The Cowboy in Movies and Vaudeville电影和歌舞表演中的西部牛仔

译/孙星华

20世纪20年代初，无声电影大量传播，西部片自此受到美国民众的极大欢迎。东部城市的人们蜂拥到电影院，以求一睹大银幕上的西部传奇。所有的西部片都包含别无二致、简单老套的元素：边陲小镇上，英勇的牛仔除恶务尽，最终抱得美人归。

[2]美国人那时就已意识到，西部边界不复存在，牛仔纵马驰骋的时代一去不返，但他们依旧沉迷于牛仔这一形象。电影中的牛仔角色圆了美国每个男人、每个男孩的梦。广为宣扬的牛仔形象胆略过人，勇猛刚健。每部西部片刻画的牛仔都是阳刚之气的典范：他能摧毁一切邪恶的力量，打败所有的敌人，拥有无穷的力量，掌握各种搏斗的技巧，并总能邂逅一位美女，找到真爱。牛仔外在的形象就是他魅力四射的秘诀。美国人之所以把牛仔塑造为西部英雄这一理想形象，是因为牛仔实现了他们一直幻想却又无法实现的梦。

[3]威尔·罗杰斯和汤姆·米克斯等演员成了“美国良知、理想和正直的化身”。他们勇气非凡，敢于对抗富有却卑劣的恶霸，从而引发变革。当时，美国民众不得不应对突如其来的工业社会，因此那些西部英雄所展现的英勇事迹令人耳目一新，催人奋发。美国民众透过银幕欣赏牛仔的生活，这种窥探可以帮助他们更好地接受、适应迅速变化的环境。

[4]美国女性为西部片所吸引的原因和男性大抵相同。女性眼中非凡的牛仔女郎和西部女英雄是对自我的放大。每当都市生活、难带的孩子和过劳的丈夫让人沮丧不已，美国女性都可以幻想自己是埃莉诺·斯图尔特或多萝西·马隆。这种先和男主角发生冲突，最终拜倒在硬汉牛仔脚下的理念在20世纪20年代引起了无数美国女性的共鸣。

[5]《一个国家的诞生》首映后，非裔美国人创办了几家独立制作公司。塑造黑人牛仔角色的电影票房惨淡，原因有几点。白人拥有大多数的电影院，他们不愿放映黑人主演的西部片。上映黑人牛仔电影的影院经常亏损。白人不太可能自掏腰包来看黑人演员，而黑人观众也没有足够的可支配收入来看电影。大多数美国人对黑人西部片嗤之以鼻，原因是，他们认为这些电影“太过刻意地模仿白人西部片”。

[6]西部题材电影在美国取得了巨大成功，因为它迎合了城市观众的需求。最初，美国民众迫切希望通过大银幕一睹牛仔传奇。牛仔是大众化的娱乐角色，一旦进入他的奇幻世界，大多数美国民众便沉迷其中。一百年前，美国人将西部视为桃花源，同样，20世纪20年代的西部片观众通过牛仔来间接感受这片未经开发却充满机会的神秘土地。 □

Ever since the advent1advent 出现；到来。of the mass distribution of silent films in the early 1920s, western movies were tremendously popular with the American public. People in Eastern cities flocked to the cinema to see the myth of the West played out on the big screen. All Western movies contained the same basic formulaic elements: the heroic cowboy expunged2expunge 除去；删去。all traces of evil from a frontier town, then won the girl in the end.

[2] Americans realized that the frontier and the age of the living cowboy were dead, yet they were enthralled by the cowboy persona. The movie cowboy fulfilled the dreams of every American man and boy. The mass marketed cowboy was bold and virile. Each Western movie depicted the cowboy ful filling the typical masculine ideal: he destroyed all evil forces, conquered his enemies, possessed tireless strength and physical skills, and always found love with a beautiful woman. The super ficiality of the cowboy’s image was the se-cret of his appeal. Americans idealized the Western hero because he did all that they fantasized about, but had no prospects of accomplishing.

[3] Stars like Will Rogers and Tom Mix acted as “deputies of the American conscience, idealism, and honesty.”They had the courage to stand up to their corrupt wealthy overlords and effect change. For Americans forced to cope with an erupting industrial society, the feats achieved by such Western heroes were refreshing and inspiring.Americans admired cowboys in a voyeuristic3voyeuristic 好刺探他人隐私的。way that enabled them to better accept and adapt to their rapidly changing environments.

[4] American women were attracted to Western films for many of the same reasons that men were. Women viewed the unrealistic cowgirls and western heroines as fantastic extensions of themselves.When frustrated by urban life, demanding children, and over-worked husbands,American women could envision themselves in the place of Eleanor Stewart or Dorothy Malone. The notion of standing up to male authority figures, then ultimately succumbing to the charms of a rugged hero appealed to countless American women in the 1920s.

[5] After the debut of “Birth of a Nation4《一个国家的诞生》，商业片，讲述了美国南方黑人与3K党两个家族在,” several independent production companies were launched by African Americans. Films featuring black cowboys failed to succeed at the box of fices for several reasons. Whites who owned the majority of theaters were reluctant to show black Westerns. Those movie houses that did exhibit films showcasing black cowboys often lost money. Whites were unlikely to pay to see black actors, and black audiences did not have a significant amount of disposable income to spend at the movies. Most Americans scorned black Westerns because they believed that the films were “too consciously imitative of their white counterparts.”

[6] The Western film genre was abundantly successful in the U.S. because it catered to the needs of an urban audience. Americans were initially eager to get a glimpse of the legendary cowboy on screen. Once they entered the fantasy world of the mass marketed entertaining cowboys, most Americans were hooked.Just as Americans had envisioned the West as an escape valve5escape valve 排气阀。此处为比喻。a century before, patrons of Western movies in the 1920s viewed the cowboy as their vicarious6vicarious 间接体验的。link to the mythical untamed land of opportunity. ■