“逝者如斯夫”:中国电影的时间叙事观

The Time Narrative Perspective of Chinese Films

中国传统文化衍生的独特时间观有别于西方,它将生生不息的永恒与转瞬即逝的短暂对立统一,凝结成“逝者如斯夫”的一声喟叹。这种观念也造就了中国电影与西方电影迥异的叙事时间观:它尊重传统的时间规律,常以四时、节气、节日为时间节点;它遵从时空合一的民族思维,将时间汇入物象、物候、地域等艺术意象之中;它尊重自然的认识规律,以线性或周性为时间轨迹,并常常产生出延宕的悠游之感;它讲求以感知为标准的时间尺度,在完成叙事需要的同时,构建出民族化的美学风格。

The unique view of time derived from Chinese conventional cultures is distinct from that in western countries.The oriental perspective unifies everlasting eternity with fleeting evanescence in the sigh of“passage of time is like the flowing water”.The concept also creates a different narrative time perspective between Chinese films and Western films.In China’s perspective,firstly,traditional laws of time is fully respected,and four seasons,solar terms,and festivals are often seen as time nodes;secondly,national thinking of the unity of time and space is followed,and expressions of time are likely to be integrated into artistic images such as objects,phenology and regions;thirdly,cognitive laws of nature are respected whereby linear or circumferential track is adopted and therefore a sense of leisure comes up in resonance;finally,the time scale is based on perception,and China’s aesthetic style is construed while fulfilling the needs of narrative.