從殖民到移民－拉丁美洲人民的美國夢／魘電影《北方》啟示錄／路

El Norte, Latin American People's American Dream/Nightmare an Apocalypse/Revelation Road

張淑英(Luisa Shu-Ying Chang)

《英美文學評論》 14期 (2009/06) Pp. 1-36

https://doi.org/10.6711/REAL.200906_(14).0001

摘要

本論文將以葛里哥萊•納瓦(Gregory Nava)導演於1983年拍攝的電影《北方》(El Norte)爲主軸，探討拉丁美洲人民的美國夢，以及移民望鄉的懷舊與鄉愁。拉丁美洲脫離西班牙殖民獨立後，因爲政治動盪、領導人窮兵黷武、社會貧病交困……等因素，造成人民心思異動／驛動，試圖移地而居，遷徙到人人憧憬嚮往的優勝美地－「北方」的美國。然而懷著尋找烏托邦的夢想直奔想像的天堂，真實世界的際遇卻像是人間煉獄般辛酸苦楚。「北方」的地理隱喻和想像的文化麻醉且淹沒了拉丁美洲人民曾受過的殖民創傷，走向另一個異域時，彷彿是另一種殖民的再現。 《北方》敘述一對瓜地馬拉原住民兄妹，因父親參與政治活動遭軍方殺害，母親亦被逮捕，於是心生逃逸，決定前往世人口中最理想的人間天堂，也是拉丁美洲最近的距離：美國。兩人歷經艱辛偷渡到美國，非法居留，動輒得咎，形同另外一種桎梏。「北方」不過是南柯一夢，最近的距離卻是最不易跨越的鴻溝。 納瓦以拉丁裔移民的角色，透過電影文本的神話再現、追溯重構拉丁美洲人民的身分與認同。本文將平行探討《北方》呈現的兩大重點：一個是電影情節平鋪直敘的移民現實狀況，其中所呈現的語言、族群和身分的區隔，以及移民的心境與困境；另一個是導演透過移民者的心路歷程，詮釋美國這塊想像的夢土的意涵，並運用影像和象徵召喚傳統，詮釋神話，傳遞原住民（馬雅）回歸本土文化的意識，以及移民者尋根的渴望。

關鍵字

啟示錄 ； 北方 ； 移民 ； 美國夢／魘 ； 馬雅／原住民神話

並列摘要

This paper examines Gregory Nava's film El Norte (1983), discussing the migration of Latin American people and its problems, such as their memory and nostalgia for their hometown, after moving to the so-called paradise-the North, or the United States of America.
El Norte talks about how a Native American brother and a sister undertaken a dangerous trip to stow away to the North, after their father died in an insurrection and their mother was imprisoned. This movie focuses on their unfavourable turnaround in life and the odyssey in that imaginary paradise. Gregory Nava tried to deploy magic realism in El Norte to represent the world between the dream and the reality. While presenting the protests and pains of labor workers, he also uses a great variety of symbols to retrace the indigenous civilization.
Nava's film El Norte, one of the most representative Chicano movies in the 1980s, has penetrated into the essence of Mayan mythology and its legend. This paper draws a parallel between the collective trauma and conscience of the Latin American immigrants as well as the representation of indigenous and catholic culture and analyzes the ways in which the cineaste has tried to reveal these themes via moving images and symbolism.

並列關鍵字

Apocalypse ； North ； Migration ； American Dream ； Mayan mythology

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