What ‘La La Land’ and ‘Fifty Shades’ Get Wrong About Love

Romantic love is getting a reboot at the movies. Two big current pictures—“La La Land,” which has been nominated for 14 Oscars, and “Fifty Shades Darker,” a sequel to “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which has grossed more than a half-billion dollars world-wide since its 2015 release—offer radically different takes on intimate relationships and the role of sexual passion in contemporary life.

浪 漫愛情在電影中重燃烈火。圍繞當代人生活中的親密關系以及性欲之于戀愛的意義，近期的兩部大熱影片展現了兩種極端的不同態度。一部是斬獲14項奧斯卡獎提 名的《愛樂之城》；另一部是《五十度黑》，這部電影是2015年上映以來在全球范圍內票房超五億美元的《五十度灰》的續集。

Both movies depict tumultuous liaisons of heterosexual couples, but there the similarity ends (warning: plot spoilers ahead). “La La Land,” the candy-colored throwback musical about an actress and a jazz pianist struggling to make it in Los Angeles, begins as a standard love story: The lovers start out disliking each other, only to become each other’s fans and cheerleaders. But their success ultimately pushes them apart. Though both fulfill their artistic dreams, their union is undone by an inability to commit and to deal with obstacles. 

兩 部電影都描繪了一對異性情侶之間跌宕起伏的戀情，但卻有著相似的結局。《愛樂之城》是一部色調甜美的復古歌舞劇，劇中演繹了一段發生在一名懷揣夢想的女演 員和爵士鋼琴師之間的愛情故事，片中以典型的愛情故事開場：兩人一開始看對方不順眼，后來漸漸成為了對方的粉絲，互相加油鼓勵。但是隨著各自在事業上取得 成功，兩人走向了分手。雖然雙方實現了各自的藝術夢想，卻因履行不了承諾，跨越不了障礙，最終走向了分手。

Despite their self-consciously naughty accouterments, the “Fifty Shades” movies are actually a steamy variant of a very old fantasy: the idea that the love of a good woman—and in this case, her submission to degrading sexual practices to save her beloved from his tortured past—can transform a cold man into a warm one.

But it never does. It’s a pernicious fantasy of relentless hope. As for the tormented billionaire hero of the “Fifty Shades” saga, he may stop whipping the heroine in Part II, but it doesn’t change his insanely controlling personality. It’s a transformation of sorts—but not exactly a recipe for a good marriage.

而《五十度》系列，雖然劇中刻意挑逗的裝扮呈現給我們的是一部情色劇，但它實際上是一種舊日愛情幻想的情色變體，這種愛情幻想即是：好女人的愛，能夠感化一個冷漠的男人。反映在在該電影里我們看到的是，女主以忍受讓自己受辱的性行為，去拯救有過受虐史的愛人。

但是，這一幻想在現實中從未實現。這是一種無望而危險的幻想。有過被虐經歷的億萬富豪男主可能在續集中停止對女主的性虐，但這并未改變他病態的控制型人格。雖然男主勉強稱的上有所改變，但要成就一段美滿的婚姻，這種改變還遠遠不夠。

“La La Land” is more radical in its way. It’s a genuine departure from the typical romantic formula because ambition, in the end, trumps love. The seemingly ill-assorted hero and heroine encourage and applaud each other—he tempering her insecurity and she his grandiosity—but they can’t figure out how to stay together through a temporary separation. When lovers are too immature to deal with conflicts, love does not conquer all. 

《愛樂之城》則在自己的愛情觀上更加激進。它確實有別于以往典型的愛情劇，因為影片最后，對事業的野心戰勝了愛情。電影中，看似不相配的男女主角互相鼓勵和欣賞，男主治愈著女主的不安全感，女主則緩和了男主的浮夸自大。然而，兩人短暫的分離后卻沒能找到繼續在一起的方法。當戀人雙方不能成熟地處理紛爭，那么愛情將不會無往不勝。

I very much believe that modern life offers valuable new perspectives on the old story of romantic love, but I also wonder what have we lost. To my mind, both of these blockbuster movies miss an essential point: that change has to come first from within before anyone can be truly receptive to someone else’s love.

In “La La Land” and “Fifty Shades Darker,” we see no evidence of characters learning anything new about themselves. What strikes me most about both films is the utter absence of self-reflection, no moment suggesting that the key to profound and lasting love is the inner development of the lover.

That’s an insight that no classic love story lacks. As they used to say in the movies, happiness must be earned.

相對經典的浪漫愛情故事，我十分相信現代版本為之提供了寶貴的新觀點。但我也對現代人的迷失感到驚訝。在我看來，這兩部熱門影片都沒能體現愛情的一個核心要素：任何人在真正敞開心扉，獲得真愛前，都需要發自內心地做出改變。

在《愛樂之城》和《五十度黑》中，我們沒有看到主人公因愛情重新塑造自身的跡象。這兩部片子使我感觸最強烈的地方，是自我審視的完全缺失，沒有任何一個情節體現了建立深刻和持久愛情的關鍵──愛人的自我成長。

而所有經典的愛情故事都未放棄對這一內涵的詮釋。就像電影中常說的那樣，幸福需要努力才能獲得。