The Last of Us may have been a zombie horror survival game, about a duo traversing a post-apocalyptic US overrun with cannibalistic creatures, but its most memorable moments weren’t daring escapes from zombie hordes, nor explosive shoot-outs with hostile human survivors. Instead, the greatest draw of the 2013 best-seller – lauded as one of the greatest video games of all time – was its quiet story beats, and one quiet story beat in particular.
《最後生還者》可能是一款殭屍恐怖生存遊戲，講述世界末日後一對情侶在美國，到處都是食人生物。但其中最難忘的時刻並不是勇敢地逃離殭屍群，也不是與敵對的人類倖存者發生槍戰。相反，這部始於2013年的暢銷遊戲，也是被譽為有史以來最偉大的電子遊戲，最大的吸引力在於它「安靜的故事節奏」，其中一個場景尤為突出。
Ellie and Joel, the game’s protagonists, grizzled after an arduous, life-threatening trek in search of a cure to a pandemic that’s wiped out 60% of the planet, are climbing through an abandoned bus depot when they spot it: a wild giraffe grazing on acacia. In the distance, other giraffes roam through what used to be an inner-city baseball field, a symbol of how nature has reclaimed urban space in humanity’s absence. Acoustic guitar melodies stir. Ellie and Joel stop to caress the animal, looking out over a world rendered unrecognisable. It’s a moment of beauty amidst brutality; mankind may have been near-wiped out, but nature has carried on.
艾莉和喬爾是遊戲的主角，他們為了治癒已經毀滅了地球60%的大瘟疫，經歷了危及生命的艱苦跋涉，頭髮已經花白。他們爬進一個廢棄的公共汽車站，發現了一隻正在吃相思樹葉的野生長頸鹿。遠處，長頸鹿群在曾經市中心的棒球場漫步，大自然在沒有人類的情況下重塑空間。原聲吉他旋律響起。艾莉和喬爾停下來撫摸這隻動物，眺望著面目全非的世界。這是殘酷但美麗的一刻：人類已瀕臨滅絕，但大自然仍在繼續。
In the seven years leading up to The Last of Us Part II, the game’s long-awaited sequel, released on Playstation 4 this Friday, imagery like this has begun to spread through pop culture. Dawn of the Planet of The Apes, A Quiet Place, Bird Box, Annihilation and What Still Remains are just some of the films and TV shows to have reflected on the idea of human extinction through the lens of nature, sending survivors on explorations of areas overrun by wildlife. Books like Ling Ma’s Severance have set up narratives in empty, post-pandemic cities now draped in moss and bursting with biodiversity. Even Avengers: Endgame toyed with the idea of how the world’s ecosystem would benefit from the destruction of mankind: one bright side to Thanos wiping out half of Earth’s population, Captain America tells Black Widow, is that whales now swim again in the Hudson river.
在漫長的七年後，期待已久的續集《最後生還者2》於本周五在Playstation 4上發布，這樣的主題已經開始在流行文化中傳播開來。《猿人爭霸戰：猩兇崛起》（Dawn of the Planet of The Apes）、《無聲絕境》（A Quiet Place）、《蒙上你的眼》（Bird Box）、《湮滅》（Annihilation）和《還留下什麼》（What Still Remains）等電影和電視節目通過拍攝自然的鏡頭反映了人類滅絕，想像倖存者在被野生動物佔領的地區生存。像馬凌雲的小說《遣散費》，將故事建立在空曠的、瘟疫大流行後的城市中。這些城市如今長滿了苔蘚，物種繁茂。就連《復仇者聯盟4: 終局之戰》（Avengers: Endgame）也曾考慮過人類滅絕會給世界生態系統帶來怎樣的好處: 美國隊長告訴黑寡婦，滅霸消滅了地球上一半的人口，一個好處是鯨魚現在又能在哈德遜河遊泳了。
Apocalyptic movies used to take place in smouldering landscapes, full of smoky greys and scorched skies. Now they take place in luscious green spaces, where wildlife has thrived as humanity has floundered. Why is that?
