| Abstract: | 空間是社會的產物，也是媒介的延伸，承載著意義與特定意識型態，本研究意圖了解人類如何解讀空間，空間又如何規訓人類。歷史上的百貨公司，標誌著為女性量身打造公共空間，對一向被類屬於私領域的女性，甚為珍貴。然而，這樣的百貨公司空間，是否能成為女性新基地，抑或又是另一個陷阱？本研究著重於「閒逛」百貨公司空間中的女性，希冀提示：女性之於百貨公司空間，意義的生成，不僅止於消費的瞬間，從進入的那一剎那，女性就開始幻想與抵抗。因而，從閒逛開始，進而探討女性所能獲致的快感和權力，以及在空間中所接受的招喚和女性氣質馴服，當有更廣泛、更積極的意義。
本研究將百貨公司與女性的互動視為一整體文本，以實地觀察和深度訪談來蒐集研究資料。研究發現，西方百貨公司創造出無需男伴相隨的女性公共空間，台灣與西方的發展卻大相逕庭。由於男性社會的恐懼，產生城市神話與百貨公司中女性充滿物欲與性慾的論述方式，同樣的論述也出現在東方。由此，可以看見傅柯所指出的權力生產知識論述的力量。其次，在商品上，女體所需面對的是商品的建構力量女性穿梭於商品間，追尋「好」形象的建構過程，並由對應著各部位的商品解構自我軀體。而女性在空間中更遭遇各種隱藏於女性氣質下的男性思維，百貨公司空間成為一種典範、，家的延伸樣貌，女性身體在其中學習女性被期待擁有的感官知覺。而流竄於空間中的論述，則規訓著女性應有的「想像自己的方式與知識」，百貨公司一如監獄般的全視空間，透過監視的、論述的力量，無聲息地滲透女性的知覺智識，操演著社會主流價值所期待的女性樣貌。
然而，研究也同時發現，百貨公司空間中的女性，並非全然的弱者。在此空間中，女性得以更自由地操作凝視的力量，切換於主客體之間。不論女性選擇凝視他人，或是表現著自我刻意讓人觀看，均在主客體的往返之中更加看見了自己的能力。此外，女性在百貨公司空間中，透過解讀帶來的快感，與嘉年華式的身體閃躲，也使女性能倒轉平日狀態、暫時脫離家務，得到感官的愉悅外，並用自己的方式逕行解讀，得到愉悅。
本研究的貢獻，在揭示百貨公司成為抵抗之眼的異質空間潛力，女性得在其中發現自己的欲望，反思男造環境的優勢價值。這空間不只給了一個女性專屬的空間和時間，更將計就計利用男性的恐懼將之推往消費的邊緣，女性於是在這空間裡自得其樂。
Space is the product of society and also the extension of media, bearing some meanings and specific ideologies. This research is to understand how human beings view the space, and how the space discipline them? In history, the department stores, known as made-for-women public space, are especially important for the women, since women are always confined to the private sphere. This research focuses on “Flânerie”, the female wander, in the department stores and argues that the meanings of the department stores for women are not in the moment of consumption, but in the moment when women start to imagine and resist. The word “Flânerie” can further expand more comprehensively and positively the study of the women in the department stores.
This research, by observation and in-depth interview, regards both the department stores and women as one text. It contends that the western department stores create the public space, where women can be alone without the company of men. However, its development in Taiwan is very different from the western. Due to the fear of patriarchy, the city myth and discourses about women are associated with material desires and sexuality. As Foucault points out, the power creates the knowledge, patriarchy creates discourses to perpetuate its dominance. Furthermore, what women need to confront is the constructive power of the commodity. Wandering in the department store, women are looking for the “good” images. Women in this space further encounter patriarchy hidden in the women temperament. The department stores become a paradigm of “home” and women learn the social roles in that space. The discourses in the space also discipline the women “the way of self imagination and knowledge”. The discourses in the department stores “naturally” penetrate the consciousness of women as well as their figures.
However, the research also reveals that in the space of the department store, women are not completely the powerless ones. In this space, women could freely operate the power of gaze, shifting between being an object and being a subject. Whatever women choose to gaze the other persons or intentionally to be gazed by showing themselves, they could perceive their own ability. Besides, women in the department stores could get jouissance by body evasion and get plaisir by reading.
The most important contribution of this research is to demonstrate that the department stores can be “heterotopia” of women’s resistance. Women could discover their suppressed desires, the deconstructive thoughts in the department stores, and reflect on the dominant ideology of man-made environment. These places not only supply the made-for-women space and time, but also shift the men to the edge of consumption with their castration anxiety. Accordingly, women can find joy in their own way in the space. |
