後冷戰時代「和解」與民族主義的 糾葛─閱讀《色，戒》 和《南京！南京！》

Abstract

The post-Cold War brought about a rearrangement of historical memories in East Asian countries. In China, with the wave of the post-Cold War, the frame of antagonism has changed. Old enemies during the Cold War such as western imperialism and the KMT regime of Taiwan were replaced by a new enemy: Japan. The growing hostility against Japan and the revised perspective on KMT shows nationalism being re-formed in a convoluted way in the post-Cold War era. Since the rise of China, particularly since China announced the new slogan of harmony and reconciliation, nationalism faces crisis and needs to be regulated. However, as this article discloses, nationalist desire is getting more internalized and reinforced entangled with the idea of reconciliation rather than overcome. Lust, Caution (2007) and The City of Life and Death (2009), both released around the rise of China, reveal the odd co-existence of reconciliation and nationalism. Delving into the War of Resistance against Japan, the most sensitive event in modern Chinese history, both films shed light on Shanghai and Nanjing - ambiguous non-territories within territories during the Cold War period - and attempt to bring them back to the national history by appealing to the sublime message of humanism and forgiveness. However, the reconciliatory flow of calling back into national territory those individuals who were excluded in the name of traitors and enemies during the Cold War represents no more than a new form of nationalism in that it attempts to re-build the national identity that has been scattered around inside and outside the national territory in the past. Lust, Caution and The City of Life and Death reveal that the idea of reconciliation is convolutedly entangled with nationalist desire. This paradox indicates the intricacy of the post-Cold War of East Asia.