世界末日電影過去常常展示的是陰燃的大地，到處都是灰濛濛的煙霧和焦黑的天空。而現在，它們發生在充滿生機的綠色空間，野生物種繁衍生息，而人類卻在苦苦掙扎。這是為什麼呢?
Mark Digby has a theory. Digby is the art designer behind Alex Garland’s acclaimed Annihilation, a brilliant 2018 science-fiction thriller in which Natalie Portman plays a scientist investigating a mysterious, mutating natural environment that threatens to consume the entire planet. He sees this visual trend in popular culture as a manifestation of our fear of climate change. 「I think we』ve hit a point where our arrogance has been called into check and we’re realising there are forces greater than what we can control: namely, nature and science,」 he explains. 「There’s a fear that we’re not in control of our environment anymore. This is a visualisation of how we』ve made a mistake, and now we’re anticipating the consequences.」
馬克·迪格比（Mark Digby）有一個理論。迪格比是亞歷克斯·加蘭（Alex Garland）執導的《湮滅》（Annihilation）的藝術設計師。這部2018年上映的精彩科幻驚悚片由娜塔莉·波特曼（Natalie Portman）主演。她在片中飾演一名科學家，正在調查一種神秘的、正在變異的，威脅到整個地球的自然環境。迪格比認為流行文化中的這種視覺趨勢表現了我們對氣候變化的恐懼。他解釋道：「我認為已經到了一個臨界點，人類的傲慢已經得到了遏制，意識到有比自己能力更強大的力量: 即自然和科學。」「人們擔心不再能控制環境。這是將我們犯的錯誤視覺化，在呈現後果。」
「There’s definitely been a wave of films over the last decade that are exploring that aesthetic and this idea, of nature and apocalypse interlocking,」 agrees Charles Spano, co-writer of 2019 Netflix sci-fi IO: Last on Earth, about a young girl alone on a crumbling planet. In that film, nature is described as being 「reborn」 in humanity’s absence: animals and flora are seen adapting and finding new ways to survive and thrive after mankind abandons the Earth for a new settlement in the stars. The movie concludes in an unnamed, abandoned city centre in which nature has erupted around its former concrete structures. 「People making films, whether it’s a little art film or The Avengers, are looking at the world and this undeniable, looming devastation. I think that seeps into our storytelling. That’s where I think this visual concept comes from, and why we’re seeing nature and beauty become a part of apocalyptic stories more and more now.」
2019年Netflix科幻電影《少女救地球》（IO: last on Earth）的編劇之一查爾斯·斯帕諾（Charles Spano）對此表示贊同：「在過去的十年裡，確實有一批電影在探索這種美學理念，討論自然和世界末日的關係。」《少女救地球》講述的是一個年輕女孩獨自在一個分崩離析的星球上的故事。在這部電影中，大自然在沒有人類的情況下「重生」：在人類離開地球到別的星球上定居後，動物和植物尋找和適應新的生存方式，重新繁榮。電影的結尾是一個未名的廢棄城市中心，原來的混凝土結構周圍，自然已經顯示蓬勃生機。「人們在拍電影，無論是小眾藝術電影還是《復仇者聯盟》，都在關注這個世界，關注這種不可否認、迫在眉睫的毀滅。我認為這是我們的故事，也是這個視覺概念的來源——為什麼自然和美好越來越成為世界末日故事的一部分。」
The book that started it all
這本書引發了這一切
Spano, a 「huge fan」 of The Last of Us, looked to the same source that the game’s creator Neil Druckmann did for inspiration: a 2008 book titled The World Without Us, by journalist Alan Weisman. 「An editor asked me to write a piece about what would happen if humanity just left in the blink of an eye,」 Weisman tells BBC Culture. What he thought might be a story about 「a world resembling an empty lot, with cockroaches scuttling across it」 quickly became a story instead about how nature would respond if there were no one to oversee cities, nuclear plants, forests and more. 「It was way too big for an article and became a book about places in the world like Chernobyl where, without humans there, nature was rushing in, and what we could extrapolate from that.」
