我是英國人但是...：當代英國文學與電影中南亞女性之再/建構

Abstract

本三年期研究計畫主要以三位分別代表第一代及第二代、且來自於各種宗教 地理背景的南亞裔英國女性作家及導演的文本，探討南亞裔女性在英國不同地理 空間與歷史脈絡中的主體建構與再建構問題。由於南亞文化社會之傳統影響，南 亞裔的英國文學長期皆以男性文本為主，然而女性創作在二十世紀末期開始也逐 漸受到矚目，以各種形式進入大眾文化想像之中，不但對於當代「英國性」之建 構有相當之影響，亦成為晚近全球化的浪潮之中南亞裔漂泊離散研究相當重要之 一環。本計畫三年的主題分別為「超越磚窯巷：蒙妮卡．阿麗《磚窯巷》中的孟 加拉移民女性」；「不同地域的印度性：蜜拉‧希耶爾的小說中的空間位置與南亞 女性敘事」；「葛雲德‧查德達的《海灘假期》、《我愛貝克漢》、以及《新娘與偏 見》」，由移民倫敦的孟加拉穆斯林女性或是印度教女性遲來的自我覺醒經驗，以 及土生土長的南亞裔英國女性在不同地理時空與國族歷史的脈絡之下之生存策 略，討論文學與影視文本如何再現不同世代南亞女性如何追求自我與建構文化認 同。 第一年：超越磚窯巷：蒙妮卡．阿麗《磚窯巷》中的性慾與政治覺醒 本年度以女性成長小說與移民書寫的角度閱讀蒙妮卡．阿麗首部小說的《磚 窯巷》(2003)中遲來的女性性慾與政治自覺。遲來的女性自覺為女性成長小說重 要主題之一，在阿麗的小說中與穆斯林及南亞文化背景結合，呈現特殊的文化與 歷史獨特性。來自孟加拉農村女主角娜思寧十八歲時因媒妁之言遠嫁帝國都會倫 敦之後，長期謹守傳統宗教對於女性之要求而不敢越界，在倫敦東端的孟加拉區 有如被磚牆禁閉了十六年，卻在年屆中年時發生婚外情，以女性身體慾望導引出 自我意識的覺醒，走出被宗教與傳統制約產生的消極性。娜思寧命定論式的消極 性與為愛私奔卻遭到家暴而淪為妓女的妹妹哈辛娜成為小說主要的對比。透過哈 辛娜的書信，阿麗不但給予孟加拉移民朝思暮想的「故國」實質的存在，同時也 透過陳述女性受到的歧視壓迫解構了「想像想國」的美好幻影，突顯出移民女性 鄉關何處的困境。再者，小說在時間軸線上由1980 年代推衍至二十一世紀，賦 予小說從後柴契爾時代到後911 時代的跨世紀框架，暗藏從族裔的角度對於英國 政治所做的批判，並且以紐約世貿大樓遭受恐怖攻擊的餘震之中穆斯林人民的生 存情境作為女主角政治意識覺醒的觸媒。女性身體與心靈乃至於政治意識的覺醒 這文學常見但在穆斯林傳統中仍屬禁忌的主題，對於南亞穆斯林移民女性傳統的 定義而言極具挑戰性，卻也提供了第一代的孟加拉女性走出磚牆高砌的族裔陋巷 之可能。計畫進行時也將參考其他重要之南亞裔英國移民書寫，例如賽爾文《寂 寞的倫敦人》(1956)、狄賽的《鳥鶇拜拜》(1985)、或是高許的《投影線》(1988)， 藉以爬梳南亞裔英國移民文學之脈絡。 第二年：不同地域的印度性：蜜拉‧希耶爾的小說中的空間位置與南亞女性敘事 本年度的計畫探討蜜拉‧希耶爾小說中第二代的南亞女性在不同地理空間 的主體建構可能。希耶爾具有演員、編劇、歌手、記者、小說家的多重身份。她 的第一部小說《安妮塔與我》(1996)以半自傳性的方式紀錄1960 年度末期一個 印度裔女孩在沒落之蜜德蘭煤礦村的成長經驗，將族裔與性別論述融入嬉皮年代 與城鄉異變的社會歷史時空之中，見證了第二代南亞裔女性在白人文化中的掙扎 與挫折。希耶爾的第二部小說《人有旦夕禍福》(1999)則以三位生於長於倫敦南 亞社區的熟女呈現當代南亞裔英國女性的生命經驗，藉由三人不同社會與職業位 置—從專業的家庭主婦、為愛情婚姻被法學院退學的社工人員、到力爭上游的媒 體電影工作者—探討中產階級都會女性的生活面向與現實生活所加諸之挑戰。本 年度計畫將兩部小說並置閱讀，以期深入瞭解第二代南亞裔英國女性在二十世紀 後半不同地域的成長路徑。計畫也將同時參考希耶爾主演並廣受好評的電視影集 如《老天爺啊！》、《四十二號的庫瑪一族》等等再現南亞裔大眾形象之策略，一 方面與小說文本作互文性的參照，另一方面則為下一年度的影視研究奠定基礎。 第三年：葛雲德‧查德達的《海灘假期》、《我愛貝克漢》、以及《新娘與偏見》 第三年計畫以大眾影像研究、性別研究、都會地理學、以及全球化流動的觀 點討論當前最著名之印度裔英國女導演葛雲德‧查德達的三部B 系列電影中的 女性影像再現。查德達的電影文本被批評過於通俗化，然而不可諱言，其電影之 通俗化也是能夠促使南亞女性的新形象得以流通之主因。在實際操作上，希耶爾 影片其實類型幅度極廣，從族裔寫實紀錄類型片、體育勵誌喜劇、到寶萊塢式愛 情片全都囊括。《海灘假期》(1993)由希耶爾編劇，為查德達導演事業奠基之作， 以一群南亞裔婦女到黑潭海濱樂園一日遊的背景，呈現不同世代南亞裔女性之遭 遇，包括家暴、南亞青少女與白人文化之接觸、與跨族裔通婚、未婚懷孕等社會 議題。《我愛貝克漢》(2002)為查德達把破票房紀錄之代表作，描寫南亞裔少女 試圖打破性別與種族界線在堪稱英國國家運動的足球中展露額角、並且獲得家人 諒解的喜劇故事，以跨種族的戀情謂勵誌喜劇增添衝突性與浪漫效果，並且插入 性別取向混淆的劇情，在娛樂性的框架中探討族裔女性跨越疆界之可能。《新娘 與偏見》(2004)則是寶萊塢版的《傲慢與偏見》，以印度、英國以及美國三國的 地理場景再現全球化流動中印度女性的慾望敘事，以古今文本的互文性製造喜劇 效果，並且彰顯印度漂泊離散的空間分佈，以跨種族、財富階級的結合提供終極 的圓滿結局。計畫將聚焦三部影片如何利用英國大眾媒體與跨國資金展現從倫敦 到印度不同場域之當代南亞女性影像，關注在寫實與喜劇原則之下，查德達的影 片如何呈現英國內外全球化情境中南亞裔女性充滿流動性與跨越疆界可能性之 主體建構。

This three-year project aims to explore the problematics of construction and reconstruction of South Asian womanhood within different geographical and historical contexts through examining literary and visual texts of first- and second-generation Asian British women writers and filmmakers. Conditioned by the South Asian social and religious traditions, the South Asian British literary arena and cultural production has long been dominated by prominent male figures such as Salman Rushdie and V. S. Naipaul. However, the end of the twentieth century has witnessed the rising prominence of women』s works. Various literary and visual texts by South Asian British women have entered the mass cultural imagination and become highly influential not only in terms of the reformulation of 「Britishness」 but also as an important and integral part of the South Asian diaspora within the context of global flows. In view of the growing importance of women』s texts in South Asian British literature and mass media, this project proposes to focus on studying the ways in which different generations of South Asian women coping with the problems of re/constructing selfhood, subjectivities, and South Asian British identity. Specific texts to be discussed are the novel by Monica Ali, born in Bangladesh and grew up in England, in the fiction and TV series by Meera Syal, born to Punjabi immigrant parents and grew up in Midlands, and in the filmic texts by the Kenya-born and UK-educated filmmaker Gurinder Chadha. The three main topics to be researched are: 「Out of Brick Lane: Sexual and Political Awakenings in Monica Ali』s Brick Lane」; 「Geographies of Indianness: Places and Asian British Womanhood in Meera Syal』s Anita and Me and Life Isn』t All Ha Ha Hee Hee」; and 「Sporting South Asian Womanhood: Gurinder Chadha』s Bhaji on the Beach, Bend It Like Beckham, and Bride and Prejudice.」 