陆绍阳：Narrative Time and Narrative Viewpoints in Films

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About the Author

陆绍阳 Shaoyang Lu

Shaoyang Lu is a professor and doctoral supervisor of the School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University. He is a member of the 2018-2022 National Teaching Guidance Committee for Journalism and Communication Majors under the Ministry of Education, the Deputy Director of the Central Cultural Work Committee of the Jiu San Society, and the Chairman of Working Committee for Theoretical Comments of the China Film Association. He has served as the judge of the China News Award, the China Film Golden Rooster Award, the National Social Science Fund and the Social Science Fund of the National Radio and Television Administration. His academic work The History of Cotemporary Chinese Cinema: Since 1977 won the second prize of Beijing Philosophy and Social Sciences Achievements Award and the Excellent Textbooks Award of Beijing Municipal Education Commission. His theses won Literary and Art Review Award of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles three times. He has presided over the project“Research on the Achievements and Problems of the Film Industry since the Full Implementation of the Industrialization Policy of Chinese Films” supported by National Social Science Fund, the key projects “Research on the 60-year Revolutionary Historical Themes since the Founding of New China” and “ ‘Top-level Design’ of Chinese Film Development” supported by the Social Science Fund of the National Radio and Television Administration, etc.

陆绍阳，北京大学新闻与传播学院教授、博士生导师。系教育部2018-2022年新闻传播学类专业教学指导委员会委员、九三学社中央文化工作委员会副主任，中国电影家协会理论评论工作委员会会长。曾担任中国新闻奖、中国电影金鸡奖、国家社科基金、广电总局社科基金评委。学术专著《中国当代电影史》曾获北京市哲学社科成果二等奖、北京市教委精品教材奖，论文三次获得中国文联文艺评论奖。主持国家社科基金项目《中国电影全面实施产业化政策以来电影产业成果及问题研究》、国家广电总局社科重点项目《新中国成立60年以来革命历史题材研究》、《中国电影发展的“顶层设计”》等。

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To Cite This Article:

Lu, Shaoyang. "Narrative Time and Narrative Viewpoints in Films About Revolutionary History During the ‘Seventeen-Year Period’ (1949–1966)" Journal of Chinese Film Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, 2022, pp. 57-70. 

https://doi.org/10.1515/jcfs-2022-0014

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Abstract and Keywords

摘    要:   叙事时间和叙事视角是电影叙事学重点考察的内容。“十七年”时期的革命历史题材电影在叙事时间上，主要涉及对时间的选择、时间顺序的安排和时距(时间的变形)三个方面，创作者基本遵循秩序，显得规范、工整,渲染、突出重点情节和段落。这一时期影片的叙事视角主要采用全知视角，以及限制视角和全知视角相结合的方式，创作者选择让叙述者隐身在作品背后，强化“视觉幻象”，靠情节自身的推动力向前发展。这样的叙事方式是由时代性的意识形态及其审美取向决定的。

关键词:  “十七年”电影; 革命历史题材; 叙事时间; 叙事视角

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Abstract: Film narratology focuses on narrative time and narrative viewpoints. In films about revolutionary history produced in China’s “Seventeen-year Period” (1949–1966), narrative time chiefly involved choice of time, sequencing, and time spans (deformation of time). The creators basically followed the temporal order, so those films seem neat and standardized, giving prominence to the key plots and components. The narrative viewpoint of the day was chiefly omniscient, or a combination of the limited and omniscient viewpoints. The creators chose to let the narrator hide behind the text, so as to strengthen the “visual illusion” and promote the plot development through the plot itself. This narrative technique was decided by the ideology of the times and its aesthetic orientation.

