重释“散心”美学——从本雅明到克拉里

Reinterpreting the Aesthetics of“Zerstreuung”:From Walter Benjamin to Jonathan Crary

本雅明与克拉里对“散心”概念的理解形成一个重要的对比。本雅明不但在资本主义的娱乐业中察觉出“散心”与资产阶级之间的联系。同时也在早期电影技术中发现“散心”与大众之间的无意识共谋,其表现为借助电影的蒙太奇手法对观者塑造一种“现时”(Jetztzeit)状态,使观众重新建构他们的历史意识;并且,这种建构是把个人经验转化为集体形式,赋予早期电影以审美的政治化潜能。反之,克拉里对“散心”概念的理解陷入一种预设式的线性价值判断之中,历史化了“注意力”概念,却把“散心”仅视为现代性生产的一部分而依附于“注意力”概念的整体性之中。

Walter Benjamin's and Jonathan Crary's respective understanding of the concept of“Zerstreuung”is in sharp contrast to each other.Benjamin detects not only a connection between“Zerstreuung”and the bourgeoisie in the capitalist entertainment industry,but also an unconscious collusion between“Zerstreuung”and the public in the early film technology.Such collusion has created a state of“Jetztzeit”for the audience by using the technique of montage in film,so that the audience could reconstruct their historical consciousness,which is transformed into a collective experience from that of the individual,thus assigning early cinema with the potential of politicizing aesthetics.In contrast,Crary's understanding of the concept of“Zerstreuung”falls into a type of judgment with presupposed values of linearity,which historicizes the concept of“attention”,whereas refers to“Zerstreuung”as only a part of modern production integral to the concept of“attention”.