First Year: Out of Brick Lane: Sexual and Political Awakenings in Monica Ali』s Brick Lane This project intends to explore the theme of belated sexual and political awakenings in Monica Ali』s acclaimed novel Brick Lane (2003), a quintessential Bildungsroman of immigrant women. As one of the major motifs of female Bildungsroman, the theme of belated awakening in Brick Lane is developed in conjunction with Muslim and South Asian cultural backgrounds and presented with cultural and historical specificities. Immigrated from a village in Bangladesh to the metropolitan London at eighteen through an arranged marriage in 1985, the female protagonist Nazneen has been walled in the ethnic enclave by religious traditions for sixteen years, during which time she has been a silent exemplar of dutiful womanhood. Her belated sexual awakening induced by bodily desires in an affair with a younger man thrusts into and opens up her monotonous life at Brick Lane of London』s East End. As an embodiment of fatalistic passivity since birth, Nazneen is presented as a sharp contrast to her sister Hasina, who runs away for a love marriage at sixteen. Through Hasina』s letters, in which through child-like simple language she details how she suffers domestic violence and finally sinks into prostitution, an 「imaginary homeland」 or idyllic matrbhumi (motherland) is constantly invoked and deconstructed, leaving the immigrant woman disillusioned about ever being able to be 「at home」again. The temporal setting of Nazneen』s immigrant life—spanning from the post-Thatcher 1980s to the post-9/11 new millennium—suggests a subtle critique of British politics in terms of race and class. The shock wave and growing difficulties for Muslim immigrants in Britain after the bombing of the World Trade Center further catalyze the awakening of Nazneen』s dormant political awareness, which in turn moves the private narrative of Bildung into the arena of public and national politics. Since either sexual or political awakening is still tabooed in the Muslim tradition, Ali』s novel challenges the traditional definition of South Asian Muslim womanhood and provides a way out of the brick lane of ethnic ghetto. While trying to explore the culturally and religiously specific narratives of Bangladesh immigrant women, other important South Asian British immigrant writings such as Sam Selvon』s The Lonely Londoners (1956), Anita Desai』s Bye-Bye Blackbird (1985), and Amitav Ghosh』s The Shadow Lines (1988) will also be studied in order to properly contextualize this research. Second Year: Geographies of Indianness: Places and Asian British Womanhood in Meera Syal』s Anita and Me and Life Isn』t All Ha Ha Hee Hee This project aims to examine the different patterns of development of the second-generation Asian British women as represented in Meera Syal』s Anita and Me (1996) and Life Isn』t All Ha Ha Hee Hee(1999) against the backdrops of geographical and historical configurations. Syal』s first and semi-autobiographical novel Anita and Me centers on the growing pains of Meena Kumar, the only South Asian girl in the mining village of Tollington, Midlands. Through the first-person narrative of a precocious nine-year-old Meena, Syal portrays the sad decline of the once booming mining village and its even sadder 「rebirth」through road-building and housing projects as well as the growing resentment and violence against racial minorities during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Meena』s uninhibited white teenage neighbor Anita