Requesting an English document about "Elite Culture and Popular Culture" or "Literature in the Consumer Era" including the source of the document and its Chinese translation.

The following is the Chinese part of literature in the consumer era:

1

Whether literature is facing an era of consumption, many people are still skeptical, and some people are still skeptical. They even use the imbalance between the east and west of China and the fact that China is still in the process of building a moderately prosperous society to deny the arrival of the consumption era.

French scholar Jean Baudriard proposed a fourth stage based on the three stages of historical change proposed by Marx, namely the pre-commercialization stage, the commodity stage and the commercialization stage. That is the stage of consumer society. In a consumer society, the problem of commodities is not only the extreme expansion of quantity, but also the problem of too many commodities, focusing on customers to create various needs of people. People's consumption behavior is not only an economic behavior, but also a lifestyle and cultural behavior. Looking at the general trend of world economic development, it has become a fact recognized by most experts that the world has entered a consumer society.

China's economy is in a period of accelerating its transformation to a market economy and improving the socialist market economic system as soon as possible. Although there is still an imbalance in the development of the east and west in our country, and an imbalance in the development of cities and rural and mountainous areas, in general China has entered an intermediate stage of development of a consumer society. With the steady growth of residents' income, residents are spending more on entertainment, tourism, leisure and other enjoyable consumption while meeting their basic living needs of "eating". In 2002, the Enger coefficient of urban households in my country was 37.7%, a decrease of 19.8 percentage points from 57.5% in 1998; compared with 1996, the Enger coefficient dropped by 10.9 percentage points in 2002. Durable consumer goods such as color TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, DVD players, and water heaters have gradually become common necessities in residents' family life; high-end consumer goods such as home computers, laptops, and cars have also gradually entered residents' homes; residential needs have also become a priority for urban residents. *Consumer hotspots that are being pursued①. Some experts believe that what we need to consider now is not to implement a moderate consumption policy, but to continue to expand domestic demand and prompt our country to transform its huge consumption potential into actual purchasing power. Only in this way can we maintain the stamina for the long-term development of the national economy ② . Because my country's final consumption rate and household consumption rate have been declining in the past 10 years. This phenomenon of high savings and low consumption is detrimental to the national economy.

Whether we look at the reality of economic development or the future direction, expanding domestic demand and stimulating consumption are not only policies to develop our country's economy, but also facts that we have to recognize.

From the perspective of cultural consumption, in our country, the serious shortage of cultural consumption is an issue that we must pay great attention to. According to statistics, most of the cultural consumption of Chinese residents is education consumption. In 2001, the per capita education expenditure was 428.3 yuan, while the cultural and entertainment expenditure was only 122.3 yuan, and the expenditure on cultural and entertainment durable consumer goods was 139.4 yuan. The proportion of education expenditure is obviously Too large③. In terms of the book market alone, in 2000, China's per capita purchase of books was 5.55, worth 29.77 yuan. In 1999, book sales in the United States were US$24.02 billion, with per capita purchases of approximately US$100, equivalent to more than 800 yuan ④. From the perspective of the mutual restriction and mutual promotion relationship between production and consumption, the serious shortage of cultural consumption will not only directly affect the production and development of literature and art, affect the normal operation of the national economy, but also affect the improvement of the quality of the entire nation. Without the main body of cultural consumption, the prosperity and development of literary and artistic production will become a utopia.

Therefore, we really cannot adopt an ostrich policy when it comes to the advent of the consumer era. The arrival of the turbulent consumption era has become an unavoidable fact for us. As critics, theorists, and cultural figures, we should also look at social issues from an economic perspective. We should neither adopt a policy of avoiding the advent of the consumer society nor be biased against it. Instead, we should acknowledge the facts and actively response. This is the attitude of seeking truth from facts and advancing with the times.

II

In the current era of consumption, there are two biggest problems facing literature. One is what literature in the era of consumption is, and the other is the meaning of literature in the era of consumption.

There have been discussions around the first question in the past few years. Although there is no final conclusion, some scholars' views are such as Peng Yafei's "Image Society and the Future of Literature" and Fei Yong's "What is Literature of Our Era" ⑤ It provides a new way to think about this issue. On the issue of the meaning of literature, some critics and theorists have expressed more concerns: first, the commercialization of literature and art will lead to the weakening of the meaning of literature and art, especially the attenuation of educational significance; second, it will stimulate consumption. In the process, the aestheticization of daily life brought about by the borrowing or utilization of literature and art in other fields will generalize the "poetry" of literature and art, thereby reducing the appeal of literature and art; third, the commercialization of literature and art will cause the creativity of literature and art and loss of individuality, resulting in the loss of literary meaning. It should be said that clarifying these three issues is indeed a complex and difficult topic, and it is also a problem that is changing and being solved in practice. These issues have actually been raised and discussed by the Frankfurt School, but there is confusion and controversy over these issues, and the conclusions are inconsistent. Discussions on these issues are ongoing.

