历史系男生

Quotations and References: Act One

(Page numbers refer to the 2004 paperback Faber & Faber edition. List compiled by Tudor Economic Documents.)

p5
"All knowledge is precious whether or not it serves the slightest human use." - Hector
A.E. Housman

"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now." - Hector
A Shropshire Lad, A.E. Housman

p6
"Wash me in steep-down gulfs of liquid fire!" - Hector
Othello, Othello, William Shakespeare, Act V, Scene 2

"I have put before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." - Hector
Deuteronomy 30:19

p7
"Look up, My Lord."
"Vex not his ghost. O let him pass. He hates him
That would upon the rack of this tough world
Stretch him out longer."
"O, he is gone indeed."
"The wonder is he hath endured so long.
He but usurped this life..."

"...I have a journey sir, shortly to go;
My master calls me, I must not say no." - Hector
"The weight of this sad time we must obey
Speak what we feel, not what we ought to say."
- Edgar (Posner), Kent (Timms/Hector), King Lear, William Shakespeare, Act V, Scene 3

Hymns Ancient and Modern - a Church of England hymnal.

p9
Renaissance Man - answers.com: "A man who has broad intellectual interests and is accomplished in areas of both the arts and the sciences."

p12
Although the script does not make it clear, Posner here sings the chorus of L'Accordéoniste, a song popularised by Edith Piaf.

p13
La Vie en Rose - 1946 song, Edith Piaf's signature song. (lyrics)

p23
The Catcher in the Rye - a novel by J.D. Salinger.

"Let each child that's in your care-"
"Have as much neurosis as the child can bear." - Hector and Mrs Lintott
W.H. Auden, Letter to Lord Byron

Hecatomb - like holocaust, a word associated with sacrifice. In this sense, 'holocaust' refers to an animal sacrifice by fire.

p24
"...since Wilfred Owen says men were dying like cattle, [hecatombs] is the appropriate word." - Dakin
Referring to Wilfred Owen's famous WWI poem, Anthem for a Doomed Youth.

Trench warfare - static lines of defence in war, with each side basing soldiers in trenches as a means of defence.

Haig - Field Marshal Douglas Haig, nicknamed 'Butcher of the Somme', one of the more controversial figures in WWI.

"The humiliation of Germany at Versailles." - refers to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, a formal peace treaty with Germany at the close of WWI. It included that Germany take full responsibility for the war and imposed several restrictions of territorial, military and economic matters.

"Ruhr and the Rhineland." - refers to the Ruhr Crisis. France sent forces to occupy the Ruhr, an area in the north of the Rhineland, in an effort to force Germany to once again make reparation payments, which they stopped in 1923. Britain and the United States did not support this action.

"The collapse of the Weimar Republic" - in the late 1920s and early 1930s, towards the beginning of depression in Germany, the Weimar Republic saw the rise of the popularity of the Nazi party.

p25
The Cenotaph - The Cenotaph in Whitehall, London is where the national ceremony takes place on Remembrance Sunday (11th November, the day hostilities ceased in the First World War).

The Last Post - a bugle call used to commemorate those who have died in war. It is sounded on Remembrance Sunday following the two minutes' silence.

Passchendaele - refers to the 1917 battle of Passchendaele. Dakin is referring to Haig's controversial campaign, in which damage was inflicted to the German Army at great expense to the lives of British troops.

The Somme - refers to the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Exact casualty figures vary, but several hundred thousand were killed in battle, a large proportion of these on the first day. Again, blame was laid upon Haig's leadership.

The Unknown Soldier - the Unknown Soldier is an unidentified soldier killed in battle, buried with full military honours as a symbol of all the unidentified soldiers killed in battle. The British tomb dedicated to the 'Unknown Warrior' is found in London, and contains the body of an unidentified soldier killed in the First World War.

Siegfried Sassoon - an English poet famous for his anti-war poetry.

"If any question why we died,
Tell them because our fathers lied." - Irwin
Common Form, Rudyard Kipling

Rembrandt - Dutch painter, 1606 - 1669.

p27
"Those long uneven lines
Standing as patiently
As if they were stretched outside
The Oval or Villa Park,
The crowns of hats, the sun
On moustached archaic faces
Grinning as if it were all
An August Bank Holiday lark..."

