新概念英语4册第21课

William S.Hart and the early 'Western' film

William S.Hart was, parhaps, the garest of all Western starts, for unlike Gary Copper and John Wayne he appeared in nothing but Westerns. From 1914 to 1924 he was supreme and unchallenged. It was Hart who created the basic formula of the Western film, and devised the protagonist he played in every film he made, the good-bad man, the accidental, noble outlaw, or the honest but fraemed cowboy, or the sheriff made suspect by vicious gossip; in short, the individual in conflict with himself and his frontier environment.

Unlike most of his contemporaries in Hollywood, Hart actuall knew something of the old West. He had lived in it as a child when it was already disappearing, and his hero was firmly rooted in his memories and experiences and in both the history and the mythology of the vanished frontier. And although no period or place in American history has been more absurdly romanticized, myth and reality did join hands in at least one arena, the conflict between the individual and encroaching civilization.

Men accustomed to struggling for survival against the elements and Indian were bewildered by politicians, banks, and business-men, and unhorsed by fences, laws and alien taboos. Hart`s good-bad man was always one of the disinherited, and if he found it necessary to shoot a sheriff or rob a bank along the way, his early audiences found it easy to understand and forgive, especially when it was Hart who, in the end, overcame the attacking Indians.

Audiences in the second decade of the twentieth century found it pleasant to escape to a time when life, though hard, was relatively simple. We still do; living in aworld in which undecleared aggression, war, hypocrisy, chicanery, anarchy and impending immolation are part of our daily lives, we all want a code to live by.

William S.Hart可能是最著名的西部片明星。不象Gary Copper与John Wayne, 他只出现在西部片中。从1914到1924年间他相当著名，无人能及。Hart建立了西部电影的基本模型，并设计了他所出演的每部影片的剧情。好人、坏人、随意而高尚的逃犯、以及诚实却陷入圈套的牛仔，甚至受到流言攻击的洲长；总之，与他和他周围环境相互冲突的个人。

与他同时代的好莱坞人不同，Hart的确了解一些关于古老西部的事情。他童年时居住在那里，而当时那里已经开始消失了。他的“英雄”来自于逐渐消失的历史和神话中，深深的植根于他的记忆和经历中。尽管在美国历史上没有任何一个地方（比这里）更加不可思议地赋有传奇化，神话与现实至少在个人与日渐被蚕食的文明间的冲突这个舞台上结合在了一起。

人们习惯于为了生存而斗争。印第安人被政客、银行家以及商人所欺骗，被道德、法律、及不同的宗教禁律所推翻。Hart的好人、坏人永远是一个外来者，被剥夺了权利。如果他认为需要想洲长设计或抢劫沿路的银行，他早期的观众人容易理解并能够饶恕。特别是当Hart在最后战胜了印第安人。

二十世纪20年代的观众认为逃避时间,获得相对简单的生活(尽管仍然很艰难)是很愉快的事情。我们仍然居住在一个日常生活中充满暴力，战争，伪善，欺骗，混乱和杀戮的世界。我们都需要法规去依靠。