2020年经济学人 列克星顿专栏--美国回溯20世纪50年代(1)（在线收听）

United States

美国版块

Lexington

列克星顿专栏

Mid-century modern

中世纪现代主义

Americans should stop harking back to the 1950s. Many of the decade’s delights are still available

美国人应该停止回想上世纪50年代。那个十年期中的许多乐趣仍然存在。

The giant movie screen at Bengies was illuminated by a thrilling golden sunset when the cinema’s owner and compere, D. Edward Vogel, began reciting the house rules one recent Friday evening. It was dark before he had finished.

在最近的一个星期五的晚上，惊心动魄的金色夕阳照亮了Bengies的巨型电影屏幕，电影院的老板兼报幕员开始列举观影规则。他还没说完就天黑了。

Bengies, a drive-in outside Baltimore, does not allow alcohol, profanity, car-horns or headlights—which seemed reasonable. It also bans barefoot children (even when carried), photography, vehicles left unoccupied without an explanatory note, and refunds or ticket changes of any kind, which seemed a bit over the top. “This is not an exclusive list of our rules, but it’s a pretty good start,” said Mr Vogel, as the sky darkened over the 120-foot-long movie screen. He still hadn’t got through his covid-19 stipulations.

Bengies是一家汽车影院，坐落于巴尔的摩，在这里禁止饮酒、谩骂、按汽车喇叭或打开头灯，这些规则都很合理。但这里还禁止儿童赤脚（即使拿着鞋）、拍照、未经说明而擅自离车以及任何形式的退票或换票，这样的规则似乎有点夸张了。当120英尺长的电影银幕上的天空一片漆黑时，沃格尔先生说：“这并不是我们的专属规则，但这是一个相当好的开始。”。他仍没有讲完针对新冠肺炎的规定。

Mr Vogel, whose uncle started Bengies in 1956, says its rules are necessary because many of his patrons are new to drive-ins (of 4,000 fresh-air theatres in 1958, fewer than 400 remain).But this was not true of the families setting out chairs and speakers around Lexington and his tribe. From Pennsylvania, Virginia and far-flung Maryland, they were Bengies habitués. They came for its giant screen, grandiose playing of the anthem and unreconstructed snack bar selling Bengies cola, foot-long hot dogs and much more. They revelled in its eccentricity. The drive-in is named after a 19th century president, Benjamin Harrison, and known for the snarky messages on its neon billboard. Best of all they loved the juxtaposition of electronic entertainment and hot night air.

沃格尔先生的叔叔在1956年创办了Bengies，沃格尔表示这些规定很有必要，因为其中有许多顾客都是新来汽车影院的（1958年有4000家露天影院，现在只剩下不到400家）。但是，对于那些在列克星敦的专栏作家这群人的周围摆设椅子和扬声器的家庭们来说，并非如此。这些人来自宾夕法尼亚、弗吉尼亚以及遥远的马里兰州，他们是Bengies的常客。他们来到Bengies汽车影院是为了这里的大屏幕、宏伟的电影奏乐以及贩卖Bengies可乐、一英尺长的热狗等许多美食的那家未改装的小吃店。他们沉迷于这家影院的古怪。这家汽车影院以一位19世纪的总统本杰明·哈里森的名字命名，以霓虹灯广告牌上的尖锐信息而闻名。他们最热爱这里并存的电子娱乐以及夜间热空气。

These virtues were also apparent to first-timers. Like time-travelling Michael J. Foxes, your columnist and his family found the drive-in at once novel and deeply familiar. The experience has been depicted in a thousand films. More acutely, the same combination of mid-century technology, bossiness and cheesy familymindedness is still remarkably common. America is suffused with the culture of the 1950s. The pandemic, which has inspired pop-up drive-ins around the country, has made this even more evident.

对于第一次接触的人来说，这些优点显而易见。就像时光穿梭的迈克尔·J·福克斯一样，专栏作家和他的家人都会立刻发现汽车影院既新奇又熟悉。有上千部电影中描述过这段经历。专栏作家深刻地意识到，中世纪的科技、专横和庸俗的家庭观念仍然十分普遍。美国充斥着20世纪50年代的文化。这场疫情激化了全国各地的快闪汽车影院产业，也使这一点愈发明显。