你不知道的冷知识，爆米花是如何从影院黑名单成为电影绝配的？（Catch the Candy）

等了好久终于等到这一天，大家终于等到了影院复工的消息。虽有众多条件设限，如上座率不高于30%，排片减至正常时期的一半，原则上不售卖零食饮料等，但影院总算是可以开张了。大家的快乐又回来了

只不过不能抱着爆米花和饮料去看电影，想想还真让人有点不习惯。就好像过生日时要吃蛋糕，情人节时送玫瑰一样，爆米花和看电影似乎也是如此约定俗成，密不可分。

那么看电影是怎么和吃爆米花捆绑到一起的呢？听说电影院出现的早期，里面是不允许吃任何食物的，这又是为什么呢？就让小编带大家一起来了解一下，爆米花和电影院的那些“爱恨情仇”吧。

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If you've ever seen a movie on the big screen, you know there is one snack that's more popular than any other.

如果你曾经在大荧幕上观看过电影，你就会知道，有一种小吃比其他所有小吃都受欢迎。

Popcorn. But, why?

那就是爆米花。但是为什么呢？

Why do we always eat popcorn at the movies?

为什么我们看电影时总要吃爆米花？

Let's find out on today's episode of Colossal Questions.

让我们在今天的"浩瀚问题"节目中揭晓答案吧。

Back before the big screen was invented, popcorn was a popular snack at carnivals and fairgrounds around the United States.

早在大荧幕发明之前，爆米花就是美国各地的狂欢节和露天市场里一种流行的小吃。

By the late 1800s, the popcorn making machine was invented and it became even easier to make and sell the stuff.

直到19世纪后期，爆米花机被发明出来，于是爆米花的制造和销售更加便捷。

Popcorn was super cheap and super popular but it wasn't exactly fancy.

爆米花非常便宜，很受欢迎，但它可不怎么上档次。

So when the first movie theater's opened around 1900, they wanted nothing to do with the delicious salty snack.

因此，1900年左右，第一家电影院开业时，他们就瞧不上这种可口的咸味小吃。

You see, movie theaters were seen as a new-fangled version of the classic theater which has a distinctly fancy feel to it.

当时的电影院，被视为传统剧院的新型衍生物，因此萦绕着一种明显的高级气息。

No normal theater would ever allow such a loud and messy food into its performances.

普通剧院是绝不会允许如此吵闹又容易搞得脏兮兮的食物进入其中的。

So movie theater owners did the same.

所以电影院老板也照做了。

But all that changed in 1927 when the very first films with sound called talkies came out.

但是，事情在1927年发生了变化，当时第一部有声电影诞生了。

Now, movies were no longer trying to mimic the sophisticated theater experience and became popular entertainment for everyone.

于是电影不再试图模仿复杂的剧院体验，而是成为大众化的流行娱乐方式。

So movie theaters changed their whole vibe.

电影院也随之改变了整体氛围。

Instead of trying to be fancy like the traditional theater, movie theaters became cheap and easy entertainment for people rich and poor, and popular popcorn was the perfect inexpensive food to go with the film.

电影院不再像传统剧院那样追求高级感，而是成为更便宜，且富人穷人都可享受的简单娱乐方式，爆米花则成为与电影完美搭配的廉价食品。

Early theaters didn't have the space to add popcorn concession stands.

早期的影院没有足够的空间来设置爆米花摊位。

So street vendors quickly started posting up outside theaters.

因此街头小贩很快就开始在影院外面摆起了摊。

After a few years, some vendors started paying a fee to theaters to sell their popcorn right in the lobby to catch the crowds as people entered a movie.

几年后，一些小贩开始向影院老板支付费用，让他们可以在影院大厅出售爆米花，刚好可以吸引到来看电影的观众。

Eventually the theater owners realized they could cut out the middle man and sell popcorn themselves.

最终，影院老板意识到他们可以跳过中间人，自己出售爆米花。

Popcorn became a must-have for any movie theater.

爆米花就成为了每家影院的必需品。

It was so popular that theaters who didn't sell it had trouble attracting moviegoers.

它太受欢迎了，甚至不卖爆米花的影院都招揽不到观众。

But the relationship between popcorn and the movies was really set in stone during World War II.

在二战期间，爆米花和电影之间的关系一度如同板上钉钉般坚定。

Things like chocolate and sugar were rationed during the war which made it hard to get candy.

战争期间，巧克力和糖之类的物资需要定量配给，所以人们很难吃到糖。

But salt and popcorn kernels were never rationed.

