美国早期电影与美利坚民族身份构建

Early American Cinema and the Construction of America’s National Identity

19世纪末20世纪初,美国进入工业化和城市化的双重转型,经济的发展和城市的扩张吸引成百上千万的东南欧移民。新移民的涌入缓解了劳动力资源匮乏的问题,但也给"盎格鲁-新教文化一元主导"的美利坚民族身份主体造成前所未有的冲击。作为一种基于影像语言的传播媒介,美国早期电影不仅为转型期的美利坚民族想象提供一种共同的思维方式,而且为美利坚民族身份的构建提供一种统一手段。从影院的经营、电影文本的表征,到犹太裔电影人超民族性的从业实践,美国早期电影及时地整合新旧移民间因语言、文化等差异造成的身份认同差异,积极推动美利坚民族身份从"盎格鲁美国"到"欧洲人美国"的转变。

From the late 19th to the early 20th century,the United States was experiencing a process of industrialization and urbanization.The process prompted a sudden influx of immigrants from southeastern Europe into America,whose arrival,on the one hand,eased the pressure of labor force shortage,but on the other mounted a great challenge to the then America’s national identity which was virtually defined by WASP culture.Being an image-based art and entertainment,early American cinema actively took upon itself the role of constructing America’s national identity as an imagining and unifying device.From cinema management,cultural representation,to the non-ethnocentric practice of Jewish filmmakers,early American cinema managed to bridge ethnic,linguistic and cultural differences between old and new immigrants,thus playing an important part in bringing about a transformation of America’s national identity from“Anglo-America”to“Euro-American”.