This city is home to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and countless priceless works of art. But for promotion, Belgium's capital increasingly turns to a tiny, misbehaving boy.
比利时首都布鲁塞尔是北大西洋公约组织(North Atlantic Treaty Organization)总部、欧盟(European Union)总部以及无数价值连城的艺术品的驻地。但在宣传方面,布鲁塞尔倒是越来越多地仰赖于一个淘气的小男孩。
The Manneken Pis, one of Brussels' most recognizable statues, has been a requisite tourist stop for centuries. While historic squares like Brussels' Grand Place dot Europe, no metropolis boasts such a well-known fountain engaged in the same bodily function.
作为布鲁塞尔最著名的雕像之一,“撒尿小童”(Manneken Pis)几百年来一直是游客必到的一个旅游景点。像布鲁塞尔大广场(Grand Place)这样历史悠久的广场在欧洲各地都有,但是这样一尊著名的涉及人体这一特殊机能的喷泉可是别处所无的。
The diminutive 15th-century sculpture is also an icon for locals, who say he embodies their irreverence.
这尊建于15世纪的小型雕像对当地人来说也是一种象征,他们说他代表了他们挑战权威的精神。
'Our symbol is only 2-feet tall and he's peeing, ' says Martha Meeze, a spokeswoman for Visit Brussels, the city's tourist office. In Brussels, she said, 'We don't take ourselves too seriously.'
布鲁塞尔旅游官方机构Visit Brussels的发言人玛莎•米兹(Martha Meeze)说:“我们城市的标志只有两英尺高,而且他还在撒尿。”她说,在布鲁塞尔,“我们不会把自己搞得太严肃”。
Now, the micturating lad is getting into marketing. Even as society has lowered its tolerance for images of nude children and become hypersensitive about sanitation, the politically incorrect statue has gained stature.
现在,这个撒尿的小孩又进入了市场营销领域。在社会对裸体儿童图像的容忍度降低、对环境卫生变得高度敏感之时,这尊政治不正确的雕像的地位却是蒸蒸日上。
He appears in logos, ads and as a leitmotif for images of others engaged in his activity─including a cartoon french fry. Replicas of him, once mainly sold around Brussels as corkscrews and in snow globes, are now also cast in colorful chocolate and as lollipops.
他出现在了大量的logo和广告里,此外还有很多其他人模仿他动作的形象──包括一根卡通薯条。他的形象的复制品以前主要出现在布鲁塞尔各地售卖的开瓶器和水晶球上,现在又出现在了五颜六色的巧克力和棒棒糖中。
Among the first to see the sculpture's promotional potential were the German and Australian founders of Manneken Pis Productions, a Brussels graphic design firm launched in 2000 that uses him as its logo. 'It's good because it stands out and we're a creative firm, ' says partner Katrin Straub. 'It's quite sophisticated, no?'
最早发现这尊雕像营销潜力的是2000年在布鲁塞尔创立的设计公司“撒尿小童工作室”(Manneken Pis Productions)的创始人。该公司的logo就是撒尿小童,其创始人来自德国和澳大利亚。公司合伙人卡特琳•斯特劳布(Katrin Straub)说:“用他做logo很不错,因为他很特别,而我们是一家创意公司。他非常地精妙,不是吗?”
When city officials wanted to promote a job-creation plan in 2005, they used ads depicting an office full of Mannekens at computers and in meetings. Another poster showed a construction site bustling with Mannekens in hard hats.
2005年,布鲁塞尔政府在宣传一项创造就业计划时,用了撒尿小童的形象──广告中,在一间办公室里,计算机旁和开会的地方全是撒尿小童。还有一张海报展示的是一处建筑工地,工地内处处都是带安全帽的撒尿小童。
Promotions for the annual Brussels Summer Festival include the Manneken wailing on an electric guitar. For the Classissimo classical festival, a Manneken duo plays violin and piano.
一年一度的布鲁塞尔夏季音乐节(Brussels Summer Festival)也用撒尿小童做广告,其宣传材料中包括抱着一把电吉他咆哮的撒尿小童的形象。Classissimo古典音乐节的海报上则是撒尿小童同时弹奏小提琴和钢琴的景象。
The city's yearlong food celebration, Brusselicious, celebrated Chocolate Week in November with an image of three Belgian-chocolate Mannekens standing in a paper cone typically used to serve another local delicacy, fried potatoes. (Fries, or frites, are widely accepted to be a Belgian creation.)
