Fake Plastic Trees

在幾年前的聖誕節前夕，走過旺角的花園街，在熱鬧的花墟看看聖誕花和裝飾。當走到一家買聖誕樹的店舖，有一對外籍母女在購物。那可愛的小女孩指著她面前一棵聖誕樹，驚訝地說了一聲 “it's plastic!”。

我跟女朋來了一個好奇的眼神對望，覺得很有趣，奇怪小女孩為什麼對那棵聖誕樹那麼驚訝，塑膠造的聖誕樹有甚麼出奇呢。但想深一層，塑膠造的聖誕樹可來在外國是不甚流行的。家家戶戶的後花園也可能有一棵大松樹，走到郊外，也可能隨便可以弄棵回來。外籍小女孩在香港看到塑膠造的聖誕樹當然覺得出奇。

我們這些在石屎森林(concrete jungle)長大的「城市人」，對塑膠造聖誕樹，見怪不怪，反而看到散發出松柏樹的氣味的真樹才覺奇怪呢。當下發現，我們就是生活在一個 "fake plastic earth"：我們身傍所種植的不是有生命的植物，而是 "town full of rubber plants"；花店買的，不再是有花有葉的「花草樹木」， 而是"fake chinese rubber plant"；穿的不是皮鞋，不再是用皮革造成的「鞋」，而是"plastic shoes"；我們坐的椅子，不再是用木造成的「椅」，而是"plastic chair"；我們所食的通通是即食麵、罐頭食物、汽水等的 "fake food"。生活在一個 "fake plastic earth" 的我們，似乎已經忘記了甚麼是大自然、甚麼是食物、甚麼是生活。

Radiohead 的一首〈fake plastic tree〉，竟然道出這個社會現象，一個人們活在其中而沒有反省的現實。如果連人纇最基本的愛，也是 "Fake Plastic Love"，愛在虛擬的網絡世界，又或者是虛假如塑膠般不真實的愛；人的肉身也是 "a cracked polystyrene man"，用 PAAG 建成虛擬的胸，用人造的塑膠建成虛擬的鼻樑。一切也不是從大自然而來的智慧，而已 "Artificial intelligence"，當人們習慣了虛假的東西，再不會分辨「真」與「假」，那到底甚麼才是「真」。到底人纇會「進化」到一個怎麼樣的境地，還是要「退化」到一個怎麼樣的狀態。

Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees

Her Green plastic watering can
For her fake chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth.
That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plants.
to get rid of itself.
And It Wears Her Out, it wears her out
It wears her out, it wears her out.

She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns.
He used to do surgery
For girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins.
And It Wears Him Out, it wears him out
It wears him out, it wears him out.

She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing

But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run
And It Wears Me Out, it wears me out
It wears me out, it wears me out.

And if I could BE who you wanted
If I could BE who you wanted,
All the time, all the time, ohhh... ohh...