美国国家公共电台 NPR Aquaman, From Super Friend To Surfer Dude: The Bro-Ification Of A Hero

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Who is Aquaman? Well, the answer is more complicated than you might think. He is the star of a blockbuster film opening this week. But for most of his life, Aquaman has been strictly² a D-list superhero, a benchwarmer, an also-ran. NPR's Glen Weldon reports that Aquaman has gone through a lot of changes.

GLEN WELDON, BYLINE³: Aquaman's been around since 1941 when his creators, Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris, established the basics. He protects the sea and its creatures, whom he controls through mental telepathy, wears an orange-and-green outfit⁴. He's got this big poof of blond hair but jet-black eyebrows⁵ for some reason. Unlike his A-list buddies⁶ Superman and Batman, it took the guy 26 years to make his way off the comics page with a Saturday morning cartoon in the '60s.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AQUAMAN")

TED¹ KNIGHT⁷: (As Narrator) Aquaman, swift and powerful monarch⁸ of the ocean with ability to summon and command all creatures of the deep.

WELDON: That's Ted Knight narrating⁹ there, by the way. In that cartoon, he was pretty much your standard, square do-gooder - a fish cop basically or maybe a fish sheriff because he and his sidekick rode around on giant seahorses and got into various maritime¹⁰ scrapes.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "AQUAMAN")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Uh oh, here comes the fisherman.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Scatter¹¹. Great gastropods, I'm snagged.

WELDON: In the '70s and '80s on the cartoon "Super Friends," Aquaman remained a hero with niche¹² powers only really useful when the threat that faced humanity was somehow water-related, which, you know, it often wasn't. But with the rise of the Internet in the 1990s, something changed. Those kids that had grown up on his cartoons were teens and adults now. They looked back on the cheesy aquatic¹³ hero of their youth who couldn't even fly unless you strapped¹⁴ flying fish to his feet and started making fun of him.

On message boards and web rings, he became a joke, a meme before memes were a thing. He just talks to fish, they said. He's useless, they said. By the early 2000s, some of those same kids started writing for TV themselves, and making fun of Aquaman became a cottage industry. On shows like Adult Swim's "Robot Chicken," he was the overeager hero always left behind while Superman saved the day.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ROBOT CHICKEN")

SETH GREEN: (As Aquaman) Oh, someone say cruise ship like in the ocean? Why didn't you invite me?

BRECKIN MEYER: (As Superman) Oh, to tell the fish to get out of the way? No, they figured it out.

ALEX BORSTEIN: (As Wonder Woman, laughter) Nice one, Superman.

GREEN: (As Aquaman) Sorry, guys.

WELDON: Meanwhile, on HBO, Aquaman was about to face his biggest threat ever in terms of public perception, anyway - bros.

(SOUNDBITE OF JANE'S ADDICTION¹⁵ SONG, "SUPERHERO")

WELDON: The series "Entourage" about aspiring¹⁶ actor Vinny Chase and his band of meathead pals¹⁷ in Hollywood turned the notion that a blockbuster film could be made about Aquaman, of all characters, into an extended joke, a joke that stretched over several seasons beginning with Vinny reluctantly entertaining the pitch from his agent...

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ENTOURAGE")

ADRIAN GRENIER: (As Vincent Chase) Ari, come on.

JEREMY PIVEN: (As Ari Gold) All right, you ready - Aquaman.

GRENIER: (As Vincent Chase) Aquaman?

PIVEN: (As Ari Gold) Aquaman, baby. It is Spider-Man underwater. Boom.

WELDON: ...Then rejecting the proposed Aquaman costume, which, in his defense¹⁸, did look a little sparkly.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "ENTOURAGE")

GRENIER: (As Vincent Chase) No way I'm going to be on a 70-foot screen looking like an underwater Elton John.

PIVEN: (As Ari Gold) Vinny, the suit will not look like that on film.

WELDON: Vinny did the Aquaman movie, and "Entourage" paid off that long-running joke with the ultimate punchline¹⁹. It became the highest-grossing film of all time. Imagine - right? - useless, old Aquaman. Well, a lot can change in a decade, Aquaman especially. Since "Entourage" went off the air, he went from being the butt²⁰ of bro-ey (ph) jokes to, well...

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "AQUAMAN")

JASON MOMOA: (As Aquaman) My man.

WELDON: ...To a bro himself - a surfer bro specifically. As played by Jason Momoa in both "Justice League" and the new film "Aquaman," he's the kind of long-haired, tattooed²¹, party animal dude you could imagine in Vinny Chase's "Entourage." The bros won. Aquaman became one of them.

Now, maybe that makes him more popular. The film's already broken records in China. But whenever a character like Aquaman changes this much this quickly, something is gained, and something is lost, something kind of cheesy and square. To some of us, no matter how hardcore, how gnarly, how extreme he becomes, we'll always remember him as just Aquaman, the undervalued, underestimated, undersea underdog, the hero who talks to fish. Glen Weldon, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF HOT CURTIN'S SONG, "SUPER FRIENDS")

1 ted   

vt.翻晒，撒，撒开

参考例句：

• The invaders gut ted the village.侵略者把村中财物洗劫一空。
• She often teds the corn when it's sunny.天好的时候她就翻晒玉米。

2 strictly   

adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地

参考例句：

• His doctor is dieting him strictly.他的医生严格规定他的饮食。
• The guests were seated strictly in order of precedence.客人严格按照地位高低就座。

3 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。

4 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

5 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

6 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

7 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

8 monarch   

n.帝王，君主，最高统治者

参考例句：

• The monarch's role is purely ceremonial.君主纯粹是个礼仪职位。
• I think myself happier now than the greatest monarch upon earth.我觉得这个时候比世界上什么帝王都快乐。

9 narrating   

v.故事( narrate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She entertained them by narrating her adventures in Africa. 她讲述她在非洲的历险来使他们开心。
• [Mike Narrating] Worm and I fall into our old rhythm like Clyde Frazier and Pearl Monroe. [迈克叙述] 虫子和我配合得象以前一样默契我们两好象是克莱德。弗瑞泽和佩尔。门罗。 来自电影对白

10 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

11 scatter   

vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散

参考例句：

• You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
• Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。

12 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

13 aquatic   

adj.水生的，水栖的

参考例句：

• Aquatic sports include swimming and rowing.水上运动包括游泳和划船。
• We visited an aquatic city in Italy.我们在意大利访问过一个水上城市。

14 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》

15 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。

16 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句

17 pals   

n.朋友( pal的名词复数 )；老兄；小子；（对男子的不友好的称呼）家伙

参考例句：

• We've been pals for years. 我们是多年的哥们儿了。
• CD 8 positive cells remarkably increased in PALS and RP(P CD8+细胞在再生脾PALS和RP内均明显增加(P 来自互联网

18 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

19 punchline   

n.（笑话、故事等的）结尾警语，点睛之笔

参考例句：

• Even then,the magical pause can strengthen the punchline.即使这样，有魔力的停顿依然可以增强笑点。
• A good joke or a mystery novel has along wind up to the final punchline.好的笑话或神秘小说都是一路曲折，直至最后的笑料或真相。

20 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

21 tattooed   

v.刺青，文身( tattoo的过去式和过去分词 )；连续有节奏地敲击；作连续有节奏的敲击

参考例句：

• He had tattooed his wife's name on his upper arm. 他把妻子的名字刺在上臂上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sailor had a heart tattooed on his arm. 那水兵在手臂上刺上一颗心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》