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Hey, guys, Joe here. So, I'm a dad now.
大家好!我是 Joe。我現在當爸爸了。
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And my wife got me these socks; they're covered in my son's face, pretty much the cutest socks ever.
我老婆買了這雙襪子給我,上面滿滿都是我兒子的臉。簡直是世界上最可愛的襪子!
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And my wife got me these socks.
我老婆買了這雙襪子給我。
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They're covered in my son's face.
上面滿滿都是我兒子的臉。
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Pretty much the cutest socks ever.
簡直是世界上最可愛的襪子!
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So, now that I'm a dad, I realize I'm basically only gonna watch animated movies for the next decade.
我當爸爸之後意識到,往後十年我基本上都只會看動畫電影了。
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As I started thinking back about all the great Disney movies through the years, I noticed something weird has been happening to the princesses.
當我開始回想迪士尼歷年來的賣座電影時,我發現公主們出現了奇怪的變化。
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In the earliest Disney films, the princesses more or less look like real, human women.
在最早期的迪士尼電影中,公主長得比較貼近真實的女性人類。
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But through the years, something strange happens.
但這些年來,奇怪的事情發生了。
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Heads get bigger compared to their bodies, and their eyes get bigger compared to their heads.
相較於身體,頭部變大,而眼睛相對於頭部,也也越來越大了。
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By the time we get to Elsa, it's clear this 22-year-old "Frozen" princess doesn't look like an adult female.
到了 Elsa 時期,這位芳齡 22 歲的《冰雪奇緣》公主顯然長得不像成年女性。
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She has the body ratios of an 8-year-old.
她的身體比例相當於一個八歲小孩。
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Moana is supposedly 16 years old, but she has the body ratios of a 4-year-old.
Moana 應該是 16 歲,但她的身體比例卻相當於一個四歲小孩。
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Disney princesses have been looking more and more like children.
迪士尼公主長得越來越像小孩了。
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And this case of the Benjamin Buttons isn't just happening to princesses.
而這種返老還童現象不只發生在公主身上。
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In fact, this is true all over Toontown.
事實上,這是卡通城的通則。
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The designs of almost all cartoon characters change over time, and almost always in the same way.
幾乎所有卡通角色的設計都隨著時間演變,而且幾乎都朝著同一個方向發展。
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As they get older, they age in reverse.
隨著他們年齡增長,外表卻越顯年輕。
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As we develop, we get a literal "head start"; our arms, legs, and bodies catch up as we get older.
在我們發育的過程中,的確是「從頭開始」。我們的手臂、雙腿和身體會隨著年齡增長逐漸追上。
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That's why a newborn's eyes are already 75% of their adult diameter, and our brains hit 55% of their adult volume by 3 months of age.
這也是為什麼新生兒眼睛佔成人頭部直徑的 75%,大腦則在我們 3 個月大時達到成人大小的 55%。
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Small bodies, big heads, big eyes.
小身體、大頭、大眼睛。
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Biologist Konrad Lorenz speculated that these babyish features trigger an instinct in adult mammals to give love and attention.
生物學家 Konrad Lorenz 推測這種類嬰兒的特徵會觸發成年哺乳類生物關愛的本能。
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When I show you this photo of a kitten, something happens in your brain that makes you want to cuddle and feed it⏤unless you're some kind of unfeeling monster.
當我給你看這張貓咪的照片時,你的大腦會產生變化,讓你想要抱牠、餵牠,除非你是某種冷血的怪獸。
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In other words, "cuteness" is nature's secret weapon to persuade adults into caring for babies.
換句話說,「可愛」是大自然說服成年人照顧幼兒的秘密武器。
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Disney is just using the same biological trick to encourage audiences to root for their characters.
迪士尼只是運用同樣的生物學手法,鼓勵觀眾支持他們創造出來的角色。
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That's why cartoon protagonists tend to have juvenile characteristics, and the villains... not so much.
這就是為什麼卡通主角通常擁有純真的性格,而反派則是... 大相逕庭。
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But this doesn't just happen in Fantasyland.
但這不只是發生在童話世界。
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Which would you rather cuddle?
你比較想摟抱哪一個?
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This Cavalier King Charles Spaniel?
這隻騎士查理王小獵犬?
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Or this wolf?
還是這匹狼?
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This floppy-eared ball of snuggles has been selectively bred to be cute.
這隻有著大耳朵的小肉球是以可愛為目的被精心飼養的。
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It retains juvenile features into adulthood, or, what biologists call "neoteny".
就算成年了,牠依然保有幼年特徵,也就是生物學家口中的「幼態延續」。
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We see neoteny in many domesticated animals.
我們在許多家養動物的身上都能看到幼態延續。
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Although selecting for cuteness can explain the Spaniel, animals like pigs show neoteny, too.
雖然就小獵犬而言,可愛指數是關鍵,但像是豬隻的其他動物也有幼態延續的現象。
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Why would ancient humans care about the cuddleability of something they were raising for bacon?
為什麼古人如此在乎這些最後會淪為培根的動物的可愛程度?