"...Never such innocence,
Never before or since,
As changed itself to past
Without a word--the men
Leaving the gardens tidy,
The thousands of marriages,
Lasting a little while longer:
Never such innocence again." - Scripps, Lockwood, Akthar, Posner, Timms.
MCMXIV, Philip Larkin.

p28
Western Front - the term used in WWI and WWII to describe the frontier between the Allied Forces and Germany.

p29
Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered - 1940s song with lyrics by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rogers. Features in the musical Pal Joey.

p30
"O villainy! Let the door be locked!
Treachery! Seek it out." - Hector
Hamlet, William Shakespeare, Act V, Scene 2

The Trial - a novel by Franz Kafka, about a man arrested and charged with a crime he knows nothing about.

"The person from Porlock" - a reference to the story of the visitor to Coleridge during the writing of Kubla Khan, resulting in the poem's incomplete status.

"Don Giovanni: the Commendatore" - Don Giovanni is an opera by Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte. Il Commendatore is a significant character in the work.

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." - Scripps
Revelation 3:20

p31
"Did the knights knock at the door of Canterbury before they murdered Beckett?" - Hector
Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury (1162 - 1170) was assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral. He was later canonised in 1173.

Now, Voyager - a 1942 film starring Bette Davis and Paul Henreid, about a woman who falls in love whilst in therapy after a nervous breakdown.

p32
"The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find." - Hector
Leaves of Grass, Walt Whitman.

p33
The Carry On films - a series of British comedy films, parodies of famous historical and literary events or people. They are famous for their excessive use of double entendres in dialogue and slapstick comedy.

p34
George Orwell - an English author and journalist, who was famous for his political and social commentary in his essays and novels.

p35
Stalin - First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Part from 1922 to 1953, effectively becoming a dictator by the late 1920s.

Henry VIII - Second Tudor King of England, reigning from 1491 - 1547. Responsible for the introduction of Protestantism to England.

"Mrs Thatcher" - Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister from 1975-1990. She was the first (and, thus far, only) female Prime Minister in Britain.

Pearl Harbour - the attack on Pearl Harbour took place in 1941, when the Japanese attacked the American naval base at that location. Franklin Roosevelt, the President at the time, delivered the Infamy Speech condemning the attack.

Francis Bacon - English philosopher, knighted by James I in 1603.

p36
"Turner, then, or Ingres." - Irwin
J. M. W. Turner was an English painter in the Romantic movement. Jean Ingres was a French painter working in the 1880s.

"About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters...
how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window..." - Timms
Musée des Beaux Arts, W. H. Auden.

p37
"Breaking bread with the dead, sir. That's what we do." - Akthar
- from the statement "Art is breaking bread with the dead", by W. H. Auden.

The Mikado - an opera by Gilbert and Sullivan, first opening in 1885.

"The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing."
Pensées, a philosophical work by Blaise Pascal.

p38
"We're not just a hiccup between the end of university and the beginning of life, like Auden are we, sir?" - Lockwood
Auden was a schoolteacher.

"Lay your sleeping head, my love,
Human on my faithless arm." - Dakin
Lullaby, W. H. Auden

"England, you have been here too long,
And the songs you sing are the songs you sung
On a braver day. Now they are wrong." - Lockwood
Voices Against England in the Night, Stevie Smith

Not Waving But Drowning - a poem by Stevie Smith, published in 1957.

p40
Brief Encounter - a 1945 film starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard, telling the story of a couple, both married, who meet in a railway station and soon fall in love. This scene takes place at the end of the film, when Laura (Celia Johnson) returns to her husband, rather than the man she has just fallen in love with.

p44
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross - a hymn written by Isaac Watts.

p45
Matins - Early morning or late night prayers, a feature of many Christian denominations.

"A painter of the Umbrian school
Designed upon a gesso ground
The nimbus of the Baptized God.
The wilderness is cracked and browned
But through the water pale and thin
Still shine the unoffending feet
And there above the painter set
The Father and the Paraclete." - Scripps
Mr Eliot's Sunday Morning Service, T. S. Eliot

Piero della Francesca - an Italian Renaissance artist.

p47
Nietzsche - a German philosopher, writing in the 1800s.

p51
"After such knowledge, what forgiveness?" - Hector
Gerontion, T.S. Eliot.

p52
"The tree of man was never quiet:
Then 'twas the Roman, now 'tis I." - Hector
On Wenlock Edge, A. E. Housman

"To think that two and two are four
And neither five nor three
The heart of man has long been sore
And long 'tis like to be." - Hector
A Shropshire Lad, A. E. Housman

p53
Plato - an ancient Greek philosopher, who wrote about the teachings of Socrates. The notion of Platonic love is found, in one example, in his discussion of the relationship between Socrates and the young Alcibiades.

