Fast food nation《快餐帝國(guó)》（精講之五）
Amber: Man, this place is great.
Pete: Mmm. Yeah, you are only allowed to come here with me. So, are you on the pill?
Amber: Um, no.
Pete: No? Do you have a boyfriend?
Amber: Not really. I'm kinda in between.
Pete: Mm-hmm. Well, they are circling you like sharks. Right? I'm gonna come back here and find that you got, like a little baby fry cook in the oven.
Amber: Ah. You know what?
Pete: What?
Amber: I remember you taking me to Mickey’s when I was a kid.
Pete: No, did I?
Amber & Pete: Yes.
Pete: I was being lazy. I apologize. Now I hate everything about the place.
Amber: Mom said it was a big deal when the first Mickey’s opened here.
Pete: It was tremendous. It was. I mean, you know - Cody was on the map. The, the first one didn't bother me. It was just the 400th that started to, you know, get under my skin.
Amber: Well, I need the money. I really do.
Pete: Yeah? There's no other jobs here, right? You tried A.S.P.C.A. You tried the park services. You tried day care. Why? Nobody around here needs their kids to be taken care of?
Amber: It was the first job I could find.
Pete: Mm-hmm.
Amber: I mean, a friend of mine worked there. What do you want to hear?
Pete: I'm not criticizing you, all right? I think you are great. I just wanna know your timeline for gettin' outta here.
Amber: I wanna go to college.
Pete: Good.
Amber: I'm thinking Oregon or Montana.
Pete: What ya gonna study?
Amber: I don't know. I wanna- I wanna write. I like photography. But I think I wanna study science, aeronautical engineering.
Pete: Aeronautical engineering?
Amber: Yeah. I mean, if I could do anything in the world, I'd be an astronaut.
Pete: All right, well, fucking-A, do it.
Amber: Okay.
Pete: But you need to get outta here to do that.
Amber: Was it hard leaving Cody back when you were a teenager?
Pete: No, not for me. Your mom, though, that was a different story.
Amber: I was on the way. Kinda cuts down on your options.
妙語(yǔ)佳句，活學(xué)活用
1. On the pill
On the pill 的意思是“正在服用口服避孕藥”，pill 在口語(yǔ)中有“口服避孕藥”的意思。
2. In between
In between 是指“在中間的狀況”，具體到這個(gè)電影片段，Amber 的意思“有比較親密的關(guān)系，但還沒(méi)發(fā)展成戀人”。我們來(lái)看個(gè)例子：My roommates disagreed and I was caught in between. 我的室友不同意，我被夾在中間進(jìn)退兩難。
3. Get under someone's skin
這個(gè)片語(yǔ)的意思是“Irritate someone，bother煩擾某人，惹火某人”，例如：She really knows how to get under my skin with her nagging.
這個(gè)片語(yǔ)還有另外一個(gè)意思，是“Obsess someone or affect someone's deep feelings深深地影響某人的感情，打動(dòng)某人”，例如：Jean's really gotten under his skin; he misses her terribly
4. A.S.P.C.A.
指的是American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
5. Fucking-A
Fucking-A 的意思是“good，excellent”，有時(shí)候也表示“Yes, you are right”（例如 Fucking-A man）。 它通常是表示一種強(qiáng)烈的感情，比如熱情，感興趣或者激動(dòng)，而沒(méi)有太多的實(shí)際意義。
6. Cut down on
這個(gè)片語(yǔ)的意思是“Reduce, decrease減少”，例如：I want to cut down my caffeine intake.
文化面面觀
快餐文化=美國(guó)的符號(hào)？
Despite the relentless attacks, hundreds of millions of hungry customers eat fast food daily. The media constantly remind American consumers about its supposed evils. Most are conscious of the health risks from fatty, greasy meals; most realize that they are being served by a poorly paid young worker; and if they choose to ponder it, most are aware that the excessive packaging causes millions of tons of trash each year. But they continue to purchase and eat fast food on a regular basis. Fast food remains central to the American diet because it is inexpensive, quick, convenient, and predictable, and because it tastes good. Even more important, Americans eat fast food because it is now a cultural norm. As American culture homogenized and became distinctively "American" in the second half of the twentieth century, fast food, and especially the hamburger, emerged as the primary American ethnic food. Just as the Chinese eat rice and Mexicans eat tamales, Americans eat burgers.
