文化人类学视野下仪式化影像的伦理性

The Ethicality of Ritualized Images from the Perspective of Cultural Anthropology

在文化人类学视野下,仪式本身就是具有伦理性的活动,仪式进入电影就形成了仪式化影像。电影具有伦理性,电影不仅记录和表现了人类共同的仪式文化,在仪式与电影伦理性的双重作用下,仪式化影像也具备了伦理性。仪式化影像首先通过象征(隐喻)化手段表现其伦理性;其次仪式化影像借助电影艺术手法强化仪式之美来表现其伦理性;最为重要的是电影影像通过动作、造型、摄影角度、景别、蒙太奇、表演和音乐等视听手段强化仪式的神圣性以实现其伦理性。无论是宗教仪式化影像、民俗仪式化影像还是政治仪式化影像,一旦进入电影影像就与创作者的伦理观表达密切相关。电影的仪式化影像是电影审美伦理表达的中介,它在电影中被造型化展示,其意图是以象征(隐喻)的方式表达创作者的伦理观,引发观众正/负两面的伦理情感,从而引导观众的伦理认同或伦理疏离。仪式化影像可以产生和强化造型性功能,提升观赏性和艺术性,在视觉化造型之美中隐含伦理判断;仪式化影像可以产生和创造象征(隐喻)意义,创新影像艺术语言来突出伦理性;仪式化影像可以丰富和提升影像的思想性,从而凸显其伦理思想内涵,催生经典影像文本。

From the perspective of Cultural Anthropology,it is widely accepted that ritual is an activity with an ethical nature,which in many ways can be attributed to the ethical culture of human society. This study attempts to show that the entry of ritual culture into works of art has contributed to a ritualization tendency of various art forms. At the same time, cinema had already introduced ritual culture early on,and rituals had entered the movie industry to form ritualized images. Film not only appears to record and express the common ritual culture of human beings but also possesses ethicality under a dual role of ritual and film ethics: Firstly,ritualized images simplify the narrative through symbolic(metaphorical) means and adopt a “free plot” to express their ethicality;secondly,ritualized images can enhance the beauty of rituals with performance and formality by making use of cinematic art techniques to express its ethicality;thirdly and most importantly, ritualized images conceivably enhance the potential sacredness of the rituals through audio-visual means,such as movement,styling,camera angles,scenery, montage, performance,and music,in order to realize their ethicality.Investigations identified that ritual images can express the ethical demands of their creators,can express the ethical implications of art with a subtle aesthetic pursuit,and can prompt the audience to ethically reflect on history,reality,and human nature. Whether they are religiously ritualized images, folklore-wise ritualized images, or politically ritualized images, once they enter a film image,many times they are closely related to the creator’s expression of ethical views. The creators can,first,realize religious and secularized ethical explorations through religious ritualized images;second,realize ethical reflections on people and people,nation and nationality, people, nature, and national traditions through folkloric ritualized images;and,third,realize political ethical detachment or identification through politically ritualized images that stimulate the ethical emotions of the audience.The ritualized image of a film commonly is a mediator of the aesthetic ethical expression of a film,which normally is stylized and displayed in the film to express the producer’s ethical outlook in a symbolic(metaphorical) way,stirring up ethical emotions-both positive and negative-in the audience,and thus guiding the audience’s ethical identification or ethical detachment. From research results it may be stated that ritualized images may:(1) produce and strengthen the function of stylization,enhance the viewing experience and artistry,and imply ethical judgments within the beauty of visual stylization;(2) produce and create symbolic( metaphorical) meanings and bring innovation to the artistic language of images to highlight ethics;and(3) enrich and strengthen the ideology of images,thus highlighting their ethical connotations and giving rise to classic image texts.As far as Chinese films for the new era are concerned,results showed that Chinese film production should attach importance to ritualized images,strengthen awareness of Asian heritage and socialist core values based on traditional culture,and upgrade the aesthetic quality of Chinese film culture by creating more artistic images that are national,contemporary,subtle,and rich in meaning so that the world can become more familiar with various expressions of Chinese film culture.