Michelangelo - Italian Renaissance artist. He is famous focus upon the aesthetic of male beauty and the homoeroticism which may be found in his work.

Oscar Wilde - English playwright and poet of the nineteenth century. He was famously tried and sentenced for his homosexuality.

p54
Rupert Brooke - an English poet, most famous for his First World War poetry. Posner here quotes the opening of his poem The Soldier.

p55
"The Zulu Wars" - a reference to the war between the Zulus and the United Kingdom in the 1870s.

"The Boer War" - refers to either the first or the second Boer wars, fought between the British Empire and the Boer Republics in the late 1800s.

p57
"The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo." - Hector
Love's Labour's Lost, William Shakespeare, Act V, Scene 2

---------------------------
以上是quote的quote=)
from: http://www.subjunctive-history.co.uk ,是这部剧的专门网站

我儿子在文科上比较有天分，在理科上也就一般般。他喜欢阅读，喜欢思考“大”问题，比如乌托邦的设计中不允许有游戏是不好的。跟所有孩子一样，他感兴趣的东西可以过目不忘，还能结合新闻谈点自己对时事的看法。他对历史感兴趣，希望我给他讲故事。他还能写诗，对文字的美有很不错的品味。然而我却不怎么喜欢跟他讲那些，因为我不希望他对文科感兴趣，在我看起来，读文科日后是要饿死的，而且还会因为想太多而不快乐。

然而，今天我看了《The History Boys》（B站有看，中英文字幕，中文译名《历史系男生》）。背景是1986年，约克郡一个小镇上的男校，雄心勃勃的校长想让那届成绩最好的高三学生去考牛津的奖学金，请来了个代课老师做专门针对名校笔试、面试的特训。剧情的冲突有好几条线，腐国男校里常见的同性恋，老师对学生的性骚扰，实用主义的教育和博雅教育之间的矛盾，以及历史和文学本身引发的思考。几条线交织在一起，复杂而不芜杂，深刻而不刻意，伤感而不煽情。让我觉得，学文科还是好的。

我们归根结底还是人啊，在解决了温饱，买上了房子和车子，能出国旅行，能买个名牌包包，能把孩子送进名校之外，我们还是人啊，一个一个，能快乐，会感伤，面对生和死，爱和别离。而那些人性共通的东西，只有最好的人文教育才能激发出来。即使到了世界末日，我们也需要人文教育，那是能把人从苦难中提拔出来的稻草。

【以下有剧透】

我最喜欢的一段，是胖老师Hector在教室里给学生Posner讲Hardy的诗Drummer Hodge。这时Hector刚刚得知自己因为性骚扰学生的丑行而被解雇，失魂落魄地到教室里，却毫无心理准备地遇到等着他讲解诗歌的Posner。Posner充满感情地朗诵这首诗，描述年轻的鼓手从英国乡村出来，没多久就死在南非的战场上，埋在那里，年老的诗人刻画生命的虚掷，充满感伤。念完后，老师似乎还没从被解雇的噩耗中回过神来，敷衍般问学生的感想。学生兴致勃勃地将这首诗对死在异乡的描述和另一首诗比较。而老师这时候才仿佛慢慢找到感觉，告诉他为什么Hardy写得更好，告诉他这首诗的历史背景，告诉他为何诗里的鼓手是有名字的，这名字意味着什么。告诉他为什么要用uncoffined这个词聊描述死者，这个词的意义，这个词传达的情感。老师没有提到一个字关于自己当时的心情，但他显然感染到了他的学生，把他和学生都带到了诗的情感中，然后Hector说了下面这段话：

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something--a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things--that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe someone long dead. And, ... it's as if a hand...has come out... and taken yours."

