每日跟讀#627: Mothra: Yin to Godzilla’s Yang

Of all the legendary Japanese beasts in the new film “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” from Warner Bros., Mothra is perhaps the unlikeliest of terrors. There’s Godzilla, of course, a T. rex-like creature with atomic breath, and Rodan, a turbocharged pterodactyl. King Ghidorah, the villain of the piece, is an enormous dragon with batlike wings and three flame-throwing heads.

在華納兄弟新電影《哥吉拉II：怪獸之王》中的所有日本傳奇怪獸中，摩斯拉可能是最不恐怖的。片中當然還有會原子吐息、長得像暴龍的生物哥吉拉、渦輪增壓翼龍拉頓，而這部作品中的反派王者基多拉，則是個有著蝙蝠般翅膀，而且會噴火的三頭巨龍。

Mothra? At the beginning of the picture, she’s a newly hatched caterpillar.

摩斯拉？在片子一開始的時候，她是隻剛孵化的毛毛蟲。

What Mothra might lack in apparent fierceness, however, she more than makes up for in fans, at least in her native Japan. Since her first appearance in the Toho Studios film “Mothra” in 1961, the supersized moth has appeared in 16 movies, including the 1964 classic “Mothra vs. Godzilla,” the first cinematic meeting of the two titans.

摩斯拉雖然看起來不夠兇猛，卻由於她有眾多粉絲而瑕不掩瑜，別具魅力，至少在她的家鄉日本是如此。自她1961年在東寶影業的《摩斯拉》一片中首度亮相以來，這隻超大飛蛾共出現在16部電影中，包括1964年經典的《摩斯拉對哥吉拉》，兩隻巨獸首次在電影中碰頭。

Among the dozens of fearsome creatures in Toho’s 87-year history, Mothra is second only to Godzilla in appearances and starring roles.

在東寶87年歷史中出現的數十隻可怕生物中，摩斯拉在出場與擔任主角次數上僅次於哥吉拉。

“Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” which debuts May 31, is surprisingly Mothra’s first appearance in an American film.

5月31日首映的《哥吉拉II：怪獸之王》，令人驚訝的是摩斯拉第一次出現在美國電影中。

Mothra has always been a force for good, communicating with us puny humans through a telepathic link with two even punier beings, the foot-tall Shobijin, twin female fairies played in the original 1961 film by the Japanese pop duo the Peanuts.

摩斯拉一直是個善良的力量，透過跟2個更小的生命、僅1英尺高的小美人進行心靈感應來跟我們這些弱小的人類溝通，而在1961年摩斯拉初登場電影中出現的這對雙胞胎女精靈，是由日本流行雙人組「花生」成員所飾演。

Unlike the capricious Godzilla, who goes from stomping Japan to bits in one movie to protecting it in another, Mothra is always a heroine, saving Japan from reptilian hotheads like Godzilla and protecting the cave-dwelling residents of Infant Island, who worship her as a goddess.

哥吉拉善變，在一部電影中將日本踩到破碎不堪，卻在另一部中保護日本，摩斯拉則不同，一直是位女英雄，從哥吉拉之屬魯莽爬蟲手中拯救日本，並保護將她當作神崇拜、聖嬰島上山洞中的居民。

Sometimes she’s an egg, sometimes she’s a caterpillar, her life cycle repeated over and over, as the old Mothra “dies” and a new one hatches. “There’s even this theme of Christian imagery associated with her,” William Tsutsui, author of “Godzilla on My Mind: Fifty Years of the King of Monsters,” said.

她有時是蛋，有時是毛毛蟲，她的生命週期一遍又一遍地重複，舊的摩斯拉「死」了，一個新的又孵化出來。著有《我心中的哥吉拉：怪獸之王的五十年》的威廉．筒井說：「甚至還有與她有關的基督教意象主題。」

In his latest incarnation, Godzilla is about three times the size he was back in the 1950s, and the other monsters, it seems, have followed suit. How’s a moth, even a giant one, to compete?

在他最新化身中，哥吉拉體型大約是1950年代的三倍，而其他的怪物似乎也比照辦理。那麼一隻飛蛾，即使是隻巨大的飛蛾，又該如何競爭呢？

To keep the fights fair, the filmmakers created a fiercer, more weaponized Mothra, borrowing design elements from more intimidating members of the insect family (praying mantises, wasps).

為了讓戰鬥公平，製片公司創造出更兇猛、武器化程度更高的摩斯拉，借用了昆蟲家族中更具威脅的成員（螳螂，黃蜂）的設計元素。

Even so, the director of the new film, Michael Dougherty, didn’t want to change the core elements that have made Mothra one of Toho’s most beloved monsters.

即便如此，這部新片的導演麥可道格堤卻也不想改變那些使摩斯拉成為東寶最受喜愛怪物之一的核心元素。

“She’s a very benevolent character, whereas all the other kaiju are obviously a bit more prone to destruction,” he added, using the Japanese term for these movie monsters. “She’s the yin to Godzilla’s yang.”

他還用日文稱呼這些電影怪物的名詞說道：「她是個非常仁慈的角色，而所有其他怪獸顯然都更具有破壞傾向。相對於哥吉拉的陽，她屬於陰。」

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/341158/web/#2L-14939081L