不肯轻易让步的英伦文化

从《哈里波特》和《指环王》想到的

　　你有无所不在的可口可乐、麦当劳、迪士尼，我有饮誉全球的福尔摩斯、007和哈里-波特。在世界政经舞台上，美国早已取代了曾有“日不落帝国”之称的英国而成为当仁不让的主角；但在文化领域，英国作家和他们笔下的主人公们却不肯轻易让步。

　　Ever wonder what opponents of globalization used to protest about before there were Coca-Cola and McDonald's?<注1> Well, there was that first promotor of globalization, the British Empire over which, it was said, the sun never sets.<注2> While the world map is no longer dotted by British territorial¹ possessions the echoes of the Empire surface<注3> in unexpected places.

　　The Brits are good sportsmen. They feel it's important to concede defeat graciously. This is why contemporary discussions of British culture in the United Kingdom often turn to acknowledgment of how the Americans dominate the world.

　　The American take-over<注4>

　　An article in the 2002 Christmas issue of The Economist²<注5>, for example, admitted that the English language that is now sweeping³ the globe is closer to the language spoken in Brooklyn<注6> than at Oxford⁴ or Cambridge.

　　Indeed, U.S. movies are everywhere and kids in even the remotest parts of the world are familiar with such essential words of the English language as Big Mac and the Chicago Bulls.<注7>

　　But it would be a mistake to claim that the British Empire which originally spread English from Singapore to Zimbabwe and from Papua-New Guinea to Kalamazoo, Michigan<注8> is dead and buried.

　　Dominating world culture

　　Far from it. Just look at world literature. It's not surprising that the Brits invented some of the most popular literary genres⁵<注9> of the past 150 years. One such example is the detective novel which sprung from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his famous character "Sherlock Holmes", as well as Dame⁶ Agatha Christie and her "Hercule Poirot" and "Miss Marple."<注10>

　　Another example of British literary excellence⁷ is with children's literature, \where\ Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh<注11> became truly global phenomena⁸ long before they were Disneyfied by cartoon movies made in Hollywood.

　　A history of literary achievement

　　True, those creative achievements still date from the time when Great Britain was the dominant⁹ world power. And yet, even though the empire has vanished, both in detective stories and kids' literature, today's British writers do more than hold their own.

　　In fact, the two global blockbuster<注12> movies of recent years Harry¹⁰ Potter and Lord of the Rings underscore the hold that even the post-World War II generation of British writers still have on kids around the world.

　　Beating America at its own game

　　J.R.R. Tolkien's series of fantasy-adventure books, Lord of the Rings<注13>, was written between 1937 and 1948 and has had a tremendous influence on American culture in recent years. Star Wars, unquestionably one of the most lucrative¹¹ Hollywood endeavors in memory, owes a huge debt to the Lord of the Rings series which its principle creator George Lucas has admitted.

　　But even in those literary genres \where\ Americans should be superior, the Brits have managed to get ahead. What about the spy novel? After all, Americans were the main combatant in the Cold War with the Soviet¹² Union and bore the heaviest burden of fighting the so-called Evil Empire. American spy novels dealing¹³ with that era should be by far the most successful, right?

　　Wrong. The Cold War novel, in fact, was invented by the Brits. Ian Fleming and his suave¹⁴ character "James Bond"<注14> monopolized¹⁵ the popular end of the literary scale, while Graham Green captured the top, appealing to the more intellectual readers. Later on, two other Brits, Frederick Forsythe and John Le Carre became their successors.

　　American Tom Clancy, while highly successful, is a Johnny Come Lately,<注15> whose novels began appearing only during the Reagan era, when the Cold War was already over.

　　Harry Potter's trick

　　The phenomenally popular Harry Potter books have not only catapulted<注16> their 35-year-old author, J.K. Rowling, from her status as a penniless single mother to her present status as the second richest woman in Britain after the Queen. She also fits \into\ the same pattern of British literary superiority.

　　The Harry Potter books are highly cultured. They have echoes of Charles Dickens, with his satirical description of British boarding schools in Nicholas Nickleby<注17>.

　　There are references to fairy tales and myths from all over the world and all of history, such as the philosophers' stone that Medieval alchemists were trying to discover, as well as magical creatures such as basilisks and dragons.<注18>

　　Meanwhile, the United States has an amazingly extensive youth culture, which is catered¹⁶ to by huge multinational¹⁷ corporations. Enormous segments of the toy, music, movie and fast food industries both sponsor and utilize¹⁸ American youth culture to sell billions of dollars worth of goods and services.

　　Kids as consumers

　　A 1997 study found that kids between the ages of 4 and 12 spent $12 billion on their own, had a direct influence over $188 billion of their parents' spending and indirectly¹⁹ controlled $300 billion worth of purchases!

　　And yet, surprisingly, the creative impulse for the latest global movie blockbuster did not spring from this vast and resourceful empire. Instead, it was once again a seemingly homemade product, hailing all the way from Great Britain, which suddenly captured the imagination of American kids!