Sunday, September 27, 2009

Fan Jinghua: Moonstruck

Moonstruck
  Have not seen such a bewitching moon for quite a long time. She hangs over the western sky against the woolen white as if it were a topaz ball over a reddish lagoon of clouds. The red comes from the lights of the industrial district.
  Moon-watching is supposed to be a Chinese cultural trope, but when it comes to be expected at certain occasions, it falls into a kind of apathetic convention. When the full moon is ethically interpreted as a symbol of (family) reunion, it can no longer hold (sexual) passion. Think of the 1987 comedy Moonstruck, and I might even claim that we Chinese are not prone to romantic provocation and we have lost the capacity of being lunatic. This loss may even be viewed as both a symptom of and a reason for our loss of appetite for poetry.
  But of course, some kind of romantic gesture can be expected, even between long-wedded couple, when the man might spurt out in her ear that he'd like to rip her off to make love. Chinese full moon is full of cultural cliché that censors the erotic, and moon-watching may even be considered as a kind of cultural habitus among poets. Li Po provides a super example, but we should not forget that he was profoundly influenced by Taoism, to the extent that the moon might be a figure of The Great Mother to him.
                          June 1, 2007 
   月 色撩人

走近窗户,看到月亮美得惊心动魄。月亮浑圆了,有点柔和的金色,一片淡淡的云映衬着,犹如一块黄玉的球抛在本色羊毛的毯子上;而这片毯子下面是一条水道似的蓝天,然后便是一朵朵连接在一起粉红色云块,犹如珊瑚的群岛,甚至有一座半封闭的泻湖。那粉红好像来自地面上的灯火。
  这样的月色已经好久没有看到了。
  日常的赏月似乎总是被人为的节日所预定,然而这样的预期反而往往没有什么意味。当然,月圆之日,挽着爱人,从树杈间远看被割裂的圆轮,随口说着亲密的话,不管是否可以,都能够说真想早点回家做爱。这些都是很美好的感觉。
  想到一部1987年的美国电影《月色撩人》Moonstruck,雪儿和尼古拉斯•凯奇主演的轻喜剧。这部电影的主角就是布鲁克林桥上方那个巨大的浅黄色月亮,它对应着意大利匹萨饼,当然,还有歌剧《波希米亚人》。这个主角的功能在于,满月可以催情,令人变得发疯般地浪漫,从而做出连自己都想象不到的举止。这便是西语中的lunatic“发疯”的渊源(lunatic和lunar“月亮的”同一个词根)。
  中国的月亮本来还有一段爱情神话,但是这份爱情却越发缺少了激情,掺和进了太多的感伤。什么阴晴圆缺等等。当团圆变成了一种伦理的诉求,便牺牲了两性关系应有的浓烈,因此我们不会因为月亮而发疯了。我们不容易发疯,不容易对浪漫刺激起反应,甚至可以说我们对诗歌失去了胃口的病症和原因。
  我最喜欢的一首与月亮有关的诗,却不是描写月亮本身的句子。李商隐的《嫦娥》中的那句:碧海青天夜夜心。从常见的有关月亮的比喻和用典写起,却最终落到了空灵的空无;这是李商隐的绝活之一。
  我在这儿曾经发现过一个非常美妙的赏月地点。滨海湾对面的公园。如今,那么已经是一片建筑工地。进入那个公园里,坐到大桥下,左看可以隔河冷静观看这个城市最繁华的银行区,右看是海,月亮升起,偶尔有船驶过。
  真正的赏月似乎已经不流行了,更不会有人专程跑出去赏月。而带上酒菜,邀三两友朋,月下闲话,那更是古人的行为。如今,或许还有敢于面对孤独的人,或者人在旅途,抛开电视或者网络,走进月光,抬头或者低首,想着远方或者自己。然而这样的时候,恐怕没有几个会有李白那样的潇洒与豪气:举杯邀月,对酒三人。曾经对一个洋人说过,李白的月亮实际上是一个女性,犹如西方概念中的The Great Mother原型母亲,李白是一个很受道家影响的浪漫诗人。
  呵呵,当我打下标题:月色撩人。月与色之间留下了一个空白,于是月色乃是月与色的难以分解。不是么?李白说,今月曾经照古人。这也可算是感伤的一面吧?汉语文化中,月色只在于催而不在于清的催情作用恐怕还是很少的吧,倒是当代流行歌曲中唱的“都是月亮惹的祸”将月亮和性冲动联系到了一起呢。

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