch of the house is now being chased by the house cat.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAT MEOWING)

ULABY: Which became a shrinking people movie cliche¹⁵.

JAKE MORRISON: There's normally somebody who gets attacked by a cat.

ULABY: Jake Morrison watched a ton of shrinking movies before working on the superhero film "Ant-Man." He was its special effects supervisor¹⁶. The live-action movie from two years ago features a suit that makes the hero insect-sized. Morrison used something called a macro lens to create a hyperrealistic world where a mote¹⁷ of dust is giant and a bathtub drain perilous¹⁸. You can tell the story of Hollywood special effects, says Morrison, partly through the story of shrinking movies.

MORRISON: Every single shrinking film is essentially¹⁹ the best use of the technology that was available at the time.

ULABY: Like one of his favorites, a live-action Disney film about a leprechaun from 1959.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE")

JIMMY O'DEA: (As King Brian) Will you wish your wish now?

ALBERT SHARPE: (As Darby O'Gill) I will indeed.

MORRISON: "Darby O'Gill And The Little People" did some amazing work with forced perspective where they poured so much light on the set so everything was in focus.

ULABY: Forced perspective is essentially the same trick people use when they take pictures, say, of the Eiffel Tower that looks pinched between their thumbs and forefingers²⁰. In this case, one actor was filmed from a distance so he looked like an elf.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE")

O'DEA: (As King Brian) Well, Darby O'Gill, 'tis pleased and delighted I am to see you again.

MORRISON: Way ahead of its time and always pushing the bounds.

PAYNE: That's a brilliant film. That's brilliantly done.

ULABY: Director Alexander Payne says "Darby O'Gill And The Little People" pioneered techniques still employed 50 years later. The "Lord Of The Rings" movies used forced perspective to film its dwarves²¹ and hobbits.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY")

MARTIN FREEMAN: (As Bilbo Baggins) I'm surrounded by dwarves.

ULABY: People have always been attracted to stories where characters get littler (ph). Think "Alice In Wonderland" and "Gulliver's Travels." There's a pleasure to the idea of being invisible and being able to creep into tiny little spaces. Right now, the metaphor²² is more obvious than ever, says Alexander Payne, for people feeling diminished by the world and the scale of its challenges.

PAYNE: The purpose of a what-if science fiction social satire²³ premise like the one we have in "Downsizing" is to give us perspective on the real world and to let us see in an entertaining way - to help us look at these problems and give us some distance from them.

ULABY: And to remind us that even small things have significance. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LET'S GET SMALL")

TROUBLE FUNK: (Singing) What you going to do? Let's get small. Do you want to get down? Let's get small. Now, what you going to do? Let's get small. Do you want to get up, y'all? Let's get small. Now, what you going to do? Let's get small. We have to take your height, yeah. Let's get small. Now, what you going to do? Let's get small. Say what? Let's get small. Because (unintelligible) when you're on the floor.

1 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 premise   

n.前提；v.提论，预述

参考例句：

• Let me premise my argument with a bit of history.让我引述一些史实作为我立论的前提。
• We can deduce a conclusion from the premise.我们可以从这个前提推出结论。

3 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 dwarf   

n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小

参考例句：

• The dwarf's long arms were not proportional to his height.那侏儒的长臂与他的身高不成比例。
• The dwarf shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. 矮子耸耸肩膀，摇摇头。

6 catastrophes   

n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难

参考例句：

• Two of history's worst natural catastrophes occurred in 1970. 1970年发生了历史上最严重两次自然灾害。 来自辞典例句
• The Swiss deposits contain evidence of such catastrophes. 瑞士的遗址里还有这种灾难的证据。 来自辞典例句

7 mansion   

n.大厦，大楼；宅第

参考例句：

• The old mansion was built in 1850.这座古宅建于1850年。
• The mansion has extensive grounds.这大厦四周的庭园广阔。

8 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

9 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

10 intentional   

adj.故意的，有意（识）的

参考例句：

• Let me assure you that it was not intentional.我向你保证那不是故意的。
• His insult was intentional.他的侮辱是有意的。

11 hideousness   

参考例句：

• Hideousness of aspect, deformity of instinct, troubled him not, and did not arouse his indignation. 外形的丑陋和本性的怪异都不能惊动他，触犯他。 来自互联网

12 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

13 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

14 stature   

n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材

参考例句：

• He is five feet five inches in stature.他身高5英尺5英寸。
• The dress models are tall of stature.时装模特儿的身材都较高。

15 cliche   

n./a.陈词滥调(的)；老生常谈(的)；陈腐的

参考例句：

• You should always try to avoid the use of cliche. 你应该尽量避免使用陈词滥调。
• The old cliche is certainly true:the bigger car do mean bigger profits.有句老话倒的确说得不假:车大利大。

16 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

17 mote   

n.微粒；斑点

参考例句：

• Seeing the mote in one's neighbor's eye,but not the beam in one's own.能看见别人眼里的尘埃，看不见自己眼里的木头。
• The small mote on her forehead distinguishes her from her twin sister.她额头上的这个小斑点是她与其双胞胎妹妹的区别。

18 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

19 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

20 forefingers   

n.食指( forefinger的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• When her eyes were withdrawn, he secretly crossed his two forefingers. 一等她的眼睛转过去，他便偷偷用两个食指交叠成一个十字架。 来自辞典例句
• The ornithologists made Vs with their thumbs and forefingers, measuring angles. 鸟类学家们用大拇指和食指构成V形量测角度。 来自互联网

21 dwarves   

n.矮子( dwarf的名词复数 )；有魔法的小矮人

参考例句：

• Everyone will try to claim it: Men, Dwarves, wizards. 每个种族都会争取它的拥有权：人类，矮人，巫师。 来自电影对白
• Have you learned nothing of the stubbornness of Dwarves? 难道你还不了解那个矮人的倔强吗？ 来自电影对白

22 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

23 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。