Moviegoers are always talking about films or directors that do not get the respect they deserve. Brilliant films are slighted at the Oscars, while tripe and offal is honoured.Everyone sees the mass-produced Hollywood trash; nobody sees the hidden, low-budget, indie, foreign gems.

电影爱好者总在谈论电影或是导演没能得到应有的尊重。佳片在奥斯卡颁奖会上受到冷遇，烂片却饱受嘉奖。人人都去看批量生产的好莱坞垃圾，而国外独立制作的佳片，反倒是异域珍宝却鲜有人问津。

When Adam Sandler’s new film Pixels opened a few weeks ago, both the critics and the public jumped all over it. It was stupid. It was trash. It was Sandler’s fourth bomb in a row. It was pathetic. But there is a key point to bear in mind here: Pixels may have been a flop, but it was a high-profile flop.

亚当·桑德勒的新片《像素大战》几周前开映，评论家和公众都抓着不放厉声斥责。说片子蠢、片子垃圾，是桑德勒连续第四颗票房炸药，着实可悲。但这里有一点要牢记，《像素大战》或许是部大烂片，但至少也是败得引人注目、败得高调。

The point is that big-budget bad films such as Pixels get released theatrically, they get reviewed, they get at least a one-week run in cinemas.They are mocked and ridiculed, and then, and only then, do they disappear.

关键是，像《像素大战》这样的高成本烂片在影院上线，有人观看有人评论，至少在影院播放了一周。几经嘲笑和讥讽，方才销声匿迹。

Once upon a time, just about every movie was released commercially, and spent a full week in cinemas. If it was awful, it was savaged by critics, mocked by talkshow hosts, and ridiculed by the public. Awful movies became a key feature of the public lingua franca, with everyone trading wisecracks about films they would never actually see. Be that as it may, people knew of their existence. Now, however, these films are rarely released theatrically. Such movies never stir up any real public conversation. Only hardcore aficionados of bad films ever get to see them.

很久以前，每部商业电影都放映，影院上线整整一周。如果是部烂片，评论家会狂轰滥炸猛烈抨击、脱口秀的主持人会揶揄嘲弄、 公众也会嘲笑讥讽。烂片成了公众交流的一大特色，人人都会冲那些他们根本不会看的电影说上两句风凉话。但不管怎样，人们知道影片的存在。而现在可好，这些影片鲜有在影院上映的，根本不会引发真正的全民热议，只有烂片的铁杆追随者才会去观看。

Movies are something that we all share. We can joke about movies in a way we cannot joke about other subjects because we have nothing personally invested in the films themselves. Moreover, many of us love bad films. But a bad film that no one sees is like a tree that falls in a forest that no one knows about. This is a tragedy.

电影是我们共通、共享的事物。不像其他一些话题，我们可以拿电影说笑，因为我们对电影本身并没有个人的投入。而且，很多人就爱烂片。但要是烂片没人看，有如森林里一棵树倒下却无人知晓。这就是悲剧。

This is just not fair. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: if the movie-going public can’t treat its terrible movies any more disrespectfully than this, it doesn’t deserve to have any.

这不公平，用奥斯卡·王尔德的话来说，如果观看电影的大众对烂片不能施以其应有的不敬，那么大众就不配看电影。

Moviegoers are always talking about films or directors that do not get the respect they deserve. Brilliant films are slighted at the Oscars, while tripe and offal is honoured.Everyone sees the mass-produced Hollywood trash; nobody sees the hidden, low-budget, indie, foreign gems.

电影爱好者总在谈论电影或是导演没能得到应有的尊重。佳片在奥斯卡颁奖会上受到冷遇，烂片却饱受嘉奖。人人都去看批量生产的好莱坞垃圾，而国外独立制作的佳片，反倒是异域珍宝却鲜有人问津。

When Adam Sandler’s new film Pixels opened a few weeks ago, both the critics and the public jumped all over it. It was stupid. It was trash. It was Sandler’s fourth bomb in a row. It was pathetic. But there is a key point to bear in mind here: Pixels may have been a flop, but it was a high-profile flop.

亚当·桑德勒的新片《像素大战》几周前开映，评论家和公众都抓着不放厉声斥责。说片子蠢、片子垃圾，是桑德勒连续第四颗票房炸药，着实可悲。但这里有一点要牢记，《像素大战》或许是部大烂片，但至少也是败得引人注目、败得高调。

The point is that big-budget bad films such as Pixels get released theatrically, they get reviewed, they get at least a one-week run in cinemas.They are mocked and ridiculed, and then, and only then, do they disappear.

关键是，像《像素大战》这样的高成本烂片在影院上线，有人观看有人评论，至少在影院播放了一周。几经嘲笑和讥讽，方才销声匿迹。

Once upon a time, just about every movie was released commercially, and spent a full week in cinemas. If it was awful, it was savaged by critics, mocked by talkshow hosts, and ridiculed by the public. Awful movies became a key feature of the public lingua franca, with everyone trading wisecracks about films they would never actually see. Be that as it may, people knew of their existence. Now, however, these films are rarely released theatrically. Such movies never stir up any real public conversation. Only hardcore aficionados of bad films ever get to see them.

很久以前，每部商业电影都放映，影院上线整整一周。如果是部烂片，评论家会狂轰滥炸猛烈抨击、脱口秀的主持人会揶揄嘲弄、 公众也会嘲笑讥讽。烂片成了公众交流的一大特色，人人都会冲那些他们根本不会看的电影说上两句风凉话。但不管怎样，人们知道影片的存在。而现在可好，这些影片鲜有在影院上映的，根本不会引发真正的全民热议，只有烂片的铁杆追随者才会去观看。

Movies are something that we all share. We can joke about movies in a way we cannot joke about other subjects because we have nothing personally invested in the films themselves. Moreover, many of us love bad films. But a bad film that no one sees is like a tree that falls in a forest that no one knows about. This is a tragedy.

电影是我们共通、共享的事物。不像其他一些话题，我们可以拿电影说笑，因为我们对电影本身并没有个人的投入。而且，很多人就爱烂片。但要是烂片没人看，有如森林里一棵树倒下却无人知晓。这就是悲剧。

This is just not fair. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde: if the movie-going public can’t treat its terrible movies any more disrespectfully than this, it doesn’t deserve to have any.

这不公平，用奥斯卡·王尔德的话来说，如果观看电影的大众对烂片不能施以其应有的不敬，那么大众就不配看电影。