美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Black Panther' Costume Designer Draws On 'The Sacred Geometry Of Africa'

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

Over the last few months, weeks, days, hours, you might have heard of a certain movie that is in theaters this weekend.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK PANTHER")

FOREST WHITAKER: (As Zuri) I give to you the Black Panther.

MCEVERS: "Black Panther" is the latest offering from Marvel¹ and Disney. If you don't already know the story, a quick synopsis² - it's about T'Challa, the Black Panther and king of Wakanda. Wakanda is a technologically³ advanced African country. It sits upon a rich deposit of the metal vibranium, the strongest substance in the Marvel world. Now, when you see the movie - and a lot of you will - you'll notice quickly how Wakanda looks like the future with healing tables and hovercraft all powered by vibranium.

If you look at the costumes, you can see a future that is grounded in the past. Designer Ruth E. Carter pulled colors, shapes, jewelry⁴ and textures⁶ from tribes all over Africa. And she wants you to take notice, starting with the Black Panther suit.

RUTH E CARTER: I put a tiny triangular⁷ surface pattern all over the suit to give him texture⁵. But that triangle is the sacred geometry of Africa. I call that pattern the Okavango pattern.

MCEVERS: The concept for the suit came from Marvel's character designer, Ryan Meinerding. The details are all Ruth Carter and her team.

CARTER: I felt that it made his suit have this character that would in the wide shot make him this superhero, but in the close-up you'd see this beautiful pattern that would turn him into this African king.

MCEVERS: There is a lot of thought behind every costume in this movie, like the ones for the Dora Milaje, the highest-ranking fighting force in Wakanda. They are all women.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK PANTHER")

DANAI GURIRA: (As Okoye) Wakanda forever.

CARTER: When you look at the costume you see a military uniform, a military uniform that's not crafted for a man. It's crafted for a woman. It is bright red. And its color is inspired by the Maasai tribe or the Turkana tribe that wear this really beautiful, vibrant⁸ red. There's also a little gold and a little orange in their costume that represents the vibranium that is laced within the fibers⁹ of the costume to make it strong. There's a leather - brown leather harness that wraps the body of the Dora Milaje in a beautiful way that honors the female form.

There's a tabard that runs down the front of their costume that's beaded in the tradition of Africa throughout the continent as especially within the Turkana and the Maasai tribe because I really wanted this to have a feeling that if you were a aspiring¹¹ Dora Milaje, if you were training and you were granted the position to be a member, that you would be presented with this honor and this beautiful uniform.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MCEVERS: And then there are costumes that Ruth Carter and her team created to define a character like Shuri, tech genius and T'Challa's younger sister.

CARTER: Shuri is this Tony Stark¹² of Wakanda. She designs the suit.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BLACK PANTHER")

LETITIA WRIGHT: (As Shuri) I have some new tech to show you. It is lighter¹³, it absorbs energy, and it's got some swag.

CHADWICK BOSEMAN: (As T'Challa) Very nice.

CARTER: When we first meet Letitia Wright, who plays Shuri, she's wearing a traditional costume. And she shouts up to the rest of the community and she's like, can we get a move on? This stuff is uncomfortable. So she told us right away that that's not where she comes from. We meet Shuri in her lab. And one of the biggest things was, how do we not put lab coats on people? It just seems like so cliche¹⁴ and so done. And I thought, let's just make her clothes. And we used fabrics¹⁶ that were kind of forward-looking - you know, a little bit of mesh¹⁷ and overlays. I tried to find colors that were youthful.

She didn't need to wear a lab coat. So her first dress is a white strapless dress. And we created the front of it to be this cylindrical¹⁸ round shape. And again, I was trying to connect shapes within Wakanda. So you see them repeat. So the bust¹⁹ area around the front of her white dress is just a round semicircle, and it's overlaid with a mesh white fabric¹⁵ that we ruffled²¹ along the back. And the ruffle²⁰ wasn't a perfect ruffle. It was just kind of a ruffling²² of mesh fabric that just seemed different and really kind of OK.

(SOUNDBITE OF LUDWIG GORANSSON SONG, "UNITED NATIONS/END TITLES")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #1: (Vocalizing).

CARTER: I learned from my experience on the "Black Panther" more than ever that costume design is art. I could communicate and tell stories through this wonderful medium of adornment²³. The adornment of Africa has always been a part of their beauty from scarification to bead¹⁰ work to woodwork. You know, I fell in love with it even more.

