Lowercase culture: two times of popular culture

First, the entertainment function of popular culture

Since 1942, mainstream culture has been characterized by popular culture through the "translation" of folk discourse. However, it is worth noting that this "mass culture" is a "capital culture". It emphasizes and publicizes the grand narrative related to the nationality of the country. Its goal is to mobilize and organize the people to participate in national salvation and socialist construction. Go in. Therefore, although the form and content of this "popular culture" has been "loved" by the people, it is not "marketized" or consumer. In the 1930s, the mass culture represented by Shanghai's urban consumer culture was basically interrupted in the narrative of mainstream culture. In the era of national peril, it was considered "unhealthy" and "corrosive". "Red Rose" or "Thursday" and the sound of the cymbals on the dance floor are not defeated in the face of the popular "Red Classic". Therefore, for most of the 20th century, due to China's special historical situation, consumer mass culture has no legality and possibility of production.
Since the 1990s, mainstream discourses centered on economic construction have dominated social life and its development direction. While it is generally recognized, it also provides space and legitimacy for the growth and development of business culture. It is worth noting that after the consumer mass culture in mainland China was interrupted for 50 years, its re-launch was realized in the "reverse feeding" of Hong Kong and Taiwan consumer culture. Teresa Teng’s popular songs, Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng, Gu Long, Wen Rui’an’s martial arts novels, Qiong Yao, Xi Murong’s love novels and poems, and overseas Chinese TV series have occupied the cultural market in mainland China in another way. This cultural form is called "fast food culture." However, the content and methods it tells are familiar and acceptable to the people. The basic content of these works are related to morality, ethics, affection, and blood. They are commonplace and normal. Achieve the goal of business appeals in a way that caters to the psychology and interest of the people.
While accepting the "feedback" of Hong Kong and Taiwan culture, the mainland cultural market is also tentatively searching for its own business culture. Before this form has yet to be formed, the market first finds the "alternatives" of the past, that is, "leisure" Prose leads the non-ideological literature. The works of Zhou Zuoren, Liang Shiqiu, Lin Yutang, Feng Zikai, Xu Zhimo, Yu Dafu and other writers were reprinted in large numbers. In fact, once these works were repackaged, it went through a "peeling" process in the market. The leisurely taste is part of the Chinese cultural tradition. It has placed some ideals of the Chinese scholar-officials, and it has also revealed the hidden feelings hidden in the meantime. However, in the process of "secularization" of the market, it changed the cultural connotation of "leisure", but only the consumption of "leisure". Like the wine cellar restaurant, dining and clothing, antique appreciation, flowers and fish, and so on, there is no longer a string of sounds. In the consumer, it is just another form of secular life. On the other hand, in the process of "returning", the cultural market has finally found a Chinese-style "soap" form. In the early 1990s, the broadcast of the TV series "Hunger" marked the beginning of an absolute advantage and monopoly position in the cultural market. Since this era, TV series has become a major form of mass culture production and has rapidly formed scale. "Hai Ma Song and Dance Hall", "Love You Not Discussed", "Who Loves Who", "Beijing People in New York", "Yongzheng Dynasty", "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo", "Huanzhugege", "Swordsman", " Da Zhai Men, etc., became a well-known star repertoire at the turn of the century.
