彰显历史:作为美国文化记忆强大媒介的《阿甘正传》

Blockbusting history: Forrest Gump as a powerful medium of American cultural memory

电影对历史意识有深远影响。尽管人们经常认为电影是对集体记忆的一种表征,但似乎很明显的是,电影及其塑造的形象为认识历史事件提供了一种重要的诠释模式。在本文中,作者将商业上取得巨大成功、并以历史类悲喜剧为题材的电影《阿甘正传》作为出发点,来探讨这部电影及其受欢迎的程度。历史影片本身并不属于集体文化记忆的范畴,仅当它们鲜明地蕴含着交流、文化和政治的意义时,它们才成为集体文化记忆的一部分。因此,只有详细考察电影公开发行及其为人接受的历史背景,我们才能极大地拓展电影研究的丰富涵义。从正在进行的学术辩论到该电影在Facebook和Youtube等网站上受到的持续热捧,本文通过一系列的指标来说明为何十余年前出品的《阿甘正传》至今仍是文化记忆的强大媒介。

The impact that movies have made on historical consciousness is a profound one. While they are often regarded as a representation of collective memory, it seems evident that movies and the images they transmit provide an important interpretive pattern for the perception of historical events. In this article, the author uses the commercially successful, history-based tragicomedy Forrest Gump (1994) as a point of departure to explore both the film and its reception. Feature films don’t belong to a collective cultural memoryper se; they become part of it only when they significantly encompass a communicative, cultural, and political framework. Thus, film analysis is extended by looking at the context of its public distribution and reception. By drawing on a broad range of indicators-from ongoing academic debate to the film’s enduring popularity on Facebook and YouTube, this article shows why, even fifteen years after its release, Forrest Gump is still a powerful medium for cultural memory.