去年11月,在布鲁塞尔美食年Brusselicious庆祝巧克力周(Chocolate Week)的活动上,出现了三个比利时巧克力制作的撒尿小童,他们站在一般用来装另一种当地美食──炸薯条──的圆锥形纸盒里。(薯条被普遍认为是比利时人的发明。)
Even giant Coca-Cola Co. KO +0.51% has gone with the flow. Psychedelic art on Coke vending machines at Brussels Airport features the iconic boy standing atop the iconic bottle.
就连饮料巨头可口可乐公司(Coca-Cola Co.)也来凑热闹。布鲁塞尔机场可口可乐自动贩售机上的迷幻风格装饰画中,是撒尿小童站在可口可乐标志性的瓶子上的图案。
'Manneken Pis is one of our national symbols, ' says a Belgian Coke spokeswoman. She notes that Coke kept the images, installed in 2007, even after it changed world-wide ad campaigns two years later. The design also includes smaller images of fries and other Belgian touchstones.
可口可乐比利时公司的一位发言人说:“撒尿小童是我们国家的一个象征。”她指出,可口可乐从2007年开始用这些形象,两年后改变全球广告策略后还继续使用。该设计还包括较小的薯条图案及其他比利时的标志。
Fritland, a fry shop near the statue, promotes itself with a silhouette of the Manneken holding a cone of fries. Around the corner, competitor Manneken Frites has merged the two local icons in a cartoon fry relieving himself.
撒尿小童雕像附近的薯条店Fritland用撒尿小童手拿一盒薯条的剪影画来为自己打广告。街角的竞争对手Manneken Frites则将这两种标志性物件结合起来,创造处了一根正在撒尿的卡通薯条的形象。
The proliferation of Manneken images in varying degrees of impropriety prompted officials at the Brussels City Museum several years ago to try creating a voluntary code respecting his likeness, which is in the public domain. 'Nothing too ugly or commercial, ' says Bérengère de Laveleye, a scientific assistant at the museum. But she says the Manneken's growing popularity overwhelmed museum staff. 'We decided it was too much trouble.'
几年前,对撒尿小童形象程度各异的不当使用情况急剧增多,促使布鲁塞尔市立博物馆(Brussels City Museum)的官员尝试创建一项尊重撒尿小童形象的自律守则,对撒尿小童形象的使用是不受版权限制的。博物馆科学助理贝朗杰•德拉维勒耶(B口reng口re de Laveleye)说:“没有什么过于肮脏或者过于商业化的做法。”但她说,撒尿小童日益增加的知名度让博物馆员工应接不暇。她说:“我们觉得太麻烦了。”
Brussels doesn't lack giggle-proof potential icons. It recently renovated the centerpiece of its 1958 World's Fair, a giant construction of tubes and silver spheres called the Atomium. And the EU's expanding headquarters complex has prompted some civic cheerleaders to dub Brussels 'Europe's Capital.' But neither trope has saturated public consciousness as the Manneken has.
布鲁塞尔并不缺乏“正经”的标志。政府最近修复了其1958年世界博览会(1958 World's Fair)的核心展品──由管子和银球搭建的名为“布鲁塞尔原子塔”(Atomium)的巨型建筑。欧盟正在扩建的总部大楼使得某些倡议人士称布鲁塞尔是“欧洲的首都”。但二者都没能像撒尿小童那样深入人心。
'The Manneken Pis is like the Eiffel Tower for Paris, ' says Ms. De Laveleye. 'It's just smaller and more fun.'
德拉维勒耶说:“撒尿小童就像埃菲尔铁塔(Eiffel Tower)之于巴黎。只不过更小更好玩而已。”
Part of the fun is 896 suits of clothing that have been officially donated to him over the centuries and which he regularly wears. Many are displayed at the city museum, including a spacesuit, an Elvis Presley sequined jumpsuit and a French military officer's uniform that passing French soldiers must salute when the Manneken dons it.
