从人面兽身到三寸金莲——论神话与艺术中的足部意象

From the Sphinx to High-heel Shoe

本文从文字与图像记载的人面兽身神入手,考察中国文化中的足部意象的源起与变化。上古时期艺术造型中人面兽身神的形制在足部的不确定,恰恰说明先民们对它的关注,是研究先民思维的重要线索。神话里人面神将脚作为感孕生子的媒介,由此可以辨别出女性与男性足部不同的象征意义,分别代表孕育能力及其缺失。男性无法孕育后代的缺憾象征地表现为对女性的足部崇拜,并在后世文学作品中清晰地表现出来。直至现在这种对女性的足部关注仍以不同的形式反映在日常生活中,成为一种当代民俗。男性意识越膨胀的时代对女性的足部崇拜就越痴迷,因为此时男性更有权力使自己的无法怀孕生子的缺失得到精神性补偿。

From the description of the spirit of human head with monster body of A Chinese Bestiary, we can commence to examine the change and origins of imagination of feet in Chinese myth. But the relationships between the spirit and man are very complicated; among them the Spirit-man combine is center. The characteristic of Chinese myth, differing from Western myth, is regard feet as the mediums of pregnancy, thus we can distinguish the difference of symbolic significance of feet with man and woman. In the male power society, the adoration of the imper fection per formance of this ability of the femalefoot is continuous, and comes out clearly in the literature. Even nowadays, this adoration of the female foot still shows the various forms in the daily life. From ancient to modern times and from the East to the West, the more male power, the more adoration is paid to the foot of women by men for their compensation for the absence of gestative ability.