卡拉OK在身份認同構成中的模糊特性

Abstract

本文旨在說明及分析以卡拉OK為中心的傳通環境(communication environment)，其如何繼承一個模糊的(ambiguous)人際角色架構(role structure)，因而引起一些新奇有趣和值得研討的人際傳通現象。根據在美國、香港、臺灣和日本所作以民族誌學(ethnography)方法實地調查得來的資料，本文首先檢討傳通和身份構成(identityconstruction)之間息息相關的關係。之後，此研究會就下列三項課題作出一些研討和詮釋：(1)卡拉OK身為一種傳通環境和媒介的本質；(2)卡拉OK的模糊角色架構；(3)將卡拉OK比喻為面具或臉譜來了解人們在傳通時，如何可以利用存在於卡拉OK的一些戲劇性成份，作為他們在創造身份認同時的一種象徵性的敘事(narrative)和傳通工具。最後，本文會就上述的討論作出總結分析。

This essay is an interpretation of the complexity and ambiguity inherent in the construction, presentation, maintenance and transformation of identity in the social and performative context of karaoke. The analysis begins with an examination of the symbiotic or interdependent relationship between communication and identity. Based on field research in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States, the examination will then turn to a discussion on the nature of karaoke as a medium or context for communication, the ambiguity of role-playing in karaoke, and karaoke as mask and its implication for understanding how karaoke`s dramatic elements are incorporated for communication and identity construction. The essay will conclude with an analysis of the implications of the ambiguity of karaoke for our understanding of communication and identity construction.