And fast food has grown even beyond being just a distinctive ethnic food. Since the 1960s, the concept has extended far beyond the food itself, with the term becoming a common descriptor for other quick-service operations, even a metaphor for many of the negative aspects of mainstream American life. Theorists and pundits sometimes use the term "fast food" to denigrate American habits, institutions, and values, referring to them as elements of a "fast-food society." In fact, "fast-food" has become a frequently used adjective, implying not only ready availability but also superficiality, mass-produced standardization, lack of authenticity, or just poor quality.
In the last two decades of the twentieth century, fast food gained additional economic and cultural significance, becoming a popular American export to nations around the world. Some detractors claim that it is even deliberately used by the United States, as a tool of cultural imperialism. The appearance of a McDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on the streets of a foreign city signals to many the demise of indigenous culture, replacing another country's traditional practices and values with American materialism. In fact, the rapid spread of American fast food is probably not an organized conspiracy, rather more the result of aggressive corporate marketing strategies. Consumers in other countries are willing and able to buy fast-food products, so chains are quick to accommodate demand. Thought of around the world as "American food," fast food continues its rapid international growth. (answers.com)
Fast food nation《快餐帝國(guó)》（精講之六）
Pete: Hey, Sis. Sis-Whoa, whoa. Hey, hey. So, what would you say? Is Cody a better town today or back when we were kids?
Amber’s mother: I know what you would say.
Pete: What?
Amber’s mother: Your uncle hates everything, Amber. You know, I actually think it's better now. There's more stuff to do.
Pete: Oh, yeah. There's more to do. You got the Wal-Mart, the Kmart and the Target, right? You got Chuck E. Cheese. You got Taco Bell. You got Arby's. You got Mickey’s. You got Denny's. You've got, uh, Chili's. You got Applebee's. You got Wendy's. You got Hardee's, right? You got the- the K.F.C., the IHOP. Do they still have that Der Wienerschnitzel?
Amber: Oh, yeah.
Pete: Oh, thank God it's still hanging in there. You know, I don't know about you guys, but I could just piss away a whole Sunday afternoon at the Sunglass Hut.
Amber: Oh, have you ever been to the Sunglass Hut?
Pete: No, I never have. I'm not trying to come off like some Polly Perfect here. Right. I'm going to make some cabinets for some rich New York investment banker fuck who probably spends two weeks a year at his Montana ranch, so don't listen to me.
Amber’s mother: No, I'm not.
Pete: I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to your daughter. You know, I'm probably just going through some full-of-shit, early middle-age period.
Amber: I don't think you're full of shit.
Pete: Thank you. You see, she's so nice. What happened to you?
Amber’s mother: No, no, no, sweetheart, don't contradict your mother. He is full of shit. I don't waste a lot of time thinking about this stuff. Democrats, Republicans--they're all crooks.
Pete: This is why revolutions are meant for the young. If you don't do it now, you're never gonna. Uniform- uniformity. Conform- conformity. Monogamy- monotony.
Amber: No wonder you're not still married.
Amber’s mother: Stupid- stupidity.
Pete: Yeah, look- hey, the facts are not always friendly.
Amber’s mother: Listen to who's giving the lecture here, Amber. Your uncle did not finish college.
Pete: Jesus! Mm-hmm. Oh!
Amber’s mother: Okay? He’d lived in a camper for 18 months.
Pete: An air stream!
Amber’s mother: This is not a role model. Remind me to deprogram you after he leaves.
Amber: Hey, Mom said you got kicked out of college.
Pete: Oh, thanks, Mom.
Amber’s mother: Yeah, your mug shots are in all the papers.
Pete: Yeah, with eight others. I was at Colorado University. Right. We were the C.U. Nine.
Amber’s mother: Yeah, that notorious band of Midwestern, white freedom fighters.
Pete: No, no, no. We took over the chancellor's office. We were protesting the college's investment in South Africa.