斯帕諾是《最後生還者》的「超級粉絲」，他和遊戲創造者尼爾·德魯克曼（Neil Druckmann）的靈感來源相同：2008年出版的一本書《沒有我們的世界》（The World Without Us），作者是記者艾倫·韋斯曼（Alan Weisman）。「一位編輯讓我寫一篇文章——如果眨眼間人類消失會發生什麼的，」韋斯曼告訴BBC文化頻道。在他看來，「這個世界就像一塊空地，蟑螂在空地上竄來竄去」，很快就變成這樣: 如果沒有人控制城市、核電站、森林等等，大自然會做出怎樣的反應。「題目太大了，不適合寫一篇文章，後來變成了一本書，講述了世界上的一些地方，比如車諾比，那裡沒有人類，就會被自然佔領，我們可以從中推斷出什麼。」
A lot of the research from The World Without Us informs the worlds of The Last of Us, IO and other 『nature-apocalypse』 pop culture. In Weisman’s book, he discovers that without human intervention, houses would be eaten from the inside out by mould, seedlings and small organisms, gnawing away at timber. Without the man-operated mechanisms pumping water out of the New York subway system, it would flood in a matter of days, submerging streets. Tree roots would push up and eventually burst through asphalt, turning roads into strange, uneven terrain. Rusted cars would become incubators for wildlife, while fauna would sprout from every pavement crack and broken window, transforming the look of entire cities.
很多來自《沒有我們的世界》的研究都融進了《最後生還者》、《少女救地球》和其他「自然滅亡」的流行文化。在韋斯曼的書中，他發現如果沒有人類的幹預，房屋將被黴菌、幼苗和小生物從內到外蠶食，木材遭到侵蝕。如果沒有人工操作的抽水裝置，幾天內地下水將湧入紐約地鐵系統，淹沒街道。樹根向上伸展，最終衝破柏油路，道路破裂，形成奇怪、不平的地貌。生鏽的汽車將成為野生物種的溫床。動物將從路面裂縫和破碎的窗戶中蹦出，整個城市的面貌都會改變。
圖片版權SONYImage caption電腦遊戲《最後生還者2》講述了兩個人在世界末日後艱難生存的故事。All of these visual touches are present in The Last of Us, as acknowledged by Druckmann in a 2013 making-of documentary. 「The World Without Us describes in detail how much fighting on a daily basis we have to do to fight nature back, and once you stop doing that, how quickly nature will reclaim that space,」 he says in the film. 「Pretty soon you have vegetation growing everywhere and once you have vegetation, concrete breaks pretty easily.」 This led to 「wonderful concept art」, as lead game designer Jacob Minkoff puts it, of animals who』ve escaped from a zoo and bred over 20 years, inhabiting the land – all ideas rooted in Weisman’s research.
所有這些視覺場景都出現在《最後生還者》中。正如2013年德魯克曼在一部紀錄片中所說：「《沒有我們的世界》詳細描述了我們每天做多少事來控制大自然，一旦停止這樣做，大自然會多快收回那片空間。」「很快到處都長出了植物，一旦有了植物，混凝土就很容易破碎。這就產生了"美妙的概念藝術」，正如遊戲首席設計師雅各布·明可夫（Jacob Minkoff）所說的，動物們在動物園裡關了20多年，最終逃了出來，佔領這片土地，所有的想法都源於韋斯曼的研究。
Weisman finds it ironic his work has seemingly become the basis for a lot of apocalyptic fiction. 「I never thought of The World Without Us as an apocalyptic book, because the world doesn’t get destroyed – it gets restored,」 he laughs. He curiously hadn’t heard about The Last of Us before I called, or any of the other films or pop culture titles seemingly indebted to his work (「I’m not on social media! I have to spend enough time looking into a glowing rectangle for my work」) but emails back a few days later to say he』d looked at a Last of Us clip online and decided it was 「something very original and creative.」
韋斯曼覺得諷刺，他的作品似乎成了許多末日啟示小說的基礎。他笑著說：「我從來沒有把人類消失的世界看作是啟示錄，地球不會被毀滅，而是會被恢復。」奇怪的是，在我打電話採訪之前，他還沒聽說過《最後生還者》，也沒聽說過受他啟發的電影或流行文化作品，「我不用社交媒體上!幾天後他又回覆郵件說，他在網上看了一段《最後生還者》的剪輯，認為這是"非常有創意的作品」。
What do these stories achieve?
