敢追夢的麥兜

The best-loved pig in Hong Kong is called McDull. His mom makes a wish that he will look like Chow Yun-fat or Tony Leung， two movie heartthrobs， but he is distinguished only by a birthmark around his right eye.

在香港，人們最喜愛的小豬非“麥兜”莫屬。盡管媽媽希望麥兜能成為像周潤發、梁朝偉那樣的萬人迷，但他唯一獨特的地方只是右眼周圍的那塊胎記。

The cartoon piglet is not smart. Everything he tries， he fails. He wants to be an Olympic champion of qiangbaoshan， but the sport of grabbing the most steamed buns from a pile doesn’t really exist， of course. He dreams of going to the Maldives， but ends up on a one-day tour of a Hong Kong landmark instead.

However， the slow， dumb pig has won over Hong Kong people， often stereotyped as eager to quick success. So far， there are five McDull movies showed in both the mainland and Hong Kong.

這只卡通小豬有點笨，總是屢戰屢敗。雖然他想成為“搶包山”項目的奧運會冠軍，但是當然，這項盡可能搶奪掛在包山上的包子的運動根本就不是比賽項目。他做夢都想去馬爾代夫，但結果卻以香港一日游而告終。

但是，這只慢吞吞的木訥小豬卻征服了全香港的人，他通常被塑造成一個企盼迅速成功的形象。迄今已有五部麥兜系列電影在內地和香港上映。

The popularity of McDull occasionally confounds his creator Alice Mak. “Maybe people see themselves and their friends in McDull，” she says.

Mak had never seen a real pig before she drew McDull. She was born and spent most of her life in Tai Kok Tsui， an ordinary Hong Kong community where she can still buy cheap food. It is also where McDull grows up.

Like McDull， Mak moves and speaks slowly. She describes herself as a simple person， who does not try to draw too much meaning from the McDull stories. As a Christian， she has some simple beliefs， such as God creates humans because he loves them and wants them to be happy. In the late 1980s Mak worked at a press company as a summer intern. The company boss， Brian Tse， later became her husband and scriptwriter of all McDull movies and books.

麥兜的走紅偶爾會令一手打造他的麥佳碧有些摸不著頭腦。 “或許人們可以在麥兜身上看到自己和朋友的影子。”她說。

麥佳碧在創作麥兜之前從未見過真正的豬。她出生在大角咀，并在那里度過了人生的大段時光。那是香港的一個普通的社區，現在她仍能在那兒買到便宜的食品。大角咀也是麥兜成長的地方。

就像麥兜一樣，麥佳碧說話和動作都是慢條斯理的。她描述自己是個簡單的人，并沒打算賦予麥兜的故事太多的內涵。作為一名基督信徒，她有簡單的信仰，比如上帝創造人類是因為他愛世人并許以世人幸福快樂。20世紀80年代末，麥佳碧在一家出版社做暑期實習生。這家公司的老板謝立文后來成了她的丈夫，同時也是麥兜系列電影的編劇以及麥兜叢書的作者。

McDull was at first a supporting character in a story about his cousin McMug， a smart piglet and “what parents expect of their children”. But it turned out that the woodenheaded McDull was more appealing.

When McMug promises his classmates that if he becomes the class president he will treat everyone with strawberry cakes， McDull struggles to utter one sentence in his speech， “If you choose me， you will be... painful.”

He gives up his favorite chicken thigh to his mom and practices sports he dislikes to make her happy. He has many dreams， most of which end up in disappointment. He is still happy， although he gets an “H”. He thinks it looks “only a bit different” from an “A”. According to his headmaster， he isn’t that stupid. He is just too kind.

“McDull reminds people they used to be as simple and happy as him，” Mak says. “If there is a theme in all the McDull movies， it is about how a simple person keeps his or her simplicity in a complicated world.”

麥兜最初只是一個配角，出現在他表弟麥嘜的故事中。麥嘜是只聰明的小豬，是“父母心中的好孩子榜樣”。但事實證明，頭腦木訥的麥兜更有魅力。

當麥嘜對同學們承諾，如果他成了班長就請大家吃草莓蛋糕時，麥兜卻在自己的演講中絞盡腦汁地憋出一句話：“如果你們選我，你們將會……比較痛苦。”

他把自己最喜歡吃的雞腿給了媽媽，并努力練習自己并不喜歡的運動來讓媽媽開心。他有很多夢想，雖然大多都以失望告終。盡管只考了個“H”，他依然很快樂。在他看來，“H”和“A”的樣子看起來不過差那么一點點而已。根據麥兜的校長所說，麥兜并不蠢，他只是太過善良。

“在麥兜身上，人們找到以前的自己，那個像麥兜一樣簡單、開心的自己。”麥佳碧說，“如果說麥兜系列電影有一個共同主題的話，那就是關于一個簡單的人如何在紛繁世界中保持純真本性。”

Although many children love McDull， the story is far more than its surface funniness. It is delightful and acidic at the same time.

In one of the McDull movies， he talks to the audience， “I suddenly realized that there is something you just cannot have. No fish ball， no noodles， no Maldives， no golden medal， no treasure... It turns out that being stupid is not funny； it could mean failure. Disappointment is not funny. Fat is not funny； fat does not even mean you have more strength. When I grow up， and when I face the stern world that is not funny， what should I do？”

“What he has been doing in the movies is to find new dreams. Most of them keep failing him， but he always starts again with a new one，” Mak says. “Maybe that’s why both children and adults find him adorable.”

盡管很多小孩都十分喜愛麥兜，但這個故事遠非只有淺顯的幽默。人們感到開心的同時，也會有些許酸楚。

在其中一部麥兜系列影片當中，麥兜對觀眾說：“我忽然明白，原來有些東西，沒有就是沒有，不行就是不行。沒有魚丸，沒有粗面，沒有馬爾代夫，沒有獎牌，沒有寶藏……原來愚蠢并不那么好笑，愚蠢會失敗。失望并不那么好笑。胖并不一定好笑，甚至胖不一定就有力氣。長大了，到我該面對這硬繃繃、未必那么好笑的世界的時候，我該怎樣做呢？”

“他在電影中一直致力于尋求新的夢想。其中大部分結果都令他十分失望，但他總會朝著新夢想出發。”麥佳碧說，“或許這就是為什么大人和小孩都覺得他可愛的原因。”