Amber: So what happened?
Pete: All right, well, so, after about four hours, they come bursting through this barricade-
Amber’s mother: Okay, that was two chalkboards.
Pete: It's not two chalkboards. We had a bunch of ropes with some chair. Look, they practically beat the shit out of all of us. They treated us like a band of terrorists.
Amber’s mother: You got your little ass kicked out of college - which he never finished.
Pete: Big deal.
Amber’s mother: It cost our dad $2,000 in legal fees.
Pete: Which I eventually paid him back. Anyway, meanwhile-cut to-About a year later, the college divests all its holdings in South Africa and a little while after that, Nelson Mandela is a free man.
Amber’s mother: All because of the "C.U. Nine."
Pete: No, nobody said that. Nobody even thought that, all right. The point is... that, you know, if enough people start thinking about something and trying to actually do something, you can change things for the better.
Amber: I believe that.
Amber’s mother: Well, I hope they can change for the better.
Pete: Don't just hope. You can't sit back and hope. You have to do something. In a town like this, hope will kill you. It's your move.
妙語(yǔ)佳句，活學(xué)活用
1. Hang in
Hang in 是個(gè)口語(yǔ)用法，也常說(shuō)成是 hang in there，本來(lái)的意思是“To persevere堅(jiān)持不懈”，這里表示“（那家店）仍然在營(yíng)業(yè)”。我們來(lái)看個(gè)例子：She has managed to hang in despite years of bad luck.
2. Piss away
Piss away 的意思是“Squander, waste 浪費(fèi)”，例如：They've pissed away a fortune on those horses. 看到有piss在內(nèi)，大家一定知道這個(gè)也是個(gè)不太文明的講法了，所以要小時(shí)使用哦。
3. Come off
Come off 在這里的意思是“表現(xiàn)”，例如：Whenever challenged he comes off badly.
4. Polly Perfect
在英語(yǔ)兒歌中，有首關(guān)于housewife Polly 的兒歌，在美國(guó)還有個(gè)電視節(jié)目，一個(gè)Polly 主婦教人們?cè)鯓优腼儯虼嗽谶@個(gè)片段中，Pete 的意思是“他并不像Polly Perfect 那樣是個(gè)美食家”。
5. Role model 模范，榜樣
6. Mug shot
人的面部照片，尤指警察局存檔用的或通緝用的照片。
7. Beat the shit out of
意思是“把某人打得落花流水，滿地找牙”，見(jiàn)到有shit在內(nèi)，大家應(yīng)該知道這也是比較粗俗的講法，要慎用。我們來(lái)看個(gè)例子：We're gonna beat the shit out of you!
8. Big deal
Big deal 本意是指“重要的事”，但用在諷刺的語(yǔ)氣中則表示“So what? Who cares?有什么大不了的”。
9. Cut to
Cut to 本意是指拍片的時(shí)候轉(zhuǎn)換到另一個(gè)鏡頭，例如：The camera cut to the sky.這里則表示“打住，插一下”，將談話轉(zhuǎn)換到另一件事情上。
文化面面觀
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
Fast food nation 這部電影是根據(jù) Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal這本書(shū)改編的。該書(shū)早在2001年就已經(jīng)問(wèn)世。但顯然，還是影像的影響力要大，是電影讓書(shū)更深入人心。
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal is a book by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser that examines the local and global influence of the United States fast food industry.
Schlosser examines the history and growth of fast food restaurants in American culture. Schlosser argues that the fast food industry wields powerful economic - and therefore political - influence on American culture, and exploits that influence to increase profits at the expense of public health and the social conditions of its workers. In the process of making that argument, however, he provides an interesting portrait of the way fast food culture is a unique product of American history, related to the emergence of the automobile, the homogenization of corporate culture, changes in labour conditions, and of course, globalization. He also provides surprisingly respectful biographies of some of the "founding fathers" of fast food, including Carl Karcher, Ray Kroc, and others. The fast food industry, writes Schlosser, "has helped to transform not only the American diet, but also our landscape, economy, workforce, and popular culture".
