本文探討民國時期電影女星阮玲玉的銀幕形象、角色類型與其作為文化符號的歷史意義。阮玲玉出生於上海一個底層家庭，成長於都市化與現代化的矛盾張力之中。她短暫但精湛的演藝生涯，折射出當時社會對女性角色的期待與約束，更映照出女性在階級、性別、民族與媒體權力交織下的歷史處境。

以《神女》、《新女性》、《桃花泣血記》等代表作品為核心，分析其角色如何呈現苦情、母職、知識女性與社會受難者等不同形象，揭示民國電影對女性角色的類型化與其限縮效應。透過敘事分析與表演風格觀察，指出阮玲玉在扮演這些角色時，不僅強化了角色的悲劇感染力，也在無形中承載社會對女性道德想像的期望與壓力。尤其在現實生活中，當她未能遵循銀幕形象所代表的「苦難女性」範式時，媒體與輿論的反撲更成為她悲劇命運的推力之一。

亦檢視一二八事變後民族電影的興起，如何影響女性角色的形塑。當國族危機升高，女性角色從家庭附屬者轉變為民族情感的象徵與歷史責任的承擔者，成為抗戰敘事與家國情懷的核心載體。阮玲玉在《小玩意》、《神女》等片中所塑造的母親與受壓女性形象，亦體現了這一時代轉變中對「堅韌女性」的集體期待。進一步而言，左翼電影的發展為女性角色注入更多社會批判與階級意識，阮玲玉的表演也因此被賦予更深的社會意涵。她所飾演的角色不再只是情感上的受害者，更是社會不公與制度暴力的見證者與控訴者。透過她的演出，左翼電影實現了女性主體從被觀看到能言說的轉變，也使她成為一種超越個人生命的歷史象徵。

This paper examines the screen image, character types, and historical significance of the Republican-era film star Ruan Lingyu as a cultural symbol. Born into a lower-class family in Shanghai, Ruan grew up amidst the tensions of rapid urbanization and modernization. Her brief yet remarkable acting career reflects contemporary expectations and constraints placed on women, and illuminates the historical predicament of women positioned at the intersection of class, gender, nationality, and media power.

Focusing on representative works such as The Goddess, New Women, and The Peach Girl, this study analyzes how her characters embody various archetypes—tragic woman, mother figure, intellectual woman, and social victim—revealing the typification of female roles in Republican cinema and the limiting effects of such portrayals. Through narrative analysis and observations of her performance style, this paper argues that Ruan not only intensified the tragic emotional resonance of these roles, but also inadvertently carried the weight of society’s moral expectations of women. In particular, when her real-life choices failed to conform to the “suffering woman” paradigm represented by her on-screen image, the backlash from media and public opinion became one of the forces propelling her tragic fate.

The paper also investigates how the rise of national cinema following the January 28 Incident shaped the representation of female characters. As national crisis intensified, women on screen shifted from being domestic dependents to symbols of national sentiment and bearers of historical responsibility, becoming central figures in wartime narratives and expressions of patriotic concern. Ruan’s portrayals of mothers and oppressed women in films such as Little Toys and The Goddess likewise embody the collective expectation of the “resilient woman” during this transformative period. Furthermore, the development of left-wing cinema infused female roles with heightened social critique and class consciousness. Ruan’s performances thus took on deeper social significance: her characters became not merely emotional victims but witnesses to—and accusers of—social injustice and institutional violence. Through her acting, left-wing cinema realized a shift in female subjectivity from being merely gazed upon to becoming capable of articulation, making Ruan a historical symbol whose meaning transcends her individual life.