台灣BL小說及女性凝視的建構
Abstract
男性愛,在過去的文學與文化視野裏,往往是擺放在檯面下以及較少被關注的研究層面。然而在同志議題、性別意識與象徵新世代的次文化逐漸在主流社會具有發聲位置後。以男性愛情為創作、為討論的「Boy’s Love」作為一種文化載體,在臺灣流行文化裡的重要性以及流動性,和社群概念也順理成章地步入社會大眾的視野。
「Boy’s Love」從字面來說,看似與男同志相關、牽涉到性向問題,然而關注其在臺灣的發聲契機,卻與少女漫畫、言情小說緊密相依,那麼這樣的詞彙與愛情元素是從何時何地開始進入女性讀者的視野裡?自漫畫與同人誌成為學術界新興的研究題材後,BL小說、漫畫亦同樣逐漸被論述擴及、被納進學術討論的範疇。前行研究亦有從言情小說觀點著手,探討男性愛與異性戀文本之間的性別權力關係,唯流行文化文本的特點便是易隨時間而產生變化。
延續BL小說為羅曼史次文類(或臺灣言情小說的次文類)的觀點,何以這樣描述男性情誼的愛情小說興起至今二十年左右,仍然存在?顯然與言情小說相似的BL小說,具有無法被取代的特殊性。因此本文研究意圖分析臺灣商業BL小說所形構的男性愛情敘述與男性形象呈現,是否具有女性書寫男體的反動意涵,而女性透過男體的展演表達何種情慾流動,男體是否成為一種身體符碼?男性/男體、陽性氣質/陰性氣質的差異性(或對比性)是如何被複製、被轉化,進而成為女性凝視下的「客體」被賞玩與建構。
研究將以文本分析探討BL小說這二十多年來的男性愛敘述中男體形象、氣質與愛情觀念、情慾呈現等有何轉變,並輔以Judith Butler性別操演論點去作為角度切入論述探轉變背後的意涵。以期檢視BL小說是否始終如一地像前行研究所檢視成果為「異性戀霸權的再製」,而無隨著時間變化?若有所變化,則這樣的變化又是什麼,具備何種意義於其中?
Love between two males, in the past literary and cultural vision, had been placed under the table and received little attention in academic researches. However, after gay issues, gender consciousness and sub-culture that symbolizes the new generation gradually obtain a speaking position in the mainstream society, “Boy’s Love” as the theme of literature and cultural discourse, and also as a concept of community, steps into the horizon of society and the mass people. From the surface meaning of the term, Boy’s Love seems to be related to male homosexuality, but in Taiwan, the emergence and development of the fiction of BL is closely connected to girls’ cartoon and romance. Then when does the phenomenon of BL enters the reading habits of female romance readers? Since cartoon and fan fiction became the subject matters of academic researches, BL has also attracted the attention of the academia. Previous researches begin with the perspectives of romance studies, exploring gender and power relationship in the texts of BL and romance. But we have to be aware that the characteristic of popular culture is in constant changes in the course of time. If BL can be regarded as a sub-genre of romance fiction in Taiwan, why is it that after the existence of two decades, it is still popular? This study therefore intends to analyze commercial BL in Taiwan and the ways male romantic love and male images can contain subversive implications in terms of female authors writing about male bodies. Questions are raised regarding how female authors can express erotic flows through the representation and performance of the male body and in what ways the male body has become a cultural signifier. By what means the difference and contrast between masculinity and femininity are reproduced and transformed to such an extent that the male body can be a playful and pleasurable object of female gaze? This study will analyze and discuss the changes taking place over the past two decades regarding male romantic discourse, the images of the male body, masculinity, and desire. The theoretical perspectives of Judith Butler, in particular the notion of gender performative, will be used in order to examine whether or not BL, according to previous research results, reproduces heterosexual hegemony without any changes in the course of time. If there have been changes, what are their significances?
Love between two males, in the past literary and cultural vision, had been placed under the table and received little attention in academic researches. However, after gay issues, gender consciousness and sub-culture that symbolizes the new generation gradually obtain a speaking position in the mainstream society, “Boy’s Love” as the theme of literature and cultural discourse, and also as a concept of community, steps into the horizon of society and the mass people. From the surface meaning of the term, Boy’s Love seems to be related to male homosexuality, but in Taiwan, the emergence and development of the fiction of BL is closely connected to girls’ cartoon and romance. Then when does the phenomenon of BL enters the reading habits of female romance readers? Since cartoon and fan fiction became the subject matters of academic researches, BL has also attracted the attention of the academia. Previous researches begin with the perspectives of romance studies, exploring gender and power relationship in the texts of BL and romance. But we have to be aware that the characteristic of popular culture is in constant changes in the course of time. If BL can be regarded as a sub-genre of romance fiction in Taiwan, why is it that after the existence of two decades, it is still popular? This study therefore intends to analyze commercial BL in Taiwan and the ways male romantic love and male images can contain subversive implications in terms of female authors writing about male bodies. Questions are raised regarding how female authors can express erotic flows through the representation and performance of the male body and in what ways the male body has become a cultural signifier. By what means the difference and contrast between masculinity and femininity are reproduced and transformed to such an extent that the male body can be a playful and pleasurable object of female gaze? This study will analyze and discuss the changes taking place over the past two decades regarding male romantic discourse, the images of the male body, masculinity, and desire. The theoretical perspectives of Judith Butler, in particular the notion of gender performative, will be used in order to examine whether or not BL, according to previous research results, reproduces heterosexual hegemony without any changes in the course of time. If there have been changes, what are their significances?
Description
Keywords
性別操演, BL, 女性凝視, 羅曼史, gender performative, BL, famle gaze, romance