其中好玩的一点就是几百年来被正式捐赠给撒尿小童的、他经常穿的896套衣服。其中很多衣服都在布鲁塞尔市立博物馆展出,包括一套航天服、一套猫王埃尔维斯•普雷斯利(Elvis Presley)式的金属亮片装饰的连体衣以及一套法国军官的军装,撒尿小童穿这套军装时,路过的法国士兵都必须向他敬礼。
Souvenir shops have long sold Manneken figurines, including ones that replace the fountain's spout with a corkscrew. Now Brussels Corner, a trendy tourist shop near the statue, sells a growing range of items riffing on the Manneken. In one design, emblazoned on T-shirts, mugs and coasters, the fountain's stream flows into a very liquid cursive spelling out 'Brussels.' A popular hoodie shows a clothed teenage boy in a hoodie imitating the Manneken.
纪念品商店一直以来都在售卖撒尿小童的小雕像,有些把喷泉喷口换成了开赛钻。现在,雕像附近时尚的旅游用品商店Brussels Corner正在售卖越来越多的有关撒尿小童的商品。在其中一个用于T恤、马克杯和托盘的设计中,喷泉流出了一个极其流畅的“Brussels”字样。一款广受欢迎的连帽衫则印着一个穿着连帽衫的小男孩模仿撒尿小童的图案。
'It's artistic, ' says shop owner Marie-Christine Bert. 'There aren't so many things in Brussels, so we have to work with what we have.'
商店老板玛丽-克里斯丁•博尔特(Marie-Christine Bert)说:“这些设计很有艺术感,布鲁塞尔没那么多东西,所以我们得利用好现有资源。”
The Manneken was created as a fountain for drinking water but his exact origin is unknown. The earliest reference to him is from about 1450, and he became a rallying point for locals during a French bombardment in 1695, says historian Roel Jacobs.
撒尿小童喷泉是为提供饮用水而建的,但其确切的起源已不得而知。历史学家罗尔•雅各布斯(Roel Jacobs)说,最早提及撒尿小童的记录是在1450年前后,之后在1695年法军轰击布鲁塞尔时,雕像所在地成了当地人的集结点。
Locals' self-mockery dates back as far. Mr. Jacobs traces the self-deprecation to a 16th-century campaign by town fathers to flatter Charles V, a Holy Roman Emperor from Spain and Austria, that enticed him to make Brussels his base.
当地人的自嘲同样历史悠久。雅各布斯认为这种自我贬低可追溯至16世纪,当时城市元老们发起了一场讨好来自西班牙和奥地利的神圣罗马帝国皇帝查尔斯五世(Charles V)的运动,怂恿他将布鲁塞尔作为自己的基地。
Back then, statues at public fountains often performed biological functions including spitting, bleeding and lactating. 'Before Victorian times, people didn't have all those complexes about nudity, ' Mr. Jacobs says.
当时,公共喷泉的雕像表现的一般是包括吐痰、流血和喂奶在内的生物学功能。雅各布斯说:“在维多利亚时期以前,人们对裸体没有那么多复杂的看法。”
More recently, the statue has been a symbol of satire, such as in images of him showering Nazi occupiers.
再后来,这尊雕塑成了讽刺的象征,比如在有的图片里他向纳粹占领者撒尿。
Mr. Jacobs says Brussels' low profile helped prompt bigger European powers to make it the EU's base, which has instilled local pride. 'I hope it won't change our capacity to laugh at ourselves, ' he says.
雅各布斯说,布鲁塞尔的低调助推了欧洲较大的几个国家将其作为欧盟的基地,当地人逐渐以此为傲。他说:“我希望这不会改变我们的自嘲能力。”
Visit Brussels, the tourist office, hasn't lost that capacity. It employs Manneken images extensively, splicing his head onto athletes to promote sports and giving him a saxophone (invented by a Belgian) to promote night life.
布鲁塞尔旅游官方机构Visit Brussels并没有丧失这种能力。他们广泛采用撒尿小童的形象,比如将他的头安在运动员的身体上以宣传体育活动,让他手拿一把(比利时人发明的)萨克斯管宣传布鲁塞尔的夜生活。
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