“電影”感受“政治”的瞬間：左翼思潮與上海電影文化——以《神女》爲例

The Left-Wing Movement and Shanghai Movie Culture: on The Goddess

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

近年來對1930年代左翼電影的研究，有某種“去政治化”的趨勢，具體表現在或從微觀上發掘左翼電影與鴛鴦蝴蝶派電影之間的内在聯繫，在把它們共同歸於“商業化”氛圍的同時取消了政治的作用；或從宏觀上强調上海作爲中國電影的發源地，其深厚的電影文化積累滋養了左翼電影，同時也軟化了它的政治鋒芒，甚至認爲電影文化傳統起到了某種糾正政治偏頗的作用……上述研究確實對我們在更寬廣的背景下重 新理解“左翼電影”提供了更多的資源，但問題在於，如果取消了左翼電影的“政治性”，那麽它在中國電影歷程中的獨特地位如何來界定呢？在我看來，上海電影文化以及鴛鴦蝴蝶派電影固然對左翼電影有著極其深刻的影響，可是左翼電影却因一種新的“政治”視角介入，超越了當時的商業電影，“回溯性”地將上海電影文化中的“潛力”激發出來，從而創造了中國電影歷史上的高峰。本文將以左翼電影中較有代表性的《神女》爲例，通過對這部無聲電影的分析，揭示出“政治”因素體現爲階級觀點、底層視角以及社會分析的眼光等等，如何轉化爲電影的影像策略和敍述技巧，從而以相當特殊的方式重新改寫對城市、階層、媒介、金錢、啓蒙和女性等現代性問題的理解。

Recent scholarship on Left-Wing movies produced in the 1930s has shown a trend of “depoliticization.” From a microcosmic perspective, some deny the function of politics and instead emphasize that of the commercial atmosphere in their discussion of the intrinsic relationship between Left-Wing and Mandarin Duck-Butterfly films. Some take a macrocosmic view and blunt the political edge of Left-Wing movies in their emphasis on the ways in which these movies were nurtured by the rich, deep-rooted movie culture of Shanghai, a place that has long been seen as the birthplace of Chinese film. These critics even hold that movie culture has a function of correcting political bias. Such viewpoints indeed help us reevaluate Left-Wing movies in a much broader context. However, if “politicism” is avoided, by what other means can the unique position of Left-Wing movies in the history of Chinese film be redefined?

The author of the present essay argues that although Left-Wing movies were influenced by the movie culture of Shanghai and Mandarin Duck-Butterfly movies, Left-Wing films made their debut in an unprecedented “political” manner. They surpassed the then-prevalent commercial movies by retrospectively activating the potential of Shanghai movie culture, and reached a peak in the history of Chinese film.

The present essay focuses on silent film The Goddess, which is representative of Left-Wing movies, and analyzes the “political” elements in this type of film. These elements include class viewpoints, perspectives of the lower classes, and views of social analysis. It discusses how these “political” elements are transformed into strategic images and narrative skills, and also how the city, social classes, media, money, enlightment, women, and other issues of modernity should be reinterpreted and represented.