英国卫报评价碧昂斯《Black Is King》，中英文阅读素材

　　*注：本文摘自7月31日《英国卫报》

　　Black Is King review ：Beyoncé’s love song to the black diaspora《黑人是国王》评论：碧昂丝给离散黑人的情歌The superstar’s Lion King-inspired visual album is a feast for the eyes, celebrating the beauty and richness of African cultures with emotion and power她的这张新专辑灵感来自《狮子王》，用情感和力量来歌颂非洲文化的美丽和丰富，给人们带来一场视觉盛宴

　　1. Beyoncé’s second visual album after Lemonade is truly worth the wait. An accompaniment to her Lion King album The Gift, to describe Black Is King as just a visual album is an understatement —— it is a film in and of itself. Black Is King is a global contemporary reimagining of the story of The Lion King across several countries and three continents, following a human Simba’s journey with Beyoncé as an ethereal narrator and guide. The film uses sound clips from The Lion King to assist with transitions that shape the story, and all of the protagonists from the film are recreated as real-life characters with more personality and substance. The hyenas are a devilish biker gang, and Mood 4 Eva depicts life with Timon and Pumba in a lavish mansion.

　　碧昂丝继《Lemonade》之后的第二张视觉专辑真的值得等待。作为《狮子王》专辑的衍生物，《Black Is King》本身就是一部电影，把它称为一张专辑其实是一种保守的说法。《Black is King》是对狮子王故事的重新诠释，电影的拍摄跨越了几个国家和大洲，碧昂丝作为电影旁白和导演，讲述了辛巴的旅程。这部电影用了《狮子王》中的音效片段来协助故事过渡，影片中的所有主角都被塑造成为更有个性和内涵的真实人物。而那些可恶的土狼则成了一帮邪恶的摩托车帮，《Mood 4 Eva》讲述的则是丁满和彭彭的奢华豪宅生活。

　　2. Fundamentally, Black Is King speaks to the beauty and richness of blackness without it seeming grotesquely wealthy or too contrived. The film offers varied production styles: sometimes minimal, with Beyoncé singing in vast open spaces on songs such as Bigger; other sequences are loud and colourful, with vibrant imagery and high energy dancers on My Power. Black Is King is a visual feast; it provides several slow-panning scenes of stillness where we absorb the striking beauty and duality of bright colours against deep brown tones. On Already, we see dancers celebrate under the red, black and green Pan-African flag designed by Marcus Garvey: a truly unapologetic statement of black unity in a time that feels like the world has forgotten us.

　　本质来看，《Black Is King》主要讲述的是黑人文化的美丽和丰富，但却没有让它显得太满而做作。这部电影包含了很多制作风格：有时是极简风，如在《bigger》中，就只有碧昂丝在空旷的地方唱歌。而其他的片段如《May Power》则声势浩大，满是各种充满活力的意象和精力充沛的舞者。《Black Is King》带来了一场视觉盛宴。在几个慢镜头中，我们感受到了明亮色彩和深棕色的那种惊人美感和双重性。我们能看到舞者在在马库斯·加维(Marcus Garvey)设计的红、黑、绿泛非旗帜下庆祝:在这个黑人被遗忘的时代，这是黑人团结的一种宣言。

图片来源网络

　　3. Beyoncé has described this project as a “labour of love”; it was co-directed by Kwasi Fordjour, the Ghanaian creative director of her Parkwood Entertainment company, with additional input from creatives across Africa. Each song has a distinctly different visual, yet follows the story perfectly. Nothing feels out of place and everything feels familiarly beautiful. It is impossible to watch the emotive story unfold, accompanied by Warsan Shire’s poetry, Yrsa Daley-Ward’s writing and warm images of west Africa, without feeling emotional. Nile (featuring Kendrick Lamar) sees Beyoncé lead a funeral procession across an endless white landscape as she narrates: “No true king ever dies. Our ancestors hold us from within our own bodies, guiding us through our reflections.”

　　碧昂丝称这部电影是 “义务使然，”该片由她所在的Parkwood娱乐公司的加纳创意总监夸西•福德尔(Kwasi Fordjour)联合执导，非洲各地的创意人士也加入了该片的制作。每首歌都有着截然不同的视觉效果，却又完美地契合了故事情节。所有都刚刚好，一切感觉熟悉而又美丽。在Warsan Shire的诗歌中，在Yrsa Daley-Ward的文字中，在西非的温暖中，观众无不动情地看完这部电影。尼罗(Kendrick Lamar饰)看到碧昂丝带领着送葬队伍穿过一片无尽的白色景观，她道:“真王不灭。我们的祖先在我们中存在，通过我们的反思来指导我们。”

　　4. Prior to its release, there were fears that this film would fall into the gimmicky trend described by Jade Bentil as “Wakandification”: the idea that western media essentialise an array of African cultures and neatly package them to sell to western audiences. Black Is King does the complete opposite. It is storytelling inspired and led by African creatives, traditions and sounds, while speaking to diaspora and those still searching for an identity. The film draws inspiration across the continent, from Namibia to Lagos: but as The Lion King is set in east Africa, it would have been great to see a deeper inclusion of east African countries and cultures.

　　在电影上映之前，有人担心这部电影会 “瓦坎迪化”(Wakandification)，这是杰德·本蒂尔创造的一个术语，意即西方媒体将一系列非洲文化简化，并将它们巧妙包装，再灌输给西方观众。《black is King》完全不一样。它是在非洲创意、传统和音乐的启发和引导下，向散居海外至今仍在寻找身份认同的人们讲述故事。影片的灵感来自从纳米比亚到拉各斯的整个非洲大陆:但由于《狮子王》的背景设在东非，如果能读懂东非国家和文化的更深层次的融合，那就更好了。

　　5. This soundtrack and film is a love letter to the black diaspora, to remind them that they, too, are part of something bigger. With appearances from Jay-Z, Kelly Rowland, Pharrell and Naomi Campbell, this star-studded film has something for everyone. It is compelling in every sense and takes you on a moving journey: not only through the story of The Lion King, but through a small portion of the beautiful cultures and traditions that exist within black communities globally. Black Is King is available on Disney+.

　　这部电影是写给散居海外的黑人的一封信，提醒他们，他们也属于一个更大的群体。Jay-Z、凯莉·罗兰、法瑞尔和娜奥米·坎贝尔都有出演，这部众星云集的电影对每个人都有吸引力。无论从哪个角度看，这部电影都是引人入胜的，它将带你踏上一段动人的旅程:不仅通过狮子王的故事，还通过世界各地黑人社区中存在的美丽文化和传统。《Black Is King》在Disney+上就可以看到。