生态乌托邦与乌托邦幻象：从《世界的词语是森林》到《阿凡达》

电影《阿凡达》与勒古恩的小说《世界的词语是森林》在主题和情节等方面有很多相似之处,但是这两部看似都作为“生态乌托邦”虚构的作品其实在文化观念上迥然相异。前者是一个为追求极致愉悦的视听体验而创造的白日梦幻想,一个乌托邦幻象;后者则是一部以实验生态学方式展开的思想实验,一个真正具有现实批判维度的“生态乌托邦”。两部作品的对照使我们反思生态批评的价值标准与批评方法,生态批评应该在充分尊重作品审美肌质的基础上,通过作品研究检省现存文化意识中的生态偏见并对生态文化的具体内涵及实践路径展开探寻。

Eco-utopian and the Utopia Phantom: From the Word of the World Is Forest to Avatar

It seems that the film Avatar has many similarities as Le gun’s novel the Word for the World is Forest in the theme and plot. But in fact, the “ecological utopia” in these two works are completely different. The former is a day-dream illusion created to satisfy the visual pleasure of the audience. It is an utopia phantom. The latter is an ecologically ideological experiment, a real critical eco-utopia. The contrast between these two works leads us to think about the value standard and the critical method of ecological-criticism. Ecological criticism should be able to examine the ecological prejudices in the existing culture and explore the concrete connotation and practical path of eco-culture on the basis of intensive study of the aesthetic texture of the works.