(SOUNDBITE OF LUDWIG GORANSSON SONG, "UNITED NATIONS/END TITLES")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #2: (Singing in foreign language).

MCEVERS: That was Ruth Carter, costume designer for "Black Panther." If you want to see what some of those costumes look like, head over to npr.org/allthingsconsidered.

(SOUNDBITE OF LUDWIG GORANSSON SONG, "UNITED NATIONS/END TITLES")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #2: (Singing in foreign language).

1 marvel   

vi.(at)惊叹vt.感到惊异；n.令人惊异的事

参考例句：

• The robot is a marvel of modern engineering.机器人是现代工程技术的奇迹。
• The operation was a marvel of medical skill.这次手术是医术上的一个奇迹。

2 synopsis   

n.提要，梗概

参考例句：

• The synopsis of the book is very good.这本书的梗概非常好。
• I heard there wasn't a script.They only had a synopsis.我听说是没有剧本的。他们只有一个大纲。

3 technologically   

ad.技术上地

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a technologically advanced city. 上海是中国的一个技术先进的城市。
• Many senior managers are technologically illiterate. 许多高级经理都对技术知之甚少。

4 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

5 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

6 textures   

n.手感( texture的名词复数 )；质感；口感；（音乐或文学的）谐和统一感

参考例句：

• I'm crazy about fabrics textures and colors and designs. 我喜欢各式各样的纺织物--对它的质地，色彩到花纹图案--简直是入了迷。 来自辞典例句
• Let me clear up the point about the textures. 让我明确了一点有关的纹理。 来自互联网

7 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

8 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

9 fibers   

光纤( fiber的名词复数 )； （织物的）质地； 纤维，纤维物质

参考例句：

• Thesolution of collagen-PVA was wet spined with the sodium sulfate as coagulant and collagen-PVA composite fibers were prepared. 在此基础上，以硫酸钠为凝固剂，对胶原-PVA共混溶液进行湿法纺丝，制备了胶原-PVA复合纤维。
• Sympathetic fibers are distributed to all regions of the heart. 交感神经纤维分布于心脏的所有部分。

10 bead   

n.念珠；(pl.)珠子项链；水珠

参考例句：

• She accidentally swallowed a glass bead.她不小心吞下了一颗玻璃珠。
• She has a beautiful glass bead and a bracelet in the box.盒子里有一颗美丽的玻璃珠和手镯。

11 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

12 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

13 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。

14 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。

15 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

16 fabrics   

织物( fabric的名词复数 )； 布； 构造； （建筑物的）结构（如墙、地面、屋顶）：质地

参考例句：

• cotton fabrics and synthetics 棉织物与合成织物
• The fabrics are merchandised through a network of dealers. 通过经销网点销售纺织品。

17 mesh   

n.网孔，网丝，陷阱；vt.以网捕捉，啮合，匹配；vi.适合； [计算机]网络

参考例句：

• Their characters just don't mesh.他们的性格就是合不来。
• This is the net having half inch mesh.这是有半英寸网眼的网。

18 cylindrical   

adj.圆筒形的

参考例句：

• huge cylindrical gas tanks 巨大的圆柱形贮气罐
• Beer cans are cylindrical. 啤酒罐子是圆筒形的。

19 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

20 ruffle   

v.弄皱，弄乱；激怒，扰乱；n.褶裥饰边

参考例句：

• Don't ruffle my hair.I've just combed it.别把我的头发弄乱了。我刚刚梳好了的。
• You shouldn't ruffle so easily.你不该那么容易发脾气。

21 ruffled   

adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She ruffled his hair affectionately. 她情意绵绵地拨弄着他的头发。
• All this talk of a strike has clearly ruffled the management's feathers. 所有这些关于罢工的闲言碎语显然让管理层很不高兴。

22 ruffling   

弄皱( ruffle的现在分词 )； 弄乱； 激怒； 扰乱

参考例句：

• A cool breeze brushed his face, ruffling his hair. 一阵凉风迎面拂来，吹乱了他的头发。
• "Indeed, they do not,'said Pitty, ruffling. "说真的，那倒不一定。" 皮蒂皱皱眉头，表示异议。

23 adornment   

n.装饰；装饰品

参考例句：

• Lucie was busy with the adornment of her room.露西正忙着布置她的房间。
• Cosmetics are used for adornment.化妆品是用来打扮的。