魔兽电影在中国历史性的成功有黑暗的一面

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凭借神奇的地域和多样的超自然怪物，《魔兽世界》为多用户在线角色扮演游戏立下了新标杆，如今又衍生出了有史以来最成功的游戏改编电影。

After its second weekend at the box office, Warcraft: The Beginning has recouped $377.6 million globally, despite bombing in the U.S. The movie received a meager³ 32% on metacritic.com and took just $24.4 million in its first five days in American cinemas, and dropped a whopping 73% on its second weekend, bringing in a paltry⁴ $6.5 million. Yet the movie remains⁵ a financial triumph almost entirely⁶ owed to its showing in China, where cinema-goers have so far shelled out more than $200 million on it, even eclipsing Star Wars: The Force Awakens⁷, which took $125.4 million in its entire run in China.

到第二个周末为止，尽管在美国遭遇惨败，电影《魔兽》依然获得了3.776亿美元全球票房。影片在metacritic网站只被打了可怜的32分，在美国院线五天入账2440万美元，并在第二个周末骤跌73%，只有微不足道的650万美元。然而，影片依然获得了经济上的巨大成功，这主要归功于其在中国的表现，那里的观众为此花了超过2亿美元，甚至盖过了在中国共入账1.254亿美元的《星球大战：原力觉醒》。

Since its launch in 2004, WoW, as it’s better known to fans, has drawn⁸ over 100 million players — a record for a role-playing computer game. Half of the current five-million-strong playing roster⁹ resides in China, where the game is aptly know as “World of Magic Beasts.” They are typically young men aged¹⁰ 15-25.

这个游戏更为人熟知的名字是WOW，自2004年发行后，已经拥有了超过1亿用户——创造了角色扮演游戏的纪录。其500万活跃用户中有一半生活在中国，在那里这个游戏被恰当地称为“魔法野兽的世界”。他们是典型的青年，在15-25岁之间。

“I can still remember me and my roommates in college staying up late and playing Warcraft together,” posted another fan. “We were really bonding through this game. The success of Warcraft is not because how good the movie is, but it represents the years of our burning passions, and the unforgettable brotherhood¹¹.”

“我依然记得我和室友一起玩魔兽世界到深夜，”另一位用户说，“我们就是靠这个游戏混熟的。魔兽的成功不在于电影多好，而是它体现了我们那些年燃烧的激情和难忘的友谊。”

Chinese kids regularly get so hooked on WoW that they forget to eat, drink or sleep — one player even died after a marathon, 19-hour session. WoW is so popular that there are professional players who are treated like movie stars, complete with sponsorship deals with fawning¹² groupies. There are Chinese boot camps set up especially for kids who suffer from role-player game addiction¹³.

中国孩子经常因为过于沉迷魔兽世界而忘记吃喝睡觉——一位玩家甚至在19个小时的马拉松游戏后死去。魔兽在中国太流行了，甚至有专业玩家，由支持的团体赞助，像电影明星一样。中国还有专门为沉迷角色扮演游戏而开设的夏令营。

This obsession¹⁴ with role-playing escapism could have much to do with the highly regimented lives led by middle-class Chinese kids, who cope with enormous pressure. Due to China’s only recently rescinded¹⁵ One-Child Policy, many are only children, and are solely¹⁶ relied upon to support their aging parents and grandparents.

这种对角色扮演、逃避现实的沉迷应该是和中国中产阶级孩子被严格管制的生活有关，用以抵抗这种巨大的压力。由于最近才取消的独生子女政策，他们许多人是独子，是他们年长的父母、祖父母的唯一依靠。

This month, 9.4 million Chinese kids took the gaokao — China’s university entrance exam equivalent to America’s SAT — yet there were only 3 million college places up for grabs, and only a small fraction of those were at “top-tier” institutions. Exam-related suicide is so common that one school even installed special barriers to prevent students flinging themselves to their deaths.

本月，940万中国孩子参加了“高考”——中国大学的入学考试，相当于美国的SAT——而只有300万个大学名额可用，其中只有很少一部分属于“顶级”学府。考试引发的自杀太普遍了，有一所学校甚至安装了护栏防止学生跳楼自杀。

Adulthood¹⁷ doesn’t bring respite¹⁸. Deviant behavior massively jeopardizes¹⁹ career advancement²⁰ in a one-party state where every citizen has a dangan, or personal file, that lists their misdeeds from their entry into public life — typically enrollment²¹ at elementary school — until their death.

成年后也好不到哪里去。在一个一党国家，每个公民都有一份“档案”，即个人档案，列出了他们的违法行为，从踏进社会的时候起——即在初级学校注册时——至到他们的死亡。因此，离经叛道的行为会极大损害人们的职业发展。

Zhou agrees: “The government doesn’t like the idea of young people getting involved in sensitive issues,” he adds. “Comments concerning such sensitive issues are quickly removed, but entertainment content is free of control.”

周孝正同意。“政府不喜欢青年介入到敏感事件中，”他补充道，“涉及敏感事件的评论会很快被删除，但娱乐内容就较为自由。”

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