離《哈利·波特與死亡聖器》的出版已經過去7年時間,但作者JK羅琳的一言一行依舊引起粉絲的強烈關注。在最新一期的《Wonderland》雜誌上,羅琳向採訪她的艾瑪·沃森Emma Watson透露(艾瑪在哈利·波特電影中飾赫敏Hermione),她把赫敏嫁給了羅恩也許是個錯誤,赫敏同哈利·波特可能是更加般配的一對。《哈利·波特》的粉絲世界立刻炸開了鍋。
這條消息讓我想起大約10年前史詩般的「哈利·波特Shipping 戰爭」,小寶曾經很深地捲入其中,不禁莞爾。這裡Shipping不是航運的意思,「船」ship從relationship一詞衍生而來,中文大約可以翻譯成「配對」– 粉絲們討論小說電影中的人物誰和誰應該成為一對。
哈利波特迷在專門的社交網上會相互詢問,「你是開哪條船的?」 (which ship do you sail),回答是:H.M.S Orange Crush或者The good ship或者H.M.S Pumpkin Pie。外人聽來像黑道切口,鐵桿粉絲們則完全知道他們在說什麼。比如,哈利/赫敏支持者把他們的「船」稱為Harmony (Harry + Hermione),而支持羅恩/赫敏的則團聚在另一條「船」的周圍 – Heron (Hermione + Ron)。年輕的粉絲們為此進行沒完沒了的辯論,有時甚至演化為大打出手。每一本新書出來都會讓某些派別興奮不已,而另一些黯然神傷。
小寶支持的是哈利和赫敏的「船」。她在世界上最大的哈利·波特網站MuggleNet上有自己的帳號,時常同人辯論,引經據典,有板有眼,後來更發展到寫「粉絲小說」(fanfic) - 粉絲們自己寫的哈利波特續集,那時她大約10歲。至於為什麼會成為Harmony的「水手」(Shipper),她的回答是:「赫敏這麼棒,她應該得到最好的。」 的確是這樣,赫敏雖然出生於麻瓜(非魔法)家庭,是個啥都知道的書蟲女,但她的天份和才智卻是其他人難以望其項背的。
其實小寶也不是一點私心都沒有的,我知道她在赫敏的身上看到了一點自己的影子。但是後來事情沒有像她希望的那樣發展,到了第七本書結束時謎底揭曉,哈利娶了桔紅色頭髮的金妮,赫敏同好友羅恩結婚。對小寶來說,這是很讓她失望的結局。
當然,羅恩是個好人,忠誠,勇敢,幽默,但不算很聰明。赫敏同羅恩的婚姻也算過得去,但以赫敏的聰明和才華,她能夠滿足於僅僅是過得去的婚姻?如果赫敏不開心,羅恩又如何能開心得起來?《哈利·波特》的作者承認,赫敏和羅恩有「根本性的不相容」,兩人大概需要去見心理醫生。
「女子無才便是德」是中國人的說法,但東西方文化都常常傾向於把最聰明的女兒「賤賣」了。如果兒子聰明,我們會對他說:「寶貝,你想做什麼都可以做」;如果有個很聰明的女兒,我們會教訓她:「女孩子太聰明了沒好處」,或者「要含蓄點,你的鋒芒把男孩們都嚇壞了」,或者「你大概找不到自己深愛的。如果有男孩子真的對你好,你就嫁了吧」。
最讓人傷心的是赫敏實際上是作者JK羅琳自己的翻版,她曾經說過「我最早並沒有想把赫敏寫得像我自己,但她的確是......她是我年輕時代的一個誇張版」。不光是普通做父母的,就連羅琳這樣的才女也在這個問題上一再犯錯,不但羅琳自己挑人錯誤導致第一次婚姻失敗,而且把最喜歡的「女兒」赫敏也匆匆嫁出去了事。羅琳不經意之間發出的信號是非常負面的 – 你可以很聰明,但你得不到自己想要的。
我非常高興JK羅琳在7年後反思赫敏的婚姻。她遲到的回心轉意或許幫不了赫敏,可對於其他「赫敏們」還是有意義的:真愛值得等待;不要滿足於退而求其次;不要因為周圍人說你該出嫁了就把自己胡亂嫁出去。我真心希望聰明女孩們能聽進去。
白露為霜注:以下是小寶剛進高中時寫的一篇文章,紀念《哈利·波特》系列的結束。
哈利波特:影響了一代人的魔法書
小寶,寫於2007年
1995年的一天,奈傑爾-牛頓(Nigel Newton),英國的一家小出版商Bloomsbury的董事長,給他8歲的女兒愛麗絲讀一章手稿。他並沒有為此屏住呼吸,因為手稿來自一位名不見經傳的作者叫凱瑟琳-羅琳(Joanne Kathleen Rowling),其他12家出版社已經拒絕了她。
「一小時后愛麗絲從房間里下來,滿臉放光,」 牛頓先生在2005年接受《獨立報》採訪時回憶道,「她說:『爸爸,這本比其他的都好太多了。』」