Key words: films in the “Seventeen-year Period”; themes of revolutionary history; narrative time; narrative viewpoint

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A Glimpse of the Article

Narrative is premised on the transformation of events, or transitioning from one event to another. Along the way, something unexpected happens. Narrative is “a way of organizing spatial and temporal data into a cause-effect chain of events with a beginning, middle and end” (Branigan 1992, 3). Narrative implies temporality, so the French narratologist Gérard Genette proposed that narrative is a game between the narrator and time. The unique charm of films is to compress or extend time and space using artistic means. Therefore, one of the core issues that film creators need to resolve is how to arrange time in text. Only when time is rearranged can the narrative exist.

叙事是以事件的转变为前提的，它意味着从一个事件转向另一个事件。在这个过程中，总有一些出人意料的事情发生。叙事就是一种“把时间和空间的信息组织到一条包括事件的开始、经过和结束的因果链中的方式”。叙事意味着时间性，因此，法国叙事学家热奈特才会提出，叙事是叙述者与时间进行游戏。运用电影手段对时空进行压缩或延展是电影独具魅力的地方，因此，叙述者如何安排时间是电影创作者需要解决的核心问题之一，只有时间得到重新的安排，叙事才存在。

一、“十七年”时期革命历史题材电影中的叙事时间

1．Narrative Time in Films About Revolutionary History During the “Seventeen-year Period”

Narrative time is formed through the comparison between the actual time of the story and the time in the text.

We can explore narrative time in the films about revolutionary history during the “Seventeen-year Period” (1949-1966) through three aspects: choice of time, time sequence, as well as time span (deformation of time).

叙事时间是故事时间与文本时间相互对照所形成的时间关系。

我们可以从对时间的选择、时间顺序的安排和时距（时间的变形）三个方面来考察“十七年”（1949－1966）时期革命历史题材电影中的叙事时间。

1.1 Choice of Time

A narrator is usually constrained by a film’s running time, so he (or she) has to condense the infinite time in the real world into a finite time frame. Therefore, the first issue the narrator must address is the choice of time. The following four principles can be followed in deciding which time period should be chosen or retained.

First, keep the time which will bring out the theme; second, keep the time associated with plot development; third, keep the time tied to the characterization; fourth, keep the time that is closely related to real life and will provoke more reflection from the audience. And some time frames, though seeming quite unrelated to plot development, can also be included as an organic part of the text because they can reflect folk customs, religions, beliefs or shape the characters’ personality in a more multi-dimensional manner.

1.1 时间的选择

叙述者面对的银幕放映时间是有限制的，伸缩度非常有限，叙述者必须把现实世界中无限的时间纳入到一个有限的时间范畴内。因此，叙述者要解决的第一个问题就是选择时间。选择或保留哪一段时间，可以依据这四点原则。

第一，保留跟表现主题有关的时间；第二，保留跟情节推进有关的时间；第三，保留跟塑造人物有关的时间；第四，保留跟现实生活密切相关、能够引发观众更多思考的时间。有些时间段虽然看上去和故事情节的推进没有直接的关联，但通过它可以反映民风、民俗、 宗教、信仰等，可以更立体地表现人物的性格，它也可以成为文本时间的有机组成部分。

1.2 Ordering of Time (Sequencing)

Time is irreversible and in reality, moves forward in a linear fashion. Since events occur in a chronological order, narrators can present the story according to the time pattern of the events themselves, which is a relatively simple and common method. There are two oft-used options taken by narrators in handling the variable factor of time, namely chronological order and analepsis.

Chronological order: Chronological order is a common approach to handling time sequence in conventional movies; that is, the narration of the story according to the original chronological order of the events. This sequencing, consistent with the audience’s usual aesthetic experience, does not require them to move through different temporal experiences and is easier for them to identify with. This is a worry-free method for both the creator and the audience.

Chronological disorder: Chronological disorder comes in two forms: analepsis and flashback. Analepsis is a narrative time sequence by which a protagonist recalls the story in a relatively complete way. Generally, the narrative flow is not intentionally interrupted in the process of analepsis (though some narrators present the key elements of the plot before telling the story from the beginning).

