從「企業偶」形象的視角探討符號與移植痕跡：以「大同寶寶」為例

The Signs of Brand Mascot and Its Transplant Traces: A Case Study of Tatung Mascot

回溯臺灣與日本之間殖民的歷史以及複雜的折射過程，在政治、經濟、社會或生活條件上形成明顯的影響，其中隱藏著來自多面向的符號美學模仿，筆者藉由臺灣現代化的發展過程，以60、70年代臺灣第一個企業形象偶「大同寶寶」作為展開討論的中介物。「大同寶寶」對於現今而言，有著明顯「世代」與「記憶」的特質，這個消費文化「物」為何令人記憶猶新的走入歷史，同時又歷久彌新從歷史走出來，其中究竟隱徵著如何形象移植的現象？於此，筆者將沿著臺灣從日據時期到戰後國民政府時期的歷史縱向，以及消費文化「物」－企業偶（Mascot）橫向的外貌表徵交叉分析，試圖延展視覺文化視域討論的可能性。本研究發現，這一個天真、無邪、微笑的「大同寶寶」背後，間接接軌西化的企業偶形像與意識形態，包含臺灣消費文化與日本現代化相互折射與移植痕跡。筆者歸納三點為本文主要研究的問題意識：一、等待填補缺口的國族認同：透過黑白電視與彩色電視轉換、消費主義揚起的關鍵年代，以「國貨好」口號提高民族認同，如何透過資本主義的操作啟動內部欲望驅力，形塑出中產階級美好形象的表徵，作為國族主體認同缺乏急於填補的內在想像策略。二、消費文化「物」輻射鏈結世代的記憶：「大同寶寶」與時代的共同記憶有著密切地關聯，「代」的記憶被具體化為一個符號物進入收藏體系，代代延傳的歷時性與收藏的共時性是否以相互牴觸的關係共處。三、從符號到擬像歷久不衰的轉折：「大同寶寶」在其自身背景的梳理與消費文化的對照之下，臺灣90年代因為懷舊風而產生新的意義與價格，這個新的意義已經不等於過往購買電視所附贈的企業偶，懷舊風掀起對於舊物品重新審定的價值，讓「大同寶寶」的能指與所指產生新的變化，在消費文化中，如何從符號轉進為擬像的消費美學問題。

Throughout the colonial history of the Japanese Rule in Taiwan as well as its complex refractive relationship, especially with significant influences on political, economic, social and living conditions, there have been multiple semiotically aesthetic imitations to be discovered. In the paper, I would like establish my argument in the context of Taiwan’s modernization with a case study of Tatung Mascot, the very first brand mascot created by a Taiwanese enterprise, in the 1960s and 1970s. In today’s Taiwan, Tatung Mascot (also known as Tatung Baby) is characteristically significant for how it is attached to a particular“generation”and their collective“memory.”How did this“object,”born from a consumerist culture, become history while it was still fresh in our memory and how did it find a new life out of history rather than being fossilized? What kind of aesthetic transplant could we discover from the said process? Therefore, I will present my analysis by combining and comparing the vertical perspective from the Japanese Occupation history in Taiwan to the post-war Nationalist Government and the horizontal perspective of the signs represented by the consumerist brand mascot. In this study, I have discovered that the brand mascot, with its innocent smile, is indirectly bridged with a Westernized mascot image and ideology in the course of modernization in Taiwan during the Japanese Occupation and marked with mutual refraction and transplant between the consumerist culture in Taiwan and Japan’s modernization. The thesis will touch upon three questions as its main arguments: I. A national identity to be fulfilled: it was a crucial period of time when black-and-white televisions were replaced by color ones and when consumerism was about to take central stage in the society. The slogan“MIT is the best”has successfully strengthened the national identity. Meanwhile, the Capitalist system has motivated an inner desire to create an idealized bourgeois image as an inner imagination strategy to fulfill the incomplete national identity with urgency. II. The consumerist-culture-born“object”radiating itself to connect the memory of a generation: the“Tatung Mascot”is closely related to the collective memory of a particular period of time, which is embodied as a sign to be included in the collection system. Consequently, does its generation-to-generation diachronicity and collection-based synchronicity coexist as contradictory forces? III. The everlasting transition from signs to simulacres: Tatung Mascot, as we re-examined its context and compared it with the consumerist culture, benefitted from the 1990s’nostalgia wave in Taiwan, and was thus given new meaning and price. The new meaning has made it no longer a free gift with television purchases. The nostalgia wave engaged us to reevaluate outdated objects, creating changes to the Signifier and the Signified of Tatung Mascot, as it brought up a consumerist aesthetic issue of how the semiotics is transformed to simulations in a consumerist culture.