The marketization of mass culture has adapted to the consumption requirements of this era, and has also fundamentally transformed the pattern of "integrated" cultural production of mainstream culture since the 20th century. However, mass culture is, after all, a consumer cultural commodity. According to Richard Hamilton, it is "popular, short-lived, consumer, cheap, mass-produced, young, witty, erotic, wit." And the charismatic grandeur..."1 In the words of McDonald, "The tricks of popular culture are simple--that is, make every effort to make everyone happy." 2 Therefore, mass culture cannot be demanded by elite or classic criticism. The representative of the French literary and social school, Robert Escarpi, had a wonderful explanation for the commonality of cultural accomplishment. He quoted Aldous Huxley as an interesting analogy. Cultural cultivation is like a family. "All members of this family are reminiscing about some of the most famous figures on the genealogy. Take France as an example: the cousins of the younger generation recall the playful words of Uncle Poclain's wit, the Descartes's simple and unpretentious Mingzhe, Hugo. Grandpa’s rhetoric speech... It’s like calling all the members of the family with a nickname. Foreigners in this circle will feel uncomfortable because he is not a family member; in other words, he has no cultural accomplishments. "This is the commonality of cultural cultivation." It" leads us to the commonality of our understanding. Any group of people 'cance out' a considerable number of thoughts, beliefs, values or current views; all of which are considered to be clear, no need to prove, no argument, no explanation The view of "3" is intended to show that the conceptual basis of public opinion, especially the value of intellectuals as critics, in the face of rational criticism and judgment in the face of popular literature and art, may lead to criticism due to differences in cultural goals and appeals. Misplacement thus became an ineffective criticism. Mass culture is essentially consumption and commercialization, and its function is entertainment. While catering to the psychology of mass consumption, it also draws influential narrative strategies from serious culture, such as Hollywood's fantasy production. But all this is to get the most surplus value.

Second, the two times of popular culture

The development of mass media is one of the characteristics of globalization. In the era of "electronic illusion", on the one hand, we felt the false realization of "global village". On the other hand, we also found different cultural time in serious messages. For many years, we have been able to see the New Year concert at the Vienna Golden Hall on television. People from all over the world sit neatly and civilized in the golden hall, waiting for the exciting moment. After several years, we found that the New Year concert in Vienna, except for the command of honor and status, is often replaced, and the annual repertoire is rarely changed. This also seems to be a symbol, a ritual: it symbolizes the enduring and stable European classical cultural tradition, and symbolizes the European people's respect and recognition of a civilization. People come here, rather than to enjoy a high-level concert, rather than come to participate in a solemn ceremony. The Golden Hall became a veritable sanctuary at this time - it was not a carnival, but a commemoration of its own history and civilization. Of course, the Europeans are not rigid enough to go to the point of black. In fact, punk, rock, street culture and even drug addiction, homosexuality, today's new trends and fashions are almost nothing in Europe. But European cultural time still gives people a feeling of calmness and calmness. Traditional culture is still widely accepted as a mainstream culture on the university campus and in the educated class. The trendy culture, despite its excitement and impact, is never dominant. It floats on the surface of life and seems to be more dramatic and culturally diverse.
However, the interpretation of Chinese popular culture in the era of transitional extremes is much more complicated and difficult. Its complex state makes any judgment unfounded. We also often hear the advocacy of traditional culture and hear blind pride in our long-standing cultural traditions. However, once we implement specific issues, we don’t know what traditional culture is and what we know. The traditional culture of China is too complicated. It has both folk and temples. It is both healthy and stale, both interrupted and continuation. What is important is that it does not even have a symbolic, cohesive ritual. If you can barely compare it, it is that we have also hosted more than ten years of Spring Festival Gala, which is called "new folk custom" and "new year feast" by the organizers themselves. Although the statistics of their popularity have been rising year by year, as long as they analyze the party a little, they will find that the essays filled with vulgar peasant culture have become the main content, and the cultural "harlequins" such as Zhao Benshan and Pan Changjiang are in the limelight. It is enough to make people desperate for this "folk" or "great feast". What kind of "folk" or "great feast" is this? Ironically, even the "serious culture" or "elegant culture" is constantly asking for "support" and "protection." The underlying problem behind it is that this culture is clearly no longer desired and respected. Therefore, it is meaningless to advocate a certain kind of unclear culture in China. The induction and catering of the interest of the mass media by the authoritative media is enough to make any serious efforts smash in the waves of the world. At this point, we are very different from Europe. We don't seem to have found anything that belongs to the soul of our culture.
