觀眾研究初探--由「梅花三弄」談文本、解讀策略、與大眾文化意識形態

Abstract

本論文以瓊瑤電視連續劇《梅花三弄》為個案，研究文本結構（製碼方式）和觀眾反應（解碼方式）二者之間的關係。《梅花三弄》的文本特色是描述愛情、親情、社會秩序、她者（愛情三角關係中的第三者）之間的衝突矛盾，然後在結局時將矛盾加以統合，建構出愛情優先、親情次之的論述階序。 電視觀眾在觀看過程中採取閱讀位置與社會位置兩種詮釋策略。採取閱讀位置意味著與男女主角同盟，而採取社會位置則為根據自己的母親身分來詮釋，不受限於男女主色的觀點。本研究發現觀眾在三角關係的詮釋上使用閱讀位置，但是對於劇中的兩代關係則由社會位置出發，暫時背離男女主角的觀點。觀眾對《梅花三弄》經常進行局部的抗拒式解讀，但弔詭的是，這種抗拒式解讀往往也與社會上的主流意識形態不謀而合。 本研究進而探討《梅花三弄》的意識形態如何作用於觀眾，並從女性主義的立場思索愛情連續劇、女性意識啟蒙、與性別政治三者間錯綜複雜的關係。

Using a detailed case study of a romantic TV drama, this paper intends to explore the relationship between the textual structure of the drama-the way it is encoded-and audiences` responses-the way the TV serial is decoded. The show describes conflicts and contradictions between love, the family, social order, and the other (the intruding third party posing a threat to the romantic dyad), and in the end these conflicts and contradictions reach a resolution in which the value of love is supreme, while the rest play a supportive or secondary role. Interviews with audiences show that in decoding the triangle romantic relationship, they tend to adopt the reading position required by the text, that is, a position in alliance with the hero and the heroine. In decoding the intergenerational relationship, they tend to use their social position as mother, thereby being sympathenic with the parents in the drama and critical of the hero and the heroine. Ironically, when audiences engage themselves in resisnat reading, it is precisely at this moment that they reaffirm the patriarchal ideology of parenthood. Finally, this paper examines the implications of the research findings to feminist cultural politics, in the hope of reaching a synthesis between feminist critical projects and the need for more empathy and mutual understanding among feminists, lay audiences, and the academic community.