镜中幻影:山姆·谢泼德家庭剧中的“阳具”缺失

Phantom in the Mirror:On the“Phallic”Lack in Sam Shepard’s Family Plays

当代美国剧作家山姆•谢泼德始终在创作中探寻真正的男性气质,并常被认为是通过消费女性主体性而建构男性主体性。其家庭剧中的女性人物要么“不在场”,要么“无声”,男性则以女性为观看的镜像中心展现了一系列话语权力关系,由此强调自我“女性/母性单一对立面”的男性身份。事实上,谢泼德家庭剧中的性别关系较之前期作品有着明显的转换。男性人物不但没能在“弑母”中找寻到父亲身份,成长为“真正的英雄”,也未能在向女性施暴中成全自我的男性权威身份,更未在表演“非女”气质中获得自我男性身份的认同。他们的暴虐行为与男性身份想象投射出自我内在软弱的一面,最终确认的是“阳具”的缺失,由此发现男性身份不可能通过对女性使用权力,以女性为镜像参照而获得,其结果只能是悖论地牺牲自我而获得一种可疑的身份。

Sam Shepard,the famous contemporary American playwright,always explored the real masculinities in his writings.He is thought to have constructed male subjectivity through the consumption of female subjectivity.The female characters in his family plays are either“absent”or“silent”,while the male shows the discourse power in gender relation with the female,accordingly,emphasizing the male identity as the single“female/maternal opposition”.As a matter of fact,the gender relationship in his family plays is obviously transformed,compared with his earlier works.The male characters in the family plays not only fail to find the fatherhood and grow up to be“real heroes”in“matricide”,but also are unable to identify themselves as the authority in the violence against women,nor the“real men”in the performance of“non-femininity”.The cruelty and masculine imagination represent their own inner weakness,ultimately confirming their“phallic”lack.Male identity cannot be reflected by using power to women gazed as the mirror image center.resulting in a paradoxical sacrifice of self to obtain a suspicious identity.