Although there are difficulties in judging Chinese popular culture, it is certain that there are two kinds of time in Chinese culture. Or, in the central city, in the fashion youth or radical artists, they live in the cultural time of "new wave" or "avant-garde". The cultural timetable of these people has already been completed "in line with international standards." They are not only used to McDonald's, KFC chicken, appreciation of the European Cup or the World Cup, appreciation of the NBN Finals or European, Hong Kong and Taiwan star concerts; more importantly, the club, Judi, nothing to do, nothing to do, away from the crowd or shadow Today, cohabitation alone tomorrow is the normal state of daily life and spiritual life of some people. Therefore, some people have concluded that China has entered a "postmodern" society; but they do not know that there is another cultural time in China. Or in the wider region of China, there is a cultural time that is still flowing slowly in the "old and young" areas. The culture they accept and appreciate still has strong regional and national characteristics. They are not only unacceptable to the "new wave" and "avant-garde", but even deeply resentful. You can condescend to think that this is backward, conservative, uncivilized, and ignorant. However, it is meaningless to blame this taste. Different cultural tastes formed in different cultural times are difficult to form an effective critique. What is important is that there is no hierarchical relationship between these different cultural interests, so there is no question of which culture is superior. The folks' curtains, the legs, the 恢恢恢恢恢曰嵬缜曰嵬缜曰嵬缜丶岢窒丶岢窒丶岢窒庵庵庵庵庵庵庵庵庵牟豢牟豢牟豢褪褪褪褪褪褪褪褪褪褪褪褪褪Since then, the theory of globalization has been widely discussed in many professional fields in China. It has become a frontier topic, which is related to the end of the Cold War in the international community and the new goal of cooperation, development and progress. Especially in the economic field, globalization has not only been limited to theoretical discussions, but has penetrated into specific rules and methods of operation. As the main activity of human life today, economic activities and related theories and rules cannot be greatly influenced and influenced by others. However, due to the complexity of the field and mode of human activity and the differences in geography, ethnicity, race, class, gender, etc., different understandings of the theory of globalization are determined. Even in the same field, globalization is still not accepted as a universal theory. Especially in the field of humanities, there is almost no possibility of reaching a consensus on the differences in globalization theory. In theory, "globalization" is theoretically brilliant or unstoppable, in fact it is still an ideology or theoretical hypothesis. Even if the "globalization" presupposition is realized in some areas, the aforementioned phenomenon of coexistence of two cultural times in different regions is not that this theory can be "integrated" according to its conjecture.
What needs to be pointed out here is that the cultural taste of the folk or the region is different from the "mass culture" produced in the present era. The former belongs to the national cultural form in the traditional sense. It is part of a long-established custom or culture of a nation or region; the latter is an emerging cultural industry shaped by modern media and capital markets. They are far from one thing. Regarding the issue of "mass culture", we have had many discussions over the past 100 years. Most of the previous discussions were ideological. This is because the concept of "mass" has a pivotal position in the history of ideology and culture in the past century. Its deified nature is not to be subversive and overstepped. Whoever stands on the side of the public will gain a position of not winning. The legitimacy of this plural concept is self-evident. Therefore, the worship of the public is the most inconspicuous in the history of the 20th century, the history of culture and culture, the 庥刖裰诙惴惴惴惴惴惴庇庇庇庇庇庇庇庇?晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖晗喙氐氖谑谑谑谑谑谑谑谑谑詈詈詈詈詈詈詈詈詈玫玫玫玫玫玫玫玫玫玫玫玫玫玫玫"People" to "the literature of workers, peasants and soldiers", the public has become an infinite signifier. At that time, the plural concept of "the masses" is still a rhyme model?? Shelter of the wine (17)? Thin 11. 蚬缬缬娴娴裰凇K? Sheath 豕蠛豕蠛豕蠛钕阆恪 (6) before the discretion of the 畎畎停切切切切切切切切切切切切切切切切切切切切牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡牡Historical facts. The call to the public for the first time changed from imagination to literary reality. People called the masses to create "mass" and "mass" through the "mass" image. It is the victory of revolutionary literature and revolutionary intellectuals. A victory becomes deified with an undeniable statute. Therefore, there is no two-time problem in the culture of the revolutionary period. Its unity also expresses the purity of revolutionary literature. The intellectuals or writers of the time are fortunate. Although they are the objects of transformation, they have the right to discourse, and the society’s respect for the readers who know the book is still a common consensus. Therefore, the call for the "mass", intellectuals There are still some "superiors", and because of this, in many years, although they are poor in life and have a flat status, they still have no sense of loss. It is still a kind of "strong and fierce" that all of them are attacking. It is for the "popular". "Popular" has evolved from an imaginary object to a belief object, which has become a fulcrum of intellectual life and thought. As for its rationality and reliability, no one doubts it.
