始于文献,终于艺术——纪录片词义的历史演变

From Literature to Art——The Historical Evolution of the Meaning of Documentary

2022年是弗拉哈迪《北方的纳努克》问世一百周年。弗拉哈迪的历史贡献,是他开创了纪录片这种影片样式,被公认为纪录片的鼻祖。“纪录片”一词就是格里尔逊在评论弗拉哈迪的影片《摩阿纳》时,率先在英文中使用的。然而随着纪录片和各种影片样式的不断发展,人们对纪录片是什么也不断出现认识纷争。本文从历史和事物的发展出发,探究了“纪录片”一词产生的历史背景、词义内涵演变的缘由以及词义的最终落点。这就是,当纪录片这种新事物刚刚出现时,人类语言中尚无相应词汇。格里尔逊抓住“文献资料”这一属性来指称这种影片,其实是受到了客观条件的限制。但随着纪录片和各种影片样式的不断发展,纪录片具有的真实和艺术两个本质属性终于显现出来并被人们所认识。纪录片词义由此完成了“始于文献,终于艺术”的历史演变。

2022 marks the centenary of Robert J.Flaherty’s Nanook of the North.Flaherty’s historical contribution is that he has created the film style of documentary,for that he has been recognized as the originator of documentary.It was Grierson who first used the word“Documentary”in English when commenting on Flaherty’s film named Moana.However,with the development of documentary and various kinds of film styles,the definition of documentary continues to appear cognitive disputes.From the perspective of history and the development of things,this paper probes into the historical background of the“documentary”,the reason of its evolution and the final destination of its meaning.That is,when documentary just appeared,there was no corresponding word matching it in human language.Grierson refers to this kind of film by grasping the characteristic of“documentary data”,which is actually restricted by objectivity.However,under the developing of documentary and different kinds of film styles,the two essential attributes of documentary—authenticity and artistry—have finally emerged and been recognized by people.The word“documentary”has thus completed the historical evolution of its meaning.