十年和三億本以後,這套差一點沒有發表的幻想系列在今年夏天終於走到了盡頭。我說的當然是無與倫比的《哈利·波特》系列。這套書造成了一個全球性的風暴,創造一種文化現象,並成為人類歷史上,僅次於聖經,第二號最暢銷的書。每個人都知道聖經是啥時代就開始的。
但可悲的是,粉絲們,你的王國(fandom)已經結束了。將不會有第八本《哈利·波特與中年危機》,唯一可以期待的是最後兩部電影的首演。當然生活還要繼續下去,隨著《哈利·波特》的結束,現在到了我們粉絲重新檢討自己生活的時候了 - 哈利·波特給我們帶來些什麼,以及如果沒有這位「活下來的男孩」(the Boy Who Lived)我們會怎樣?
第一次接觸到哈利·波特的時候我還在幼兒園。現在回過頭來看,那時《魔法石》是有點超過我的閱讀能力。當時它還沒有很流行,這一情況直到第三本書,《阿茲卡班的囚徒》出版后才得以改變。在我的史詩般的第一次閱讀《魔法石》之後,我依舊不知道故事主線是什麼,也沒弄清赫敏是不是個男孩。從那時起事情當然發生了很大變化。
直到第四本書,《火焰杯》,我才真正成為一名鐵桿粉絲。這第四本書有一種令人難以置信的抓取力,讓人放不開手。部分原因可能是它比前幾本都要厚。在《火焰杯》我們也看到哈利長大了。而事實是,我們基本上也是隨著他一起長大。哈利被介紹給世界已經過去了10年時間,誰曾想到,一個小小的魔法師將會對麻瓜世界產生如此巨大的影響?
不過,我不相信哈利·波特在20年或30年後還會這麼流行。這個「活下來的男孩」的很多魅力是基於一個事實,即我們,H世代(H意思是哈利或Harry),從小同他一起長大。我們是那些在午夜排隊等候《哈利·波特與混血王子》的到來的人;我們是那些對泄密(spoilers)產生既愛又恨的感情的人;我們是那些寫了數以千計的「粉絲小說」和無休止地辯論到底誰才是哈利的女孩的人。我為結識哈利,羅恩,赫敏三人幫感到自豪和幸運。我很高興成為他們忠實的粉絲,一直到最後的一刻。
但哈利·波特之後還有生活嗎?對於那些生活由要麼讀哈利波特,要麼等待下一本哈利波特組成的粉絲來說,這個問題是真實的。簡短的回答:當然有的 。也許只有一個哈利·波特,但許多其他著作也同樣值得一讀。如果你是一個年輕的哈利波特迷,你可能想嘗試菲利普·普爾曼的「黑暗物質三部曲」(His Dark Materials Trilogy),該系列中的第一本書,《黃金羅盤》(The Golden Compass)已被拍成電影。如果你十幾歲,還有JRR托爾金的《指環王》和Orson Scott Card 的《安德的遊戲》(Ender』s Game)等很多書可以挑選。
從振興昏昏欲睡的兒童出版業到宣揚巫術,哈利·波特在許多事情上被稱讚或被指責。但是哈利波特做到了讓孩子們閱讀卻是沒有爭議的。即使是幾乎有800頁的《死亡聖器》,我們可以在不到13個小時一氣讀完,這在粉絲里還不算讀得快的。我對哈利·波特迷們的建議是:繼續閱讀。迪斯尼曾經說過,「書中的財富比金銀島上所有海盜的戰利品還多」。哈利·波特為我們打開了門,現在我們應該在書的夢幻世界里繼續尋寶。嘿,你也許會意外地成為了終身的閱讀愛好者,這將是JK羅琳所慷慨贈送的最好的禮物了。
赫敏、羅恩、哈利三人幫
哈利和張秋 (Cho Chang)
哈利和金妮 (Ginny Weasley)
哈利和赫敏 (Harmony原本可以成為天下無敵的俠侶,就像郭靖與黃蓉,楊過與小龍女)
相關閱讀:艾瑪·沃森採訪羅琳:
http://www.hypable.com/2014/02/07/jk-rowling-ron-hermione-interview/
The Books That Shaped a Generation
In 1995, Nigel Newton, the chairman of a small British publisher - Bloomsbury, gave his 8-year-old daughter Alice a chapter of a manuscript to read. He did not hold his breath because it was from an unknown author called Joanne Kathleen Rowling and twelve other publishing houses had already rejected it.