The 20th century soon arrived in the late autumn, and China at the turn of the century changed dramatically. People who had too many fantasies about modernization had no time to think about its negative effects. They still faced the public with the enthusiasm of the past and the old idealism. And when trying to serve them, the public lost interest in the art created by intellectuals for them. The intellectual’s original imagination of the public has finally gone wrong. In fact, the mainstream ideology of the 20th century has a strong political color at the beginning. The public is understood as a "class", and it is a simple, pure, natural revolutionary requirement and conscious. Sexual groups, they are more advanced than any class, class, or group. The divine status of this concept is accomplished in constant imagination and narrative. This is a far cry from the Western understanding of this concept. At the turn of the last century, the French scholar Gustav Le Pen made a comprehensive analysis and criticism of the group's feelings, moral values, and psychological characteristics in the book "The Study of the Publicity of the Wuhe". In Gustav's view, impulsiveness, volatility and irritability are the basic characteristics of the group, and their actions are completely dominated by unconsciousness. It is easy for them to make a hangman's move, and it is also easy to be generous. It is the group that cherishes the blood of every belief. When he quoted the reasons for the Franco-Prussian War, he said that it was said that because a telegram that was insulted by an ambassador was made public and violated the public anger, it caused a terrible war. Therefore, the group is also vulnerable to suggestion? 颓嵝诺摹K? Relatives and relatives dizzy? Pro-e崞?矗? 渤? 渤希希菟嫡唚呐匀匀匀匀匀宀宀宀宀骋骋骋骋骋嵛5. 姆床担? 15. Sighing 嵴嵴 brother Lu magnetic? 鸷 painful loyalty to the new 睢 9 Pan Gu? 蚨 even Wo 宓庑┡ 庑┡ 械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械械亍龅娜禾寤蛎裰谠谀承┦奔涞淖ê岷头抢硇裕?颐和苍?糠值鼐???R虼怂?呐?杏植7.侨??薜?怼;
After the era of widespread public mobilization, some concepts related to "mass" have also lost their original meaning. The revolutionary and progressive nature they once had not only gradually faded away, but they were even deeply questioned. Especially after entering the market and commercialization era, the "mass" requirements for culture also confirm our above doubts from one aspect. In the era of commercialization, "the public" is a group of consumers. It is precisely because of the existence of such a group that there is a "popular culture" in the sense of today and its emergence. But the "mass" at this time is still not a whole. Their fickle and different tastes will determine the relationship between production and consumption. Therefore, the field of "mass culture" is not an aesthetic field. His request for "pleasure" shows that it is a land of desire. The great discussion of the "humanistic spirit" carried out in the early 1990s and the radical criticism of popular culture are likely to stand on the standpoint of elitism and criticize the mass culture as an object of aesthetics. Therefore, for mass culture, it is a misplaced critique that does not constitute criticism. The mass culture of the city is a unique and strange field. It is related to such cultures as traditional, modern, oriental, and western, but there is no pedigree relationship. You can't say which cultural form the mass culture comes directly from. Once this culture goes to market, it follows the rules of the market. As a product, it is directly related to consumption. Therefore, the curtain is 淖钪永永永永永永永永永永永永永桃桃桃桃桃桃桃? One is the past cultural time, which is characterized by nostalgic culture; one is the current cultural time, which is characterized by white-collar fun. Nostalgic culture began in the early 1990s in China's first indoor drama "Hunger", until the red classic secular whirlwind. Nostalgic culture has always been one of the main contents of the mass culture market. This situation is related to the reality of contemporary China. In the early 1990s, there was a short period of empty space in the field of Chinese thought and culture. The enlightenment discourse was frustrated and the elite position was questioned. Such irrelevant works of "Hunger" are not only irrelevant to the radical enlightenment position, but also alleviate the scarcity of commodities in the cultural market. At the same time, the “innovation” movement has been carried out in the 80s? Yuelu?? “Innovation” movement. Traditional cultural products have interrupted production, and demand has been expanding in accumulation, which has led to the success of “Hunger”.