当说到... it's as if a hand... has come out...，老师伸出手去，像是要递给学生，而学生也正要伸手去接，老师却抽了回来，... and taken yours，他把双手虚握放在了胸口。他是一个性骚扰学生的老师，也是一个了不起的导师，从猥琐到崇高，人性的复杂，表现得淋漓尽致。

Hector和Totti是老派的老师，大量的知识灌进去，孩子们都够聪明，像海绵吸水一样吸收知识，灌多少吸收多少，历史、诗歌、法文...。Irwin却是新派的老师，用电影里孩子的话来说，cutting-edge，逼着孩子去创新，以知识为阶梯去叩问，不满足于复制知识而强迫他们去创新说。这是我看到的最直观的方式表达高中教育和大学教育的区别，或者说传统大学教育和现代大学教育的区别。

我也喜欢他们的小班讨论，讨论大屠杀，讨论历史是什么。老师提问，学生回答，同意不同意都可以，课后去图书馆借一大堆书来，回家一边查书一边写文章支持自己的观点，然后老师批阅他们的文章。这是博雅教育的精华，用一个灵魂去敲击另一个灵魂，认真严肃的思考，我理想中的seminar。

在古迹参观的时候，大家排好队合影，就缺胖老师Hector。他慢慢地走过去，一边走一边说：

"Pass the parcel. That's sometimes all you can do. Take it, feel it, and pass it on. Not for me, not for you. But for someone, somewhere, one day. Pass it on, boys. That's the game I want you to learn. Pass it on."

正好前天吃饭时闲聊，说起我儿子长大干什么。他爸爸希望他做科学家，我说他理科不够好，恐怕够呛。外婆说他可以做诗人，我说不行做诗人会饿死的。外婆说，没关系，妹妹长大了赚钱养哥哥。我们都笑了，我儿子却一言不发。后来他爸爸再三问他，他很严肃地回答：“我要做老师，我要把知识传给后代。” 还特地强调了一句：“我要做小学老师。” 我笑了，因为他幼儿园的时候就说过想做幼儿园老师， 以此类推，说不定上了大学以后就想做大学老师了，似乎也没有离我们对他的期望太远。后来我看到Hector说的这段话，我意识到我才是狭隘的那一个。超越了个人的成败得失，他看到了更深远的东西。That's the game he wants to learn, to pass it on。

抽了一个下午看完，完全没想到有同志主题，据说原版话剧很棒，应该没错，那每一句台词，别说听，光是看字幕也是享受．

英伦的男同志片之多，质量之高，男色之美（Hugh Grant, Jude Law），恐怕是美国所难以企及的．同是校园题材，饱受好评的＜死亡诗社＞中师生关系展现得是如此的＂清教徒＂，如此的悲怆．那部片中的老师迫于学生自杀的压力只得离开，让人不禁悲从中来；而这部片里那胖胖的Hector交通意外身亡，都没有把人煽出眼泪来．当老师被还原成一个普通人之后，似乎不太容易引发悲剧，一切他个人的笑或泪都属于我们，一切他个人的好与坏也都会在我们身上找到，这时候被解放的不仅仅是老师本人，更是我们自己．

尽管剧中人都说着难听的约克郡英语（比曼彻斯特的略好点），不过瑕不掩瑜，无论是对话还是穿插其中的钢琴伴奏清唱都美不胜收。不过，英国式幽默的确不太好理解，特别像我这种泡在美剧里的要换个脑子还不那么容易。

剧中最出彩的除了胖子Hector以外当属女历史老师了。在帮助学生预演入学面试的那一幕中，她提醒学生考官可能有女性，然后激情昂扬地发表了一篇“女权主义”的历史批判：Can you for a moment imagine how depressing it is to teach five centuries of masculine ineptitude? Why do you think there is no woman historians on TV? I'll tell you why because history is not such a frolic for women as for men. Why should it be? They (women) never get around the conference table. In 1919, they just ... arranged the flowers, then gracefully retired. History is a commentary on the various and continuing incapabilities of men. What is history? History is woman following behind with a bucket. 如果说这是西方女性对于西方历史的“女权主义”解读，那么我不知道就我所知的中国历史如果让我来解读是否应该是 History is women obliterated, exploited, destroyed, distorted, manipulated and manipulating men from behind. 客观一点来看，真如莫文蔚所唱的：男人大可不必百口莫辩，女人实在无须楚楚可怜。

如今的时尚是“混搭”，不仅仅是服装，还有美食，讲究fusion cuisine，电影也是如此，要么把不同族群的人混搭起来，要么把不同的元素揉在一起，成为一个美妙的大疙瘩。

