75歲超人《鋼鐵之軀》的超凡魅力

When Superman returns to the big screen on June 14 as the star of 'Man of Steel, ' he'll be doing a lot of heavy lifting for a character who turned 75 this year. Untold legions of Superman fans spanning both the continents and the decades can rattle off his celebrated 'powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men': super strength, super speed, super vision, and the ability to fly. But not least among his more amazing powers has been a superhuman charisma and ever-enduring appeal.

當超人在6月14日作爲《鋼鐵之軀》(Man of Steel)主角迴歸大屏幕的時候，作爲一個今年年滿75歲的角色，他將面臨艱鉅的任務。各大洲幾十年來數不清的超人迷都可以不假思索地說出他世人皆知的“遠超肉體凡胎的力量和能力”：超凡的力氣、超凡的速度、超凡的視覺，還有會飛的能力。但還有一種更神奇的能力不得不提，那就是他那非凡人可及的、經久不衰的魅力。

In Superman's various incarnations over the years, he usually isn't reborn as someone fundamentally different from the character first seen in Action Comics No. 1─except in alternate-universe and 'elseworlds' stories, like the intriguing 'Red Son' comic book miniseries of 2003, which postulated what might have happened had the Kryptonian rocket landed in the Soviet Union rather than the American Midwest. Just the same, Superman's mythology has been continually fine-tuned and rewritten, most recently in the 2009 series 'Secret Origins, ' and expanded in the two bestselling 'Earth One' graphic novels of 2010 and 2012. One point that seems constantly up for grabs: the number of individuals, both heroes (Supergirl) and villains (General Zod)─and even animals (Krypto the Superdog)─who actually survived the destruction of Krypton.

這些年來各個版本的超人，跟首次出現在《動作漫畫》(Action Comics)第一期的那個超人沒有根本性的區別，例外情況只有那些講平行宇宙和“異界”(elseworlds)的故事，比如2003年令人着迷的迷你連環漫畫《紅色之子》(Red Son)。這一系列漫畫講的是假如氪星人火箭降落在蘇聯而不是美國中西部則有可能發生什麼事情。同樣，有關超人的神話故事被不斷地調整和改寫（最近一次是2009年的《祕密起源》(Secret Origins)系列），並在2010年、2012年的暢銷圖文小說《超人：一號地球》(Earth One)第一部和第二部中得到進一步擴展。有一點似乎總是沒有講明白：氪星毀滅之後倖存者的數量，這些倖存者既有正派（超女）也有反派（佐德將軍），甚至還包括動物（超狗小氪）。

The recasting began early. When Superman made his first appearance in print, it was explained that he was raised in an orphanage on Earth after a 'passing motorist' stumbled across the rocket containing the superinfant. Then, in June 1939, when Superman became the first comic-book character to star in his own self-titled publication, his background was retrofitted to become somewhat closer to the story we know today, in which the toddler of steel was raised by a kindly elderly couple named Kent. It wasn't until 1949 that Superman himself became aware that he was a 'strange visitor from another planet.'

改編在很早就開始了。超人第一次出現在平面媒體中的時候，背景介紹說他是在一位“過路的司機”撞上裝有“超嬰”的火箭之後，在地球上的一家孤兒院長大的。然後在1939年6月，超人成爲第一個在以自己名字命名的出版物中充當主角的漫畫書角色，他的來歷經過了改編，一定程度上更加接近於我們今天所知道的故事，即這位鋼鐵孩被年邁而好心的肯特(Kent)夫婦撫養長大。直到1949年，超人才知道自己是“來自另一顆星球的陌生訪客”。

Superman stories have proliferated in every medium, beginning with his two extremely long-running comic-book titles and a newspaper comic strip that launched in 1938-39. A radio series aired from 1940 to 1951, and Max Fleischer, best known for Betty Boop, produced the original animated series, which ran in movie theaters in 1941-1943. The first live-action depiction─a pair of Saturday-morning serials─arrived in 1948 and 1950.

超人故事已經衍生至各種各樣的媒介形式，首先是兩部特別長篇的漫畫書和1938-1939年開始刊登的一個報紙漫畫專欄。廣播連續劇從1940年一直播到1951年；因貝蒂娃娃(Betty Boop)而出名的馬克斯·弗萊舍(Max Fleischer)製作了最初的動畫片系列，在1941年到1943年上映。第一批真人版電影（由Saturday-morning出品的兩部片子）出現在1948年和1950年。

These, in turn, led to a true classic of early television, the 104 episodes of 'Adventures of Superman' (1952-58), which continue to captivate millions of kids in perpetual reruns and home-video releases. Lovers of 'I Love Lucy' also have long cherished the unforgettable 1957 episode of that series in which TV's Superman (George Reeves) rescues Lucy (Lucille Ball) after one of her harebrained schemes backfires. 'Do you mean to say that you've been married to her for 15 years?' Superman asks Ricky (Desi Arnaz). 'And they call me Superman!' Clearly, Jerry Seinfeld was right: the Man of Steel's most compelling power is a super sense of humor.

