从功能性到内容性:屏幕本质属性再认识——以西方学术史为中心的讨论

From Functionality to Textuality:The Re-recognition of the Nature of Screen Based on Western Academic History

屏幕在日常生活中呈现出一种无处不在而习焉不察的状态,因此目前屏幕研究还没有引起足够的关注。追问屏幕的本质属性,是屏幕研究的元问题。综合欧美学者对英文语境下屏幕早期含义的辞源学研究发现,从阻挡与装饰到影像显示的载体,其含义演变呈现脱实入虚的趋势,体现出屏幕本质属性的演化方向,信息与物质实体应是屏幕本质属性的重要组成部分。另外,西方学术界对屏幕本质问题的相关研究表明,现代屏幕属于技术性媒介,且与界面、信息两大要素紧密相关,它既可被看作抽象的门与窗户,又可被视为人与物的中介。由此,从文化消费角度可将屏幕的本质属性谨慎地界定为能够承载动态内容性信息的物质性界面。从功能性信息到内容性信息的转变,也使屏幕与文化产业发生了革命性变化。

Screen is ubiquitous and commonplace but neglected in everyday life, so it has attracted insufficient attention. Questioning closely the nature of the screen is a meta-proposition of screen studies. The etymological research on the early meaning of screen in the English context by European and American scholars reveals that the meaning of screen goes from obstruction and decoration to the carrier of image display. It shows the trend from reality to virtuality, and implies the evolution of the nature of the screen. Information and material forms should be an important part of the nature of the screen. Meanwhile, the relevant research on the nature of screen in the Western academic circles indicates that modern screen is a technical medium and closely related to the two major elements of interface and information, and that screen can be regarded as both an abstract door and window and a mediator between things and people. Therefore, from the perspective of the cultural consumption, screen can be discreetly defined as the material interface capable of carrying dynamic text-based information. And the transition from function-based information to text-based information has revolutionized the development of both screen and cultural industry.