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Well, maybe cuteness is just a side effect.
或許可愛只是一種副作用。
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The most important trait in becoming a domesticated animal is tameness.
成為家養動物最重要的一個特點是:溫馴程度。
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Whether it's a companion, a worker, or a food source, you can't have a productive relationship with fearful or aggressive animals.
不論是當做同伴、工作夥伴或是食物來源,你都無法和恐怖、有攻擊性的動物發展有成效的關係。
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That fight-or-flight response is something that most animals only acquire as they get older⏤baby animals are pretty chill with humans.
那種戰或逃反應是大多數動物到了成年才會習得的,動物寶寶幾本上可以和人類和平共處。
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So, an animal that somehow never "grows up" in that sense might make the best candidate for domestication.
所以看似永遠不會「長大」的動物在某方面上,或許就成了最適合家養的對象。
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Beginning in the 1950s, Soviet scientist Dmitry Belyaev began a breeding experiment to study this idea, using wild silver foxes.
最早在 1950 年代,蘇聯科學家 Dmitry Belyaev 開始了一項野生銀狐的育種實驗,試圖探討這個理論。
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The foxes were tested for their reaction to human contact, and only the foxes that were friendly toward experimenters were allowed to breed.
實驗測試狐狸對人類接觸的反應,只有那些能夠親近的才會被繁殖。
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After just 20 generations, his foxes had not only changed in behavior, but also in appearance.
過了僅僅 20 代,他的狐狸不僅在行為方面改變,外貌也有轉變。
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Floppy ears, smaller jaws, and shorter tails that now wagged whenever humans were around.
鬆軟的塌耳朵、小巧的下巴、短短的尾巴,牠們看到人類靠近就會摇尾巴。
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Belyaev noted changes in hormones and brain chemistry that he suspected were capable of reshaping the foxes' external features.
Belyaev 注意到他預期的荷爾蒙和腦部化學物質改變,這些都會重塑狐狸的外觀特徵。
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What does this tell us?
這意味著什麼?
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Well, if you select for one childish trait, a bunch of others tend to come along with it.
當你選擇了一項幼兒特質,就會附贈其他一大堆。
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Evolutionary biologist Stephen J. Gould noticed that the same was true of the world's most famous cartoon character: Mickey Mouse.
演化生物學家 Stephen J. Gould 發現,這演變也發生在全世界最有名的卡通角色身上,那就是米奇。
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OG Mickey was... kind of a jerk.
初代的米奇其實 ... 挺混賬的。
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But as his personality got softer and sweeter, so did his appearance.
但隨著他的個性變得更圓滑、甜美,他的外貌也跟著轉變。
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By the 1950s, Mickey had not only become the child-like mouse we know today, he'd become a nice guy.
到了 1950 年代,米奇不僅成為了我們今日熟知、小孩般的老鼠,他也變成了一個好好先生。
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But beyond pets or cartoons, you can also see neoteny in yourself.
但不只是寵物和卡通,你在自己身上也看得到幼態持續。
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Most biologists agree that humans are, in many ways, big babies.
多數生物學家同意,人類其實在很多方面就是個大寶寶。
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Compared to other adult primates, we grow less body hair, we have shorter limbs, and flatter faces.
相較於其他成年靈長類,我們比較少體毛、四肢比較短、臉也比較扁平。
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And if you compare how much a chimp's skull morphs as it matures, you can see that our skull shape changes much less.
而當你比較猩猩在發育時的頭骨演變,就會發現我們的頭骨不怎麼會改變。
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Our neoteny offered us lots of evolutionary advantages.
幼態持續給了我們許多演化優勢。
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Less body hair meant we could run farther in that African heat, and our faces were more visible to each other as social interaction became more important.
較少體毛意味著我們在非洲艷陽下能夠跑更遠,而當社會互動越來越重要時,我們的臉也顯得比較好互相辨識。
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Also, suppressing our own fight-or-flight response meant we could cooperate and organize in larger numbers.
還有,幼態持續抑制了我們的戰或逃反應,讓我們更能夠以大群體合作。
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And, most importantly, these big brains need a lot of room and time to develop, which is why we rely on our parents for much longer than most mammals.
最重要的是,這些大腦袋需要大空間還有時間發育,這也是為什麼我們比其他哺乳類花更多時間仰賴父母。
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It might not be a coincidence that the more complex our society gets, the more time humans need to become independent.
這或許不是巧合,我們的社會結構越複雜,我們就的確需要更多時間才能獨立。
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Childhood is a time for experimentation and learning; most animals get locked into pretty rigid programs by the time they're adults.
童年是拓展和學習的階段,多數動物到了成年期就已經完全脫離幼年。
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But, by extending our childhood into adulthood, we can learn and change as long as we live.
透過將我們的童年延長至成年,我們就能持續學習、演變。
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Maybe that's why so many of us still love cartoons.
或許這也是為什麼我們許多人依然熱愛卡通。
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Because we may get old, but we never grow up; that's what makes us human.
因為我們或許是會變老,但我們不會「長大」。人類就是如此。
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Stay curious.
永保你的好奇心!