在這一切之後，出現了早期電視中一部真正的經典之作，即104集的《超人歷險》(Adventures of Superman，1952-1958年)。通過無休止的重映和家庭錄像帶的發行，這部作品迄今仍讓億萬兒童着迷。長期以來，劇集《我愛露西》(I Love Lucy)的粉絲們對1957年有超人加入的那一集也是喜愛有加。那一集講的是露西（露西爾·鮑爾(Lucille Ball)扮演）的輕率計劃失敗之後，電視版超人（喬治·李維(George Reeves)扮演）解救了她。在劇集中，超人問德希·阿納茲(Desi Arnaz)扮演的裏奇(Ricky)：“你是說，你跟她結婚15年了？”得到肯定答覆後他說：“他們可是管我叫超人的！”顯然，喜劇演員傑瑞·宋飛(Jerry Seinfeld)說得對：這位鋼鐵英雄最迷人的能力是他的超級幽默感。

For the past 35 years, in particular, Superman has been especially omnipresent. Four big-screen, big-budget features, from 1978 to 1987, starred Christopher Reeve as the Man of Steel. In 1989, Superman launched a marathon run of TV series that only a superhero could keep up with: 'Superboy, ' 'Lois and Clark, ' 'Superman: the Animated Series' and 'Smallville' have kept him in front of viewers with barely a pause to change his tights from 1988 to 2011.

尤其是過去35年，超人變得無處不在。從1978年到1987年，有四部大銀幕、大製作影片都由克里斯托弗·裏夫(Christopher Reeve)飾演鋼鐵英雄。1989年，超人開始出現在一長串只有超級英雄才追得上的電視連續劇當中：從1988年到2011年，《少年超人》(Superboy)、《露易斯和克拉克》(Lois and Clark)、《超人動畫版》(Superman: the Animated Series)和《超人前傳》(Smallville)使他一直處在觀衆視線中，幾乎沒有時間停下來換一下身上的緊身衣。

The expectations for a Superman project have soared so high that the 2006 theatrical feature 'Superman Returns' was considered a failure even though it grossed nearly $400 million. The new 'Man of Steel' will have what this 21st-century predecessor didn't: an origin story, which brings it more in line with such successes as 'Batman Begins, ' as well as biopics like 'Ray' and 'Walk the Line.'

由於人們對超人主題作品的期待是如此之高，2006年電影《超人歸來》(Superman Returns)儘管拿到將近四億美元的票房，結果還是被認爲是一部失敗之作。新的《鋼鐵之軀》將擁有《超人歸來》所沒有的東西：它的故事是原創的，這一點與《蝙蝠俠：俠影之迷》(Batman Begins)等成功作品以及《靈魂歌王》(Ray)和《與歌同行》(Walk the Line)等傳記影片更爲接近。

Superman has also been a persistent icon in popular music, from a dedicatory piece by Benny Goodman in 1940 to the ingenious 1966 Broadway musical 'It's a Bird . . . It's a Plane . . . It's Superman, ' which was recently restaged by City Center Encores! in New York with Edward Watts as the Baritone of Steel. There were also less flattering musical depictions, such as the 1979 'Rapper's Delight, ' in which the Sugar Hill Gang denigrates him as someone 'flying through the air in pantyhose.'

超人也是流行音樂中一個經久不衰的偶像，比如本尼·古德曼(Benny Goodman)1940年專爲超人寫的一首歌。又比如1966年結構精巧的百老匯音樂劇《超人正傳》(It's a Bird…It's a Plane…It's Superman)。最近這部音樂劇又被紐約City Center Encores!重新搬上舞臺，由愛德華·瓦茨(Edward Watts)飾演男中音的超人。也有一些對超人不那麼恭維的音樂作品，比如1979年的《說唱歌手真高興》(Rapper's Delight)。其中，說唱組合“糖山幫”(Sugar Hill Gang)把超人貶低爲一個“穿着連褲口在空中飛”的人。

In print, even more than in movies and on TV, Superman continues to be a juggernaut. He still appears in multiple comic-book titles a month and is the subject of at least three serious 'biographies' in the past year, including Larry Tye's 'Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero' and Brad Ricca's 'Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster─the Creators of Superman.'

在印刷媒體中，超人依舊擁有非凡的力量，比在電影和電視上更加強大。他依舊每月出現在好幾部漫畫書當中，過去一年至少擔當了三部嚴肅“傳記”的主角，如拉里·泰伊(Larry Tye)的《超人：美國最經典英雄的超凡歷史》(Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero)，以及布拉德·裏卡(Brad Ricca)的《超級男孩：超人之父傑裏·西格爾和喬·舒斯特的神奇歷險》(Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster─the Creators of Superman)。

Apart from his obvious gifts, Superman's capacity for continual rebooting has kept him fresh from generation to generation: from leaping tall buildings in 1938 to traversing the solar system and even traveling through time in the 1960s and '70s, to surviving both death and matrimony in more recent decades. With 'Man of Steel, ' it's a sure bet that yet another generation of youngsters will be tying red towels around their necks and pretending that they can fly.

除了顯而易見的天賦以外，超人持續“重啓”的能力也使他一代不同於一代：1938年，他飛躍高樓；60年代和70年代，他穿越太陽系甚至穿越時光；到最近幾十年，他又熬過了死亡和婚姻。有了《鋼鐵之軀》，可以肯定又會有一代小孩在脖子上系紅毛巾假裝他們會飛。