  开始时很惊讶他们在如此一部100分钟的电影里容纳了这么多，没有冗赘的废话或镜头，每一分钟都让我有感想。查了资料才知道原来是话剧改编的电影，这的确解释了很多。首先，个人以为话剧演员的台词功力比单纯的电影电视演员要高，没有太浓重的口音。另一个令人高兴的是表演并没有过多舞台痕迹，不会有那种表演过于用力的感觉，很自然。但就整个电影来说，没有体现电影这种形式的优势，好象就是用镜头带着你去看了遍话剧。镜头变化不多，拍人脸时就一直拍脸，比较固定。好处是能让人更好地欣赏演员的表演。
影片无论从什么角度看，主题、用色、背景……都写着两个大字——英国。影片主线是考牛津剑桥，副线是同性情感问题。
同死亡诗社不同，这里的学生不是需要叛逆的老师来带他们突破陈规陋习，而是需要一个老师帮他们通过大学考试，需要应试教育。这8个学生很努力，每次看到他们下课之后就冲到图书馆借书的情景我都挺感动的，被勤奋的态度感动了。老头主张为知识本身的乐趣而学习，新老师是告诉他们考官要什么。但与印象中的应试教育不同，新老师要求学生把所知道的一切都尽量表现出来，去努力思考发掘别人想不到的角度。而那些学生之所以能背很多诗歌片段，是靠老教师打下的基础。影片让人想到教育界和心理界上困扰很久并将继续困扰的问题：我们如何选拔人才？我们从靠出身靠种族靠血统到现在的靠考试，然后世界就是现在这副样子。无论你是培养学生背诵知识或学会创造还是提高素质（关于什么是素质，那是另一个话题），到最后总是要考试，有考试就有应试教育，这不是中国特色。面对考试的现实，空谈知识的乐趣真的没什么用。英国电影在某种时刻相当现实，但有的时候天真得可笑。
既然故事发生在文法男校，考虑到现在同性恋这么流行，不拿出来实在浪费素材。李银河的以同性恋和虐恋为主题的著作都举了英国男校的例子。我一直有一个想法，历史越久远的国家就越开放，比如欧洲比美国开放，更能接纳事物。毕竟，太阳底下没什么太新鲜的，很多现在不能接受的新想法，有着古老的根源。
Hector，和学生讨论哈代文字的美妙，在放学路上骚扰学生，衰老肥胖的同性恋，像所有知识分子一样悲观，喜欢动名词结构，就是这么一个存在。我相信的他教学很有用，因为天知道哪些东西会对你有用，所以学什么都一样。只是在考试前，他显得不合时宜。影片不没有关注于他的教学，只是很精彩地提了几笔，但他的私生活才是真正的噱头。每天放学都要顺路带学生，然后边骑摩托边性骚扰……在质疑他的人格之前，我想先肯定一下动作的难度。毕竟对一个超过200斤的人来说，一手扶车把一手向后伸不是一件容易的事。为什么他会这样做？他用“给予”来为自己辩护，听起来实在像变态连环强奸犯。这些人都是把犯罪看成自己在做好事。所以连他的同事都听不下去这种拙劣的辩解。但就学生而言，他们对他的骚扰是什么态度呢？答案是：并不特别厌恶。毕竟乡间小路上狂飚时的同性按摩，对17、8岁的男生来说是很刺激的体验，我猜。而且很明显，有的不能理解这件事的学生，他不去碰。也还算有起码的道德吧。这是不是同性的方便之处？试想如果是男老师骚扰女学生或女老师骚扰男学生？事情就大了吧。在这方面，学生对他的评价是：一个笑料。
Irwin，表层性格与真实自我有很大差异。作为一个教师，他犀利、激进、不择手段；作为一个人，他小心谨慎，不愿表露自我。他可能是Homo也可能BI，没有明确表示，但他不太在乎，他接受对他有吸引力的人。作为教师的他博学而且很有魅力，人气高的花花公子也在努力取悦他，努力到连字迹都和他相似。他开始时就喜欢Darkin，但只是像老师喜欢有趣的学生，直到对方用二战的开始这种来向他暗示和表白，相当不一般的方式。但他显然明白了那暗示，而且他的表现说明他喜欢他，一个人对另一个人的喜欢。最后Darkin来和他挑明时，他却假装羞怯，非要让人逼到眼前才答应。我想，是因为他有太多秘密要保守，所以要塑造另一个自我。据说话剧里这个角色更狡猾，和Hector老师的冲突更激烈，不像电影里这么讨人喜欢。
Darkin，在学校里男女通吃，一边和校长秘书鬼混一边企图引诱老师，混乱，迷惑，只能用青春期来解释了。虽然他是主角，但我现在还挖不出太多，可能是因为他太典型。
小犹太，绝望地喜欢着Darkin，自卑，敏感，但有勇气。他冲着Darkin唱歌的样子像天使。演员完美地展现了他多方面的性格特点。
基督徒，从我的审美来看，挺帅的。他有趣的地方在于，作为一个虔诚的宗教人士，他和一个犹太同性恋最要好，对大屠杀集中营更敏感。他可以接受坐在Hector的后座，我猜是因为他的信仰要求他不能自慰，所以他就另找出路了……他特别八卦大概也是因为这个。
Totti老师，影片有台词的两个女性之一。据说在这部话剧在美国上演时，她凭这个角色拿到了TONY奖。这真让我想看话剧，在影片里她表现的地方太少了，虽然很有力量但还是太少。
其他学生在电影里没什么表现，因为时间的原因，删减了很多。我相信原作应该很有趣，有打扮很嬉皮的，有大胖子，有运动特长生，黑人与穆斯林也不应该像电影里这样只是作为多元性的符号存在。
真希望能看到话剧，毕竟这些人不可能一直演下去，不是什么年龄都能演高中生的。