但是盐和爆米花仁的配给从未受限。

So the country's favorite movie theater treat was even more available and even more popular.

于是这种美国人最爱的影院零食越来越多，也越来越受欢迎。

Ever since, popcorn and movies have continued to be as iconic as any duo out there.

从那时起，爆米花和电影就如同二重奏一般具有标志性。

The only difference, those buckets keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger and I'm okay with it.

唯一的不同是，爆米花桶越变越大了，不过我倒是可以接受。

And now you know why we eat popcorn at the movies.

现在你知道为什么我们看电影时要吃爆米花了。

Comment below if you have a question you'd like to know the answer to and remember to subscribe for more episodes of Colossal Questions!

如果你有希望得到解答的问题，欢迎在下方留言，记得订阅我们的“浩瀚问题”频道。

历史渊源

Popcorn has been around for ages, and it was a popular snack at 19th century fairs and carnivals, especially after the invention of the first steam-powered popcorn-popper back in 1885 by Charles Cretors.

爆米花已经存在了很久了，它在19世纪的集市和狂欢节上是一种流行的小吃，尤其是在1885年，查尔斯·克里特斯发明了第一台蒸汽动力的爆米花机之后。

Movie theaters hated the crunchy, inexpensive snack. During the era of silent film, these companies followed many of the same rules as traditional theaters, apart from the fact that they didn't want to be associated with a loud food that could distract people from the show, there was also a little bit of a class consideration here.

电影院厌恶这种又脆又便宜的小吃。在默片时代，这些院方遵循许多与传统剧院相同的规则，除了他们不希望这些吵闹的食物分散人们注意力之外，还有一点点阶级考虑。

Since audiences had to read the dialogue on screen, they had to be literate, meaning that only people with superior education would enter the movie theaters. Allowing popcorn inside was, in the opinion of these theater owners, kind of like throwing sawdust on the fancy carpet and saying "Yeah, sure, spit wherever."

由于观众要阅读大荧幕上的字幕，因此他们必须有文化，也就是说只有受过高等教育的人才会走进电影院。在剧院老板看来，允许人们带爆米花进场，就像把木屑随意洒在高档地毯上，然后说：“没问题，随处吐痰吧。”

Then talkies came along, bringing movie theaters to the common folk. Suddenly anyone could cough up some change, grab a seat and understand what was going on. This was also in the time of the Great Depression, when Americans from coast to coast pined for cheap, escapist entertainment. So the average American families finally found the cinema, and they brought their snack culture along.

有声电影出现了，将电影院带向了普通大众。突然之间，任何人都可以挤出一点零钱，找个座位，看看电影。这也是在大萧条时期，所有美国人都渴望一种廉价又能远离现实的娱乐活动。因此，普通的美国家庭终于找来了电影院，并带来了小吃文化。

After World War II, the association between movies and popcorn was firmly established in the mind of the American public. This association continues today, but there's another wrinkle to the story. You might be saying, "Sure, popcorn was cheap in the Depression or whatever, but what happened then? When did it become so expensive?"

二战后，电影与爆米花之间的联系在美国公众心中牢固确立。这种联系一直持续到今天，但这个故事里还有一个波折。你可能会问：“当然，在大萧条时期爆米花很便宜什么的，但是后来发生了什么？什么时候变得这么贵了？”

That's a great question. The price hike really kicked in back in the 1970s. Contrary to popular belief, local movie theater doesn't actually make much bank off the films it screens. Instead, theaters use concessions to stay in business. According to the Stanford Business School, concessions comprise only about 20% of a theatre's gross revenue, but 40% of its profits.

这是一个很好的问题。实际上，在1970年代，商品价格便开始上涨。与传统认知相反，电影院实际上并没有从其放映的电影中获得太多收益。影院会使用优惠活动来维持运营。根据斯坦福商学院的数据，优惠活动仅占影院总收入的20％，但占其利润的40％。

This makes sense when we consider how theaters have to split ticket revenue with movie distributors, but can pocket 100% of whatever they manage to sell at the snack counter. The bulk cost of the ingredients is laughably small, and the profit margin is huge. And let's not forget that this stuff is addictively delicious.

这就说得通了，影院要与电影发行商分摊票房收入所得，但他们在零食柜台卖出去的任何东西赚到的钱100%都是自己的。而且配料的总成本小得惊人，利润空间非常大。再说了，别忘了这些东西美味得让人上瘾。