Schlosser opens the book with the ironic delivery of a Domino's pizza to the "top secret" military base, Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. He describes various high-tech capabilities of the base and its extensive defensive system, speculating that if the worst were to happen and the entire base were entombed in the mountain, anthropologists of the future would discover random fast food wrappers scattered amongst military hardware. Both, suggests Schlosser, give important clues about the nature of American society.
The book continues with an account of the evolution of fast food and how it coincided with the advent of the automobile. He explains the transformation from countless independent restaurants into a few uniform franchises. This shift led to a production-line kitchen prototype, standardization, self-service, and a change in marketing demographics: from teenager to family-oriented. Regarding the topic of child-targeted marketing, Schlosser explains how the McDonald's Corporation modeled the marketing tactics of The Walt Disney Company, which inspired the creation of advertising icons such as Ronald McDonald and his supporting characters. He also mentions the implementation of toys in McDonald's renowned 'Happy Meals' as an example of the issues presented in his proposed argument. The theory behind this shift to child-targeted marketing was that it would not only attract children but also their parents and grandparents as well. More importantly, it would instill brand loyalty in them, which would persist throughout adulthood through nostalgic associations to McDonald's. Its ills are discussed: the exploitation of children's naivety, trusting nature and that the average child watches 21 hours of television per week. This also includes 100,000 tv advertisements a year.
Schlosser states that corporate tax cuts that have compromised school funding have presented many corporations with the opportunity for sponsorship within those same schools. According to sources, 80% of the sponsored textbooks contain material that is biased in favor of the sponsors, and 30% of high schools offer fast foods in their cafeterias. Furthermore, high school student Mike Cameron was suspended from school for an incident on "Coke day"; during a promotional event, the student exhibited a Pepsi t-shirt while he and other students clad in red and white formed the word 'Coke' in the football field that was to be photographed aerially.
In his examination of the meat packing industry Schlosser finds that it is now dominated by casual, easily exploited immigrant labor and that levels of injury are among the highest of any occupation in the United States. Schlosser discusses his findings on meat packing companies IBP, Inc. and Kenny Monfort. Also, Schlosser retells the steps of meat processing, and notes several hazardous practices unknown to most consumers; for example, the practice of rendering dead pigs & horses and chicken manure into cattle feed. Schlosser notes that practices like these were responsible for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, aka Mad Cow Disease 瘋牛病), as well as introducing dangerous bacteria, such as E. coli O157:H7 (大腸桿菌中的一種), into the food supply.
Schlosser notes that there are more robberies at fast-food restaurants than at banks, gas stations or convenience stores.
In the later section of the book, the fast food industry's role in globalization is discussed, linking increased obesity in China and Japan with the arrival of fast food. A summary of the McLibel case is included.
In later editions, Schlosser has added a final section, including reviews of his book, counters to some critics that emerged since first publication, and then discusses the effect that the threat of BSE had on the US Government’s policy towards cattle farming. He concludes that, given the swift, decisive and effective action that took place as a result of this interest and intervention, many of the problems documented in the book are solvable, given enough political will.