這些故事告訴我們什麼？
With The Last of Us Part II finally here, an HBO television series adaptation of the game in the works from Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin and more films and pop culture coming out of the woodwork with a similar aesthetic, what’s clear is that the notion of a post-apocalyptic world is being reimagined in a fundamental way. This reimagining also feels unexpectedly pertinent right now, in light of the media coverage of nature creeping back into our public spaces during lockdown, with coyotes spotted on the San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and wild boar wandering Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas.
《最後生還者2》最終出版。這部由HBO電視劇改編的遊戲作品，與電視劇《車諾比》導演克雷格·馬新（Craig Mazin）以及其他電影和流行文化作品都有相似的審美情趣。清楚的是，這些作品正在重塑世界末日後的想像基礎。根據媒體報導，在疫情封鎖期間，大自然悄悄回到我們的公共空間，在舊金山金門大橋上看到了郊狼，在巴塞隆納著名的蘭布拉斯大道（Las Ramblas）上看到了野豬。
The rise of the 『beautiful apocalypse』 narrative could have a resoundingly positive effect and be a useful tool in inspiring our generation to tackle climate change, says Weisman. 「I hope these movies and video games plant a seed in people,」 he explains, suggesting that gamers might be 「learning something meaningful as they play.」 The implication in these tales juxtaposing human extinction with verdant visuals is that the only thing stopping the world from flourishing are its carbon-polluting inhabitants – us. It’s a moral that those who watch and play such movies and video games might unconsciously take on board, shaping our own attitudes towards the environment and the responsibility we share in protecting it.
韋斯曼說，「美麗末日」敘事的興起可能會產生巨大的積極影響，並成為激勵我們這一代人應對氣候變化的有用工具。他解釋說：「我希望這些電影和視頻遊戲能在人們心中播下種子。」這意味著遊戲玩家可能會「在遊戲中學習一些有意義的東西」。這些故事把人類的滅絕與翠綠的畫面並列在一起，其寓意是，唯一阻止世界繁榮的是產生碳汙染的居民——就是人類。觀看電影和玩電子遊戲的人可能會無意識地接受這種道德，改變我們對環境的態度，認清我們在保護環境的責任。
Looked at another way, of course, these stories could be seen as profoundly tragic: the worst possible thing that could happen to mankind, they warn, could be the best possible thing to happen to the place we call home. But whether you find the concept of an abundant but barely-populated planet devastating or strangely comforting or both, it’s a good bet that it will only become more prominent in pop culture as our anxiety around our failure to control the climate crisis grows. In other words – we haven’t seen the last of the look of The Last of Us.
當然，從另一個角度看，這些故事可以被視為深刻的悲劇：他們警告說，對人類最壞的事情，對我們稱之為家園的地方可能是最好的事情。地球資源豐富但沒什麼人類，不管你覺得這個概念令人崩潰，還是感到奇怪的舒心，或者兩者兼而有之，可以肯定的是，我們無法控制氣候危機，因而焦慮加劇，它就會在流行文化中變得更加突出。換句話說，我們還沒有看到《最後生還者》的最後一幕。