「She came down from her room an hour later glowing,」 Newton recalled in 2005 interview with The Independent, 「saying, 『Dad, this is so much better than anything else.』」
Ten years and 325 million copies later, the fantasy series that almost didn』t make it finally came to an end this summer. I speak of, of course, the unparalleled Harry Potter series that took the globe by storm, creating a cultural phenomenon, and becoming the most popular book in the history of mankind, second to only the Bible. Everybody knows how much of a head start that one got.
But the sad truth is, fans, your fandom is over. There will be no eighth book entitled 「Harry Potter and the Midlife Crisis,」 only the premieres of the last two movies. Life must go on. But with the end of Harry Potter, it is time for us fans to re-exam our lives – what Harry Potter brought to them, and what they would have been like without the Boy Who Lived.
I was in kindergarten the first time I was exposed to Harry Potter. Looking back on it now, I see that the Sorcerer』s Stone was a little too much over my reading ability. At that time, Harry Potter had not yet gained very much publicity, nor would it until at least the release of the third book, Prisoner of Azkaban. At the end of my monumental first reading of Sorcerer』s Stone, I still had no idea of the story line, or indeed whether or not Hermione was a boy. Things have changed a lot since then.
It was sometime around the 4th book, Goblet of Fire, that I really started to become a hardcore fan. There is just something about that fourth book that is unbelievably gripping. Part of it may be that there is simply so much more to read. In GOF we also see Harry grow up. And the truth is that we basically grow up with him. It has been about 10 years since Harry was introduced to the world. Who would have guessed that one boy wizard would have such an impact on the Muggle world?
However, I don』t believe that Harry Potter is going to be this popular in 20 or 30 years. Much of the appeal of boy who lived (and conquered) has to do with the fact that we, Generation H (H is for Harry!), grew up with him. We were the ones that waited in line at midnight for Deathly Hallows. We were the ones who developed a love-hate relationship with spoilers. We were the ones who wrote thousands of fanfics and debated endlessly about who would be Harry』s girl. Knowing that I was one of those who grew up with Harry and the trio is something that I am proud of. And I am glad to be a fan who stuck through until the very end.
But is there a life after Harry Potter? For those whose life consists of either reading Harry Potter or waiting for the next Harry Potter book, the question is real. The short answer is, of course, 「yes」. There may be only one Harry Potter, but many other great books are equally worth reading. If you are a younger HP fan, you may want to try 「His Dark Materials Trilogy」 by Philip Pullman; the first book in the series, 「The Golden Compass」, is being made into a movie. If you are a teen, there are 「The Lord of Rings」 by J.R.R. Tolkien and 「Ender』s Game」 by Orson Scott Card.
From revitalizing the sleepy universe of children publishing to promoting witchcraft, the Harry Potter series was credited and blamed for many things. But there is no debate that Harry Potter got kids to read. Even with almost-800-page books like Deathly Hallows, we read it in less than 13 hours, which was not even considered fast in the fandom. My advice to my fellow HP fans: keep on reading. Walt Disney once said, 「There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.」 Harry Potter opened the door for us, now we should continue the treasure hunt in the fantastic world of books. Hey, you may accidentally become a lifetime reader. And that would be the best gift of all given generously by JKR.