“他無法面對身體”：東尼、克許納劇作《美國天使》中的肉體顛覆

“He Can’t Handle Bodies”: Subversive Corporeality in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America

東尼、克許納的普立茲得獎作品《美國天使，國家議題的同志幻想》探討同性戀、宗教、政治、同志恐懼症、和身份等重大議題，亦激發意識型態、畏懼、及焦慮等種種意見衝突。然而，探討本劇的學術研究，無論為關於政治、宗教、或文化的意識型態戰爭，都不經意地透露出某方面的忽略或迴避──肉體。肉體在本劇中不僅舉足輕重且一再地帶給觀眾深痛的衝擊。《美國天使》中無所不在的肉體展現，尤其是感染愛滋病的男同志病體，在在證實了劇中具強烈身體感官的言語、意象、和行動的重要性。本文深究《美國天使》中運用肉體的意識型態和䇿略意涵，並論述克許納將肉體政治化，透過展現怪誕醜陋的男同志愛滋病體、疾病敍述、及性暴露的方式，為男同性戀者和愛滋病患爭取平權，並激發同情心與善解的人性光輝。

 

Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Angels in America, A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (1992) brings ponderous issues such as homosexuality, religion, politics, homophobia, and identity together in a fascinating and profound clash of warring beliefs, ideologies, fears, and anxiety. However, the plethora of scholarship which the play has inspired on the wars of ideology, be they political, religious, or cultural, has betrayed an unwitting negligence or avoidance in one regard—corporeality, which not only abounds in the play but also insistently makes poignant impressions on the audience. The pervasiveness of corporeality in Angels in America, specifically the AIDS-infected male homosexual body, attests to the centrality of visceral language, imagery, and action in the play. This study delves into the ideological and strategic implications of corporeality in Angels in America and postulates that Kushner politicizes corporeality to strive for equity for homosexual males and AIDS patients and to inspire sympathy and understanding humanity through the AIDS-infected male homosexual grotesquery, illness narratives, and sexual explicitness.