原创勿转。


  本片具有了一切英国精英教育的影子：男校（同龄女生的缺席），推崇美的教师，上一流大学的压倒性的任务，精英式的同性爱。但是本片的各位男主角却缺少了那种显而易见的精英气息和使命，他们与普通的大男生没啥差别，整天作弄老师，说黄色笑话，吊儿郎当，各种低级地卖腐。在精英的设定下，这群大男生的作为也可谓是一种讽刺。

  本片初现的仿佛是两种教育理念的对立。一方是Hector，一方是校长和Irwin。（其实校长与Irwin也不尽一致，但在此先二元分）。但到最后，我们发现，这不是一个关于政治讽刺、双方博弈的故事。

  Hector是一个极有意思的角色。Hector认为，教学的目的就是让学生真正热爱文学。他代表的其实是英国传统的精英教学理念。(讽刺的是，他是谢菲尔德大学毕业的，嘴上不说，但他心底却有着精英的崇拜情结)
  这里先说一下，20世纪英国的公学里曾流行着“同性恋崇拜”。“公学成为神话，与之相关的同性恋从中国找到一种合法性和荣耀。”而男孩们致力上的剑桥牛津则是“同性恋崇拜的象征”。“多数教授鼓励男性之爱……他们要求将对男孩的爱意作为从古希腊衍生来的哲学理想，把它理想化，以至去除了所有感性和具体的性含义。”这种同性恋崇拜的遗风一直在流传。

  Hector高大而臃肿，头发花白，一个想象中那睿智的学者形象在银幕上看来又是有点古板和猥琐的。(Hector这个名称也是很有意思的，Hector是荷马史诗中的特洛伊民族英雄，被学生称为Hector有什么讽刺的意味，我也搞不清楚。)他有着英国历来的同性恋崇拜（男同性恋~没女人的事）情结，认为同性恋是“一种高尚活动、纯洁的理想，”尊崇柏拉图，王尔德，奥登。电影中多次出现了奥登，奥登本人曾就读格雷沙姆公学和牛津大学，是20-30年代英国同性恋崇拜的代表之一。而那首“眠歌- Lullaby ”也是奥登献给情人的。