seemingly provides Meena a way of out of her family』s Punjabi traditions and yet the hope of being Anita』s 「mate」—and being assimilated into the whiteness she represents—is violently destroyed at the end of the text. In contrast to the anxious search for available role models in a lower-middle class provincial environment during the hippie generation in Anita and Me, the stories of the three thirty-something middle-class women from London』s East End in late 1990s in Life Isn』t All Ha Ha Hee Hee depict various challenges faced by British Asian women in the metropolitan at the fin de siècle. Describing female friendship, marital choices, professional mobility, and family violence, Syal』s second novel takes a feminist look at personal, familial, and social issues of contemporary British society from a culturally specific position. Read together, the stories of Meena, Chila, Sunita and Tania present insight into the construction and permutations of South Asian British womanhood at different geographical places in England during the second half of the twentieth century. Hit comedy series such as Goodness Gracious Me and Kumars at No. 42, in which Syal plays lead roles, will also be examined to contextualize the production and dissemination of images of South Asian womanhood in the mass media. Third Year: Sporting South Asian Womanhood: Gurinder Chadha』s Bhaji on the Beach, Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice This project deploys the theories of mass media image studies, urban geography, gender studies and globalization to investigate the representation of South Asian women in the B-series films—Bhaji on the Beach (1993), Bend It Like Beckham (2202), and Bride and Prejudice (2004)—by the most famous Asian British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha. Although Chadha』s films have often been faulted as overtly commercial and melodramatic, her filmic texts nonetheless activate the circulation of images of South Asian women around the world in a positive sense. In fact, Chadha』s works cover a wide range of genres, including ethnic realist film, sports comedy, and Bollywood-style musical. Scripted by Meera Syal, Bhaji on the Beach records the day trip to the Blackpool resort of a mixed group of first- and second-generation South Asian women from London』s Southall community. Through this ensemble of female characters Chadha is able to present problems in the daily reality of South Asian women—domestic violence, encounters with the dominant white culture, interracial sexuality, and pre-marital pregnancy. The box-office success Bend It Like Beckham, on the other hand, focuses on one Asian British girl to tell the story of her struggle to excel in the male-dominated soccer game and to win over the approval of her immigrant parents. The seemingly formulaic plotline of the second-generation story is complicated by the female protagonist』s unusual choice of career and the confusion of sexual orientation, which is inserted in the film for comic effects and yet allows a rare glimpse of the tabooed homoerotic desire in the South Asian community. Invoking both British and Indian traditions, Bride and Prejudice is the Bollywood version of Austen』s Pride and Prejudice in which Chadha recycles the plot of Austen』s comedy of manners and constantly relies on intertextual references for comedic and satirical effects. With the film』s global settings—Amritsar, London, and Los Angeles— which mirror the hybrid nature of the film』s production and funding resources, Chadha barrows from the Bollywood conventions to effectively create a narrative of desire for contemporary Indian women within the context of diasporic spatiality and global flows. The analysis of the three films will focus on the ways in which Chadha depicts the construction of South Asian womanhood in flux while operating on the demand of realism and comic effects.