Ghost narrative at X'mas: a pre-X'mas gathering for curious visitors 聖誕前夕特選：從鬼故事到鬼敘事

A series of “treasures to share” initiated and organized by FP members will have its inaugural run at Floating Projects, starting with ghost story-telling traditions in pagan Europe and the variety of cinematic transformation as ghost narratives.「據點。句點」將舉行一系列的神秘放映討論，每次以一電影為核心，討論文化藝術創作的各種傳統，臨近聖誕，我們的第一波以聖誕講鬼故習俗延伸到「鬼敘事」的探討:

Guest speaker to share a piece of treasure 「寶藏」分享: Dr. Hector Rodriguez (invited by Linda Lai 黎肖嫻邀請)

23 December 2025 | 6:30pm X'mas Snack with coffee and tea + a fun raffle 聖誕小吃+神秘抽獎 | 7:00 introduction of the idea of a ghost narrative, followed by screening a film example (100 minutes) and extended analysis ｜ 3 hours long 

This discussion will center on a ghost narrative. It originated as a nineteenth century novella intended as a gruesome tale to be told at Christmas time, written by one of America's greatest novelists. The story was then turned into a play as well as several films and television series. Our focus will be on the relation between the source novel and a classical black and white British film version. We will discuss questions of visual style and narrative form. We will also briefly consider a queer version of the same story from a Spanish filmmaker.

「講鬼故」是歐洲 – 尤其是英國維多利亞時代以來 – 聖誕節的重要世俗傳統之一。這次討論將圍繞著一個鬼故事，出自十九世紀美國一知名小說家的手筆。原著（中篇小說）是一部恐怖故事，在聖誕節期間講述。後來，這個故事被改編成戲劇、電影和電視劇。我們將重點探討原著小說與一部改編這作品的英國黑白電影版本之間的關係，並討論這個「鬼故」的視覺風格和敘事形式等議題。以至另一西班牙電影人對同一故事的另類詮釋。

Famous for its evocative presentation of fear and suspense in the face of evil, the original novella focuses on a professional woman who becomes convinced that supernatural forces are threatening two people in her care. The writer successfully creates an atmosphere of dread and menace that suggests the presence of radical evil.

原著小說以其在邪惡面前的恐懼和懸念的生動描繪而聞名，講述了一位職業女性堅信超自然力量正在威脅她照顧的兩個人。作者成功地營造了一種令人恐懼和不安的氛圍，暗示著某種極端邪惡的存在。

Readers of the original novel continue to debate whether the events depicted are meant to be real, imagined, or ambiguous. The classical film version, often considered a masterpiece of horror and visual narration, takes a strong stand that emphasizes the story's ambiguity. The filmmaker thus puts forward the cinematic version as an interpretation of the narrative. The Spanish film modifies key facts about the narrative to frame it as a story about masculinity, sexuality, heteronormativity, and repression. We will discuss how the same core narrative can be re-interpreted from different standpoints by artists from different countries.  

原著小說的讀者至今仍在爭論書中描繪的事件究竟該視為真實事件的呈現、女主人翁所想像虛構的，還是模稜兩可的。（現場分享的）經典電影版常被譽為恐怖片和視覺敘事的傑作，它強調故事的曖昧性；也就是說，這個電影版本是對原著敘事的一種詮釋。西班牙版電影則修改了原著的關鍵情節，將其建構成一個關於男性氣質、性、異性戀規範和壓抑的故事。我們將探討來自不同國家的藝術家如何從不同的視角重新詮釋同一核心敘事。

– Hector Rodriguez 羅海德

**Dr. Hector Rodriguez is a computational and software artist. He has been Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media since the school's inception. Though currently teaching Machine Learning to artists and creating artworks via Machine Learning, he has also long been a long-time pubished cinema studies scholar. Horror is among his favourite film genres as a film buff.