歌舞美國夢 - 好萊塢歌舞片如何變身擬象製造機 (由50年代至2002年之電影個案分析)

Abstract

本論文主要是探討好萊塢歌舞片的電影類型美學及其本身對當時美國社會、政治、經濟或是文化情況的諸多反映。為了深究這些不同的面相，分別從50年代至2002年間挑選出六部各具代表性的好萊塢歌舞片作為研究對象。本文的理論基礎是根據珍•斐兒 (Jane Feuer) 的歌舞片類型探討及艾倫•班克利 (Alan Brinkley)的美國歷史研究。文中除了針對每個時代之歌舞片電影類型發展作簡短的歷史回顧，並且仔細檢視分析電影個案的美學架構與敘事內容。藉由撰寫此一論文，本人期許能夠延伸擴展前人對好萊塢歌舞片類型的研究，更希望貢獻自己對此領域之創見，尤其是關於近幾年『新復興歌舞片』 (New-Revival musical films) 的個人見解。 本文第一章分析金•凱利 (Gene Kelly)的兩部歌舞片作品《錦城春色》、《萬花嬉春》以探究好萊塢古典時期歌舞片的三項常見特徵。此外，文中也檢視此兩部片之角色、故事與當時政治社會脈絡的關係。 第二章一開頭回顧60至70年代間好萊塢工業、歌舞片及美國政經發展的歷史。接著分析三部風格迥異的歌舞片《洛基恐怖秀》、《週末的狂熱》、《名揚四海》，點出各不同的類型美學及其如何反映當時多元的社會、文化議題。 第三章一開頭同樣地也是回顧80年代與千禧年之後的兩段時期中好萊塢工業、歌舞片及美國社會的發展。此章節並特別從類型美學及MTV合作關係的角度出發來探討、比較不同時代的女性領銜主演之歌舞片，例如80年代的《閃舞》和2002年的《芝加哥》。 第四章總結本文，指出好萊塢歌舞片的確片面反映了美國當代社會政治文化等多種面相。此外，正是像歌舞片這般似真似假的烏托邦電影類型，成就其到了新世紀仍歷久不衰的魅力。

This thesis mainly discusses the genre aesthetics of Hollywood musical films as well as these musical movies’ various reflections on the contemporary social, political or economic situations. To investigate those aspects, six Hollywood musical films are chosen from the 1950s to 2002 as the research subjects. Aside from the historical reviews of musical film genre from the 50s until now, each film is also closely examined with its aesthetic artifices and narrative content. Based upon Jane Feuer’s study on Hollywood musical films and Alan Brinkley’s research on American history, this thesis serves not only as an expansion of the previous analytic works in Hollywood musical film genre, but also as my personal contribution to this field, especially my own thoughts of the recent New-Revival musicals from year 2000 till now. In Chapter One, I investigate the three general characteristics of Hollywood musical films during the Classical period. With performance analysis of Gene Kelly’s two musical films, On the Town and Singin’ in the Rain, I demonstrate how the three common genre characteristics are presented within the two films. Furthermore, I also examine the characters and plots of the two movies and analyze their relations to the social-political context at that time. In Chapter Two, first I review the developments of Hollywood industry, musical genre, and American social and political context from the 60s to 70s. Then three musical films from the “New Hollywood” era, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Saturday Night Fever, and Fame, are selected for discussions about their respective genre aesthetics and representations of diversity of contemporary social/cultural issues. In Chapter Three, likewise, I give a brief review of the socio-political situations as well as the development of Hollywood industry and musical genre in the 80s and years after Millennium. Next, I make a comparative study of two female-leading musical films, Flashdance and Chicago, from the aspects of genre aesthetics and MTV-cooperation. In Chapter Four, the whole research leads to the conclusion that in regard to the relationship between the musical world and the reality, the “partial exposure” of the social reality in a musical film also indicates the “veiling” of some other truth at the same time. Meanwhile, it’s exactly this half-real, half-imaginary quality of the Utopian musical world that creates the eternal charm of the musical films for every generation.