本文援用「文化表演」的研究方法,以艾霞與阮玲玉這兩位女演員爲例,爬梳三○年代上半的電影女演員的表演藝術以及表演行徑,並藉此分析以上海爲主的都會形態現代化過程中,「現代女性」形構辯證的「表演」痕跡。本文主要檢視女演員作俘表演藝術」中被觀看的「戲劇演員」(artistic actor),以及以「文化表演」爲手段表述自我時,所採取的行動人的「社會演員」(social actor)的角色。同時,本文嘗試將流言、輿論、史述,同樣視爲社會對女演員的藝術表演的解讀與反應,一種「觀眾表演」;這種「觀眾表演」不僅體現了一般觀影大眾對於電影這個新興表演媒體指涉的「寫實」方法的接受態度,它還進一步形成中國現代表演文化的一部分。本文目的是分析這種「觀眾表演」,如何震動原本在銀幕上擔任演出的「演員觀眾」,而「觀眾演員」和「演員觀眾」,又是如何與電影所處時代的現代女性經驗對話,互相辯證當代看待現代女性的方式,成爲建構當時「女性論述」的一環。本文最終目的是藉由描繪電影女演員在銀幕上摸索現代表演技巧的過程,以及在這個過程中,她們的表演,如何與觀影大眾,進行一場有關中國現代女性在都會中的公共位置的「文化協商」(cultural negotiation)。
This paper employs the method and theories of ”cultural performance” to investigate the arts and lives of two film actresses, Ai Xia (1912~1934) and Ruan Lingyu (1910~l935), mapping the historical process of the configuration of Chinese modern womanhood of the early 1930s. I do not only treat these actresses as the ”artistic actors”, the viewing ”object” of the mass audience, but also examine their role as ”social actors,” who use their arts as means of self-expression and social campaign. Also, I consider together the historical narratives, contemporary criticism, and even fans' reaction toward these modern women's (artistic and social) performances as form of ”cultural performance.” My goal is to explore how such kind of cultural performance once embodied the Chinese coginition of ”realism” as a form of acting style, and how it constituted the overall ”performance culture” in the early 20th century. The ultimate purpose is to provide a method of study to the cultural process of negotiation of Chinese women's performance in the public domain.