本文主要討論郭寶崑1980年代以後的創作,作者自認該時期的作品乃「通過戲劇與劇場對生活進行反思與批判」,其核心關懷聚焦於現代體制下個人與制度、或個人與傳統之間的矛盾,文本中藉由對話大量呈現出傳統與現代之間的對比及差異,以突顯那時的人們在面對社會富裕之後,內心深處幽微的困境。本文將透過《棺材太大洞太小》、《呸店》與《老九》三部文本,並以Charles Taylor所提出包含「個人主義」、「工具理性」與「柔性專制主義(soft despotism)」等現代性理論進行對話,來看郭寶崑劇作中所呈現新加坡兩代人思想與價值的差異,包含對工作與生活的態度、對於「傳統」的爭執與歧異,以突顯1980~1990年代新加坡資本主義工業化下,其社會轉型與變遷過程中文化的斷裂。
This research mainly discusses Kuo's works after 1980s. Kuo himself had admitted his intention was to rethink and criticize our lives by dramatic performances within this period of time. He focused on contradictions among the individual, the institution, and the convention in the modern system. Through characters' dialogues, he intended to present the contrast between tradition and modernity, which manifested people's subtle dilemmas after getting prosperous. In this research I take ”The coffin is too big for the hole”, ”Kopitiam” and ”Lao Jiu-The ninth born” as examples, employing Charles Taylor's concepts about individualism, instrumental rationality and soft despotism as theoretical frameworks, to investigate the differences in thoughts and values between two Singaporean generations. Particularly, this research concerns with the attitudes toward work and life, and the conflicts with traditions to depict the cultural disconnection in the process of social transformation invoked by capitalism and industrialization from 1980s to 1990s.