Fast Food Nation & Super Size Me
在戛納影展的新聞上第一次看到這部片子的消息，就想到04年的那部紀(jì)錄片 Super Size Me。
Super Size Me 講的是一個(gè)叫Morgan Spurlock的年輕人用自己做試驗(yàn)，連續(xù)三十天吃麥當(dāng)勞，看看最后會(huì)出現(xiàn)什么結(jié)果。
Morgan Spurlock 的實(shí)驗(yàn)規(guī)則是這樣的：1.只吃麥當(dāng)勞銷(xiāo)售的食物，包括飲料；2.不買(mǎi)加大套餐或者漢堡、飲料，除非服務(wù)員主動(dòng)提出；3.菜單里的每種食物都吃至少一次。同時(shí)，Morgan Spurlock 還特別請(qǐng)了3位醫(yī)生為整個(gè)實(shí)驗(yàn)過(guò)程做記錄，定期追蹤他的健康狀態(tài)。然后他出發(fā)上路，一路吃著麥當(dāng)勞到美國(guó)20個(gè)城市采訪醫(yī)生、健康顧問(wèn)、廚師、小孩，探尋健康與快餐的關(guān)系。
在拍攝紀(jì)錄片之前，身高6呎2寸的 Spurlock 身體健康，體重185磅（約84公斤）。在試驗(yàn)進(jìn)行了兩個(gè)星期之后，醫(yī)生說(shuō)他的肝受到嚴(yán)重?fù)p傷，應(yīng)當(dāng)停止試驗(yàn)。但他沒(méi)有聽(tīng)從醫(yī)生的勸告。三周左右，他的心臟開(kāi)始異常。當(dāng)實(shí)驗(yàn)進(jìn)行完畢后，他的血壓大大高升，體重也增加了11公斤。
這個(gè)電影在圣丹斯電影節(jié)上獲得大獎(jiǎng)，同時(shí)也在美國(guó)引起了轟動(dòng)，更多的人開(kāi)始重新對(duì)待快餐。只是Spurlock為此也付出了巨大的代價(jià)，身體健康狀況大不如前，超標(biāo)的體重花了一年多的時(shí)間才被重新減了下來(lái)。
和紀(jì)錄片 Super Size Me 相對(duì)輕松的氛圍比較，F(xiàn)ast Food Nation 顯得相當(dāng)沉重。影片由三條線組成。Don 被 MICKY’S 總部派遣出來(lái)查訪為什么漢堡的肉餅里會(huì)有屎。他到了牛肉屠宰和包裝公司，看到的都是謊言和欺騙。Don 一路查訪，在得知真相后發(fā)現(xiàn)這一事件所牽扯到的千絲萬(wàn)縷的聯(lián)系和利益紐帶，尤其是會(huì)對(duì)自己的利益構(gòu)成威脅后，放棄調(diào)查，聽(tīng)之任之了。
第二條線是那些因?yàn)樨毟F偷渡到美國(guó)的拉美裔和墨西哥人。他們不懂英語(yǔ)，也沒(méi)有職業(yè)技能，雖然屠宰廠的工作既危險(xiǎn)又沒(méi)有保障，但好過(guò)沒(méi)有收入。工廠的工頭恣意蹂躪漂亮的女員工。高強(qiáng)度的工作使得工人們靠嗑藥來(lái)維持精力。毒品蔓延，工傷層出不窮。而一旦出了工傷，也得不到工廠的賠償。
第三條線是講述一個(gè)在快餐店工作的女孩 Amber。Amber 認(rèn)識(shí)到了快餐行業(yè)的種種殘忍之處，在舅舅的影響下，放棄了那里的工作，加入到激進(jìn)的學(xué)生團(tuán)體中，并實(shí)行了一個(gè)“拯救肉牛”的計(jì)劃，因?yàn)榕５牟豢咸优芏×恕?/p>
影片耐人尋味的地方比比皆是。中間商 Harry 和 Don 明知道漢堡里有屎，還是吃進(jìn)嘴里；他們欺騙別人，也欺騙自己。被給予自由的牛卻不愿跑向草原，即使明知道自己的命運(yùn)是死亡，也還是繼續(xù)這種吞食垃圾的日子，不敢去向自由、但自己一無(wú)所知的生活。也許這些牛也和人一樣，習(xí)慣了，就不想也不敢改變。
我相信人人都對(duì)生活、對(duì)世界有著美好的愿望。人人也都會(huì)對(duì)不好的事情表現(xiàn)憤怒和譴責(zé)。但是要把世界變得美好并不是希望和譴責(zé)就夠了的，還需要切實(shí)的行動(dòng)，就像 Pete 舅舅對(duì) Amber 所說(shuō)的那樣：Don't just hope. You can't sit back and hope. You have to do something. In a town like this, hope will kill you. 看看日益惡化的生存環(huán)境，想想那已經(jīng)簽署多年、多如牛毛的聯(lián)合國(guó)環(huán)保公約和有增無(wú)減的污染物排放量，看看歷次環(huán)保會(huì)議上各個(gè)國(guó)家互相指責(zé)的嘴臉……聰明的人類何時(shí)才能停止內(nèi)斗去做對(duì)自己有益的事情呢？我們欺騙自己，最終也會(huì)毀掉自己。
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