Local and Presentist Ecocritical Shakespeare in East Asia

東亞莎士比亞研究在生態視角下的當代性與在地性

10.6184/TKR201706-3

Iris Ralph

Akira Kurosawa ； Ming-chin Tsai ； Shakespeare ； Romeo and Juliet ； Macbeth ； butterflies ； deforestation ； ecocriticism ； localism ； presentism ； 莎士比亞 ； 《羅密歐與茱麗葉》 ； 《馬克白》 ； 黑澤明 ； 蔡明欽 ； 蝴蝶 ； 砍伐森林 ； 生態批評 ； 在地主義 ； 當代主義

Tamkang Review

47卷2期（2017 / 06 / 01）

33 - 47

英文

In studies that focus on the phenomenon of Shakespeare in Asia, scholars argue that a great deal of it has little to do with promoting serious intellectual discourse and pressing cultural commentary and much to do with showing off knowledge of the English language and one of its greatest purveyors. Shen Lin voices that argument in an essay that focuses on Shakespeare in China, where lavish and expensive mainstream productions of Shakespeare are catering to a socio-political class, ＂the new patricians of the People's Republic,＂ who are eager to acquire and display knowledge of a ＂Shashibiya＂ that is ＂thematically＂ out of tune ＂with contemporary Chinese reality.＂ Similarly, Rustom Bharucha characterizes the phenomenon of Shakespeare in Asia as the desperate attempt by ＂Old England . . . to cover its colonial past by seeking . . . new reclamations of Shakespeare in Asian performance traditions, both traditional and contemporary.＂ Although other scholars, notable among them Bi-Qi Beatrice Lei, hold that Shakespeare in the East has pushed Shakespeare into territory that is very different from older terrain marked by overtures to the West, Lin and Bharucha make clear that more politically and culturally relevant work needs to be done in ＂doing＂ Shakespeare in Asia. Taking them at their word, I do that in this essay by ecocritically reading a film adaptation of Macbeth, Japanese director Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood, and a film adaptation of the classical Chinese legend of ＂the Butterfly lovers,＂ directed by Taiwanese director Ming-chin Tsai and commonly known as the Chinese version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Ecocritic Robert Pogue Harrison's reading of ＂deforestation＂ in Macbeth is the main source of inspiration for my discussion of Kurosawa's film and the history of ecocide of East Asian forests by local governments and later by multi-national companies in the time between Japan's Middle Ages, the time period in which Kurosawa's Macbeth is set, and the present century. Tsai's film carries a haunting ecocidal reference, one that the director may not have consciously intended but is powerful no less, to the history of butterflies in Taiwan.

往昔莎士比亞研究在東亞主要集中於炫耀對英文語言文字與修辭的知識，或文學與主題上的探討，而往往忽略文化與社會政治的批判。例如印度學者巴儒嘉(Rustom Bharucha)就指出：「莎士比亞在亞洲乃古老英國急切企圖以新的詮釋與演出，來掩蓋過去殖民歷史。」雖然近年來東亞莎學已努力擴展新的研究領域，但是本論文認為莎士比亞研究仍然需要更多從政治與文化方面的探討。本論文從生態論述的角度來閱讀，包括黑澤明《蜘蛛巢城》，與台灣導演蔡明欽所編導膾炙人口的《梁祝》愛情故事所象徵的「蝴蝶夢」，來探討這些影片或改編莎翁《馬克白》、或類似《羅密歐與茱麗葉》中的生態議題，影片中所壟罩環境破壞的鬼魅氛圍或許並非導演的本意,卻可觸及生態論述這個重要層面。

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