1.2 时间的顺序（时序）

现实中的时间不可逆转，以线性的状态向前推进，事件的发生有先后时间关系，叙述者完全可以按照事件本身的时间形态展现出来，这是一种相对简便的方式，也是叙述者经常采用的方式。叙述者面对时间这样一种可变的因素，经常采用的有两个选项，即顺叙和倒叙。

顺叙：常规电影中最常用的一种时间处理方式是顺叙，以故事时间本来的前后顺序来叙述事件。它的优点是这样的时序安排和观众的审美经验一致，并不需要观众在不同的时间体验中穿行，容易让观众有认同感，是一种对创作者和接受者都比较省心的方法。

时间倒错：时间倒错有两种形式——倒叙和闪回。倒叙是通过某个主人公的回忆，比较完整地叙述故事来龙去脉的一种叙事时间安排方法，中间一般不会再有意打断叙事的进程（也有叙述者先把故事的关键情节呈现出来，然后再话说从头）。

1.3  The Deformation of Time

The time span is described by Genette as the deformation of time. It can also be regarded as the pace of narration. Genette pointed out that the time span refers to the relationship between the actual duration of events and the length of their narrative texts. When analyzing the narrative art of the film, the pace of narration incorporates three main techniques: the omission of time, the expansion of time and the restoration of time.

1.3 时间的变奏

时距在热奈特的表述中被称为时间的变形。时距也可称为叙述的步速。热奈特指出，时距探讨的是事件实际延续时间和叙述它们的文本的长度之间的关系，在分析电影叙事时，叙事的速度主要可以分为三种方式：时间的省略、时间的膨胀和时间的复原。

二、全知视角与限制性视角

2. The Omniscient Viewpoint and the Limited Viewpoint

To narrate a story means to construct a viewable text. Thence comes a crucial question: Who is to tell the story? One event may take on different hues from different perspectives, from which different meanings and conclusions may be drawn by different people. The charm of a narrative lies not only in which events are told, but also by who and from what perspective these events are observed and narrated; this brings us to the issue of narrative perspective. Narrative perspective, also known as narrative viewpoint, is the cut-in point for observing or narrating a story. Generally, the narrative viewpoint can be divided into two broad types: the omniscient viewpoint and the limited viewpoint.

讲述一个故事意味着构筑一个可供观看的文本，而要构筑一个文本，就会遇到一个关键的问题：由谁来讲述这个故事？同样的事件从不同的角度去看就可能呈现出不同的面貌，在不同的人看来也会有不同的意义和结论。叙述的魅力不仅在于讲述了什么事件，还在于是什么人、从什么角度观察和叙述这些事件，这就涉及到叙事视角的问题。叙事视角是对故事内容进行观察和讲述的切入点，视角问题也被称为视点问题，一般可以把视角分为两大类：全知视角和限制性视角。

The films about revolutionary history in the “Seventeen-year Period” mainly narrated stories from the omniscient viewpoint or a combination of the limited and omniscient viewpoints. The creator tended to let the narrator hide behind the text, highlight the charm of the characters and promote the plot development through the plot itself.

“十七年”时期革命历史题材电影中的视角主要是以全知视角，以及限制视角和全知视角相结合的方式叙述故事。创作者更多地选择了让叙述者恰当地“隐身”在作品背后，尽可能突出形象魅力，靠情节自身的推动力向前发展。

The filmmakers in the “Seventeen-year Period” focused on “telling the story” rather than “how to tell it”, so they were relatively conservative in the exploration of narrative viewpoints, yet this did not affect the quality of the works in that period. In fact, they produced many excellent works living up to their age and created a glorious era marked by the “Red Classics”.

“十七年”时期的电影工作者将叙述的重心放在“讲述故事”上，而不在“怎样讲述”上，因此在视角的探索上还比较保守，但这并不影响那个时代作品的成色。事实上，电影人拍出了众多无愧于那个时代的作品，共同铸造了一个以“红色经典”为标识的辉煌时代。

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Narrative Time and Narrative Viewpoints in Films About Revolutionary History During the “Seventeen-year Period” (1949–1966)