  但是那个课堂上高尚地、忘我地朗诵诗篇的、将同性恋无限升华的Hector在生活中却不是那个样子的。他在上法语课的时候纵容男生去表演妓院的情景（天你暗爽死了吧）。甚至最爱开摩托车载男生回家（还挑男生的相貌。），然后趁机去摸他们的蛋蛋。天，他还有妻子！终于有一天，他摸学生蛋蛋被交警看到了，他要被炒鱿鱼了，他还辩解说“知识传播本身就是带有色情意味”。校长极度生气，大喊“去他的文艺复兴、去他的柏拉图、去他的米开朗基罗、去他的王尔德！”还有梅乐思大喊：“你摸了学生的蛋蛋就是摸了，不要狡辩！”这段我十分钟爱，就这么一句话，把Hector那似乎富有深度见解的狡辩给揭露了，把知识分子用华美的语言包装的龌蹉的行为给揭露了！ 一下子什么鬼王尔德，那不齿的行为都在阳光下被刨开！（有人知道，当年王尔德被判刑的依据最主要不是和波西搞基而是他四处嫖男妓么……虽然我很喜欢王尔德，但我还是要揭他老底）

  还有一幕，极能说明Hector的个性。在Hector和Irwin共同上课的时候，他们与学生讨论犹太人屠杀。Hector第一反应就是“天呀，你怎么可以跟学生讨论犹太人屠杀”。然后他说“他们会在集中营拍照留念吗，他们会笑吗？会牵手吗？这些都不是合适”然后他激动地说“为什么我们不能直截了当地谴责集中营惨绝人寰、史无前例？”“如此之类……殉难者仅仅化作一个微不足道的缩略词”。这个不单单是反应了文学与历史对阐述历史事件之争，而且反应了文学对历史式的阐述的不齿。Hector认为历史不应该被解释、不应被分解，他认为沉痛的沉默足矣。当然我认为两者皆有可取之处，能够统一文学的情感表达和历史式的理性分析最好，但是我也认为Hector对历史的厌恨、理解过于偏激。Hector此处表现的是作为文人的悯天怜人、也反应了他活在文人式的自我沉湎中。毕竟，在社会实用性方面，历史的阐释远远重要过文人的沉醉。

有位男生说得好，他说“我觉得文人都是生活中的失败者”。总结一下，Hector就是一个情感丰富、睿智的学者，同时也有着文人的懦弱、抑郁和自我沉湎。

再说说Irwin。Irwin的教育方式我比较喜欢，再说想要考上剑桥牛津也没什么错。最有意思的是，Irwin谎称他是牛津大学毕业的，其实他是布里斯托大学毕业的。这也反应了他内心对牛津大学的精英意识的渴求。


  再说说关于“讽刺”。片中几处对比很有意思， Hector是谢菲尔德大学毕业的，但他却有着牛津剑桥的传统—同性恋崇拜；Hector表面要装着圣洁的同性爱人的形象，内里最爱摸学生蛋蛋，然后Dakin却直截了当地对Irwin说“你要给我口交吗”这种表面装逼和直接淫荡形成了绝妙对比；Irwin是校长钦点的让学生上牛津剑桥的老师，他自己却是Bristol的……

  但是这种讽刺是隔皮瘙痒的、矛盾的。男生们（应该说是英国男生）一边厌恶着这个污浊的阶级社会的势力和虚伪，一边又迷恋着、向往着自己的优越地位。他们一边憎恨着，一边迷恋着（青少年的传统）。他们一边不齿Hector的非礼，一边又觉得能坐上他的后座很有趣、有意思；梅乐思老师高喊着“在女人眼中，历史没有在男人眼中那样趣味横生，为什么会这样？因为她们没有地位……历史就是对众多无能男人的评述。历史式什么？历史就是女人亦步亦趋地跟在男人后面。”大力批评了这个父权社会（特指英国），但是在戏中，背景设定在男校，女性角色少得可怜，在梅乐思说话时,Irwin还在跟Dakin调情；他们一边瞧不起学校逼着他们上牛津，但是却暗暗努力；一边觉得Irwin老师很有睿智，一边又试图勾引老师……到片尾，一切角色也竟在学生考上牛津后，重归于好，和和气气，仿佛之前的一切从没发生，一切回归到原点……

  最后，此片决不能视为探讨两种教育方式的片子，也不是什么大书讽刺的电影。这不过是英国青少年在“高考”大背景下的一些青春骚动而已。此电影向我们展示了英国师生关系中的一面，但却没有倾向，更像是轻松的幽默讽刺，即同时讽刺了Irwin和Hector，由同时赞扬了他们。就是这种幽默讽刺的设定，让观众有些许的“科普”，也注定这部电影的深度不足。


参考：欧洲同性恋史 （法）弗洛朗斯*塔玛涅著 周莽译