透明迷宮：電影《玩樂時光》中的觀看模式與城市經驗

A Transparent Labyrinth: Ways of Seeing and Urban Experience in Playtime

本文以電影《玩樂時光》為例，探討玻璃對視覺文化、公私空間及都市人觀看模式之影響。玻璃在都市生活中扮演多重角色，既是連結內外的媒介，也可能是比有形的牆更難對付的藩籬。玻璃帶來更多能見度的同時，也強化了其他感官經驗的隔離，造就一種既親近又疏遠的弔詭城市經驗。本文探討導演塔提如何透過玻璃框架的概念與影音不同步等安排，討論透明空間與觀看模式、人我間無形隔閡、人與空間的主客關係等議題。本文也藉由班雅明對都市空間心神渙散（distraction）感知模式的探討，討論《玩樂時光》的觀影經驗如何與都市生活經驗如出一轍，如一面鏡子映照出觀影者在城市空間中必須面對及適應的瞬間即逝、變幻莫測、破碎切割並難以捕捉的都市現代性。除了對玻璃空間的批判外，塔提也巧妙運用玻璃的特殊物質性（透明及反射），精準捕捉都市現代性中真假虛實難辨、若即若離的浮光掠影。電影結尾似乎對玻璃能夠賦予視覺空間與都市意象的再現新的可能性與創造力，抱有正面期待。

In this essay, I examine how glass is played and how urbanites are “played” by glass in Jacques Tati’s film Playtime, in which the protagonist Hulot and a group of American tourists get lost in a world of transparency and reflection. Since its emergence in the late 19th century, glass has transformed our cityscapes, our perceptions of space, and our interactions with the material world. Glass is unique in the sense that it can be both medium and barrier, and thus conveniently becomes a rich source of metaphors that refract the complexities and paradoxes of modern urban life. Using glass as a device and a trope, Tati criticizes the unpleasant uniformity of the cityscape and how glass contributes to further the ambiguity of space and produces false impression and misrecognition. Drawing on Benjamin’s “reception in the state of distraction,” I discuss how the viewing experience of Playtimes parallels the urban experience full of unfocused chaos, making the film itself mirror-like. Despite Tati’s critique of the transparent glass labyrinth in Playtime, he seems to acknowledge the productive nature of glass, which is a perfect medium for capturing the transience and the uncanny in the modern urban experience.