The red classic refers to the works created by the literary and artistic workers under the guidance of the "Speech at the Yan'an Literature and Art Symposium" since 1942, which has a national style and a nationalist style, and is a work that the workers, peasants and soldiers love. These works are based on the theme of revolutionary history, with the main content of the people's democratic revolution and socialist construction under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It has been continuously advocated and widely disseminated. It is not only familiar to the people, but also cultivates their unique literary appreciation and acceptance of taste, and gradually forms the mode and mode of literary production. This situation has enabled decades of literary and artistic art to accumulate rich experience in the creation of red classics. These works have become common collective memories of the masses in a long-lasting communication in a common style. In the past many years, these works have played a role of "uniting the people, fighting the enemy" with their strong emotional color and romantic expression, and achieved the goal of literary and artistic kilometers. He made the people see the history of revolution and construction in the art. It also enabled the revolutionary literary art to find a corresponding form suitable for expressing this content. It has been deeply touched by generations. Therefore, as an important mainstream cultural resource, it has been permanently valued and continuously explored and utilized. Before the 1980s, the acceptance of these works by the people was from the heart. On the one hand, they believed that the new China changed their destiny, and therefore they agreed with these classics; on the one hand, the popular expression and legendary structure of these works, Easy to understand and accept. However, the re-emergence of the red classic in the 1990s lost its original meaning. It was launched again through the market in order to allow the red classic to enter the consumer field, rather than to enter the red meaning world again.
For the public, these tunes and scenes that they were familiar with have made them once again connected with history. People who have been marginalized by the market economy have psychologically crossed the historical fault, thus alleviating the anxiety and loss of display. . Not only does the mass culture implement a nostalgic strategy at the psychosocial level, but it also resorts to nostalgic strategies at the emotional and value levels. The American ideology films such as "The Bridges of Madison County" and "Titani" can be successfully entered in mainland China, and the nostalgic sentiment of these films plays a decisive role. In other words, the more the era loses, the more the mass culture has to be highlighted. It brings people into another time to satisfy people's psychological needs.
White-collar fun is a fashion cultivated by the commercial society. Although the white-collar workers are still developing in China, the white-collar fun is coming first. Not only do the people have envy of white-collar workers, but they also have the rumors of "white-collar culture." The white-collar magazine is the most eye-catching representation of this fun. His warmth and fascination reveals everything that is dreamy, obscuring or stealing the real problem. Its consumption and possession hints are realized in the emphasis of elegance, education, and self-esteem. Everything that white-collars expect, in white-collar workers, is not entirely predictable. But it shows an identity, a fashion, a false boundary that is a distance from ordinary people. Therefore, in the film and television market, especially in the mediocre TV series, most of today's China lives in the halls, and the consumption and style of the Western middle class are everywhere. This is an unrealistic real time. While inducing a taste and desire for consumption, it also stimulates an extreme individualistic tendency to enjoy. In a sense, this kind of fun is to satisfy the general low-level taste. It is essentially indistinguishable from the nostalgic trend, both in order to lead consumers to unreal illusion time. Therefore, how to understand the differences between local cultural resources and the time of two cultures on the basis of understanding the Chinese mass culture psychology during the transition period is a problem that must be paid attention to in the theory of mass culture. Popular culture is not an aesthetic field, and its entertainment characteristics determine its consumption function. In the era of cultural production alone, we call for the emergence of entertainment culture, and hope that literature and art can be relaxed and more enjoyable. However, this does not mean that all cultural products manufactured in non-aesthetic fields are reasonable. As far as the reality of mass culture is concerned, the simplification and vulgarization caused by its virtual two cultural times are harmful to the healthy development of mass culture. However, we have to say with dismay that in the face of the current state of mass culture, we can't do anything while criticizing because we can't change it.

Note:
1, 2, see Daniel Bell: "Capitalism Cultural Contradiction" 120 pages, 91 pages, Sanlian Bookstore 1989 edition.

Lowercase culture: two times of popular culture

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