From the perspective of cultural economics, the commodity circulation process of literature and art not only circulates wealth, it also produces and circulates meaning, pleasure and social identity. Therefore, readers (audience) Meaning and pleasure can still be derived from literature and art as consumer goods. What kind of literature and art they choose actually determines their cultural values. As John Fiske pointed out, consumers "choose a specific one among many commodities. For consumers, the choice is meaning, pleasure and social identity" ⑥ . The meaning and pleasure in the circulation process of commodities can be divided into strong and weak, and different levels, but it does not mean that literature and art will only weaken its meaning after being circulated as commodities. Whether the meaning is weakened or maintained and enhanced mainly depends on the social and artistic value of literature and art itself. From the perspective of communication science, the greater the exchange and circulation of literature and art as commodities, the greater the influence of its significance, the greater its social benefits, and the social value they possess will be amplified. From the perspective of gaining more exchange/circulation opportunities, literature and art as commodities need to consider its artistic value and social significance more seriously, because poor art commodities will only spoil the appetite of consumers and accelerate their withdrawal. The speed of the market. Such as shoddy soap operas and lame romance and martial arts novels. From a marketing perspective, art as a commodity must also establish its own brand awareness and be made exquisitely and beautifully to attract more consumers. Just like Zhang Yimou's films and his other artistic productions, he uses a variety of artistic means to create an atmosphere of aestheticism, in an attempt to win more markets and consumers with exquisite productions. Zhang Yimou wants to take the market path. In fact, he has been exploring the market path of movies after the success of "Red Sorghum" and "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit". The reason why he can turn non-sensational themes such as "No One Less" and "My Father and Mother" into sensational works is because he understands some market principles. Later, people criticized his "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers", thinking that they were not successful. This was precisely because he wanted to build a brand too much and failed to grasp the interactive relationship between literary meaning and the market, which in turn damaged its market effect. I think he will continue to sum up experience and lessons in the exploration of marketization and achieve better results. "Impression Liu Sanjie" written and directed by him has made progress in the integration of folk culture re-creation and market-oriented operation.

After literature and art are produced and circulated as commodities, will they inevitably weaken or lose their educational function, or even cause a moral decline? This is not absolute. It must be admitted that literature and art are produced as commodities, and of course they focus on the market, but there is no inevitable connection between market possession and moral decline. This is just as there is no inevitable connection between the rise of market economy and the decline of morality. The "moral panic" caused by the penetration of capital into cultural production has been existing since the 18th century. As British cultural critic Terry Lowell pointed out: "In the 18th century, the rise of novels caused widespread attacks, and novels were Accused of its morally harmful influence on weak-minded women and servants, who were eager consumers of the new form, the phenomenon came under unanimous attack in the 1930s. Reappeared in movies and on television in the 1950s.

This time the scare is also focused on weak-willed children and teenagers, fearing that they will indulge in indulgent imitation of the violent content broadcast in the media. ” ⑦ In China, when the dramas and novels of the Ming and Qing Dynasties were on the rise, they were also criticized for their morality by the officials, who believed that they were “teaching obscenities and instructing thieves.” Some local officials also issued bans on the performance of “obscene plays”, such as Zhou Jihua in the Qing Dynasty When he was a local official, he issued an order "Prohibition of Night Operas and Obscene Words", which said: "Folk performances...but if there are many people watching and singing, there will be many idlers; if there are gamblers, disaster will happen; and The young women were made to apply makeup and powder, and watch the scene together, leaving the female celebrities alone, while the young and thin men were mixed in, looking at each other and passing eyebrows, which was the beginning of obscenity. " ⑧ This also targets women and teenagers as a "moral panic". Even in the late 1990s and early this century, people have been worried that the image of "Little Swallow" in the TV series "Huan Zhuge Ge" will affect Teenagers' moral pursuits have become biased. Now, when the "Lord of the Rings" novels and movies appear, some people are worried that teenagers will fall into fantasy, fail to distinguish between history and reality, and do some ridiculous things. In fact, people see it. What is considered is only the "possible" negative impact brought about by the penetration of capital into cultural production, or if a very few individual cases occur, the situation is generalized to all, causing a "moral panic" momentum, but the moral aspects it produces The positive influence and even its role in expanding the field of literary imagination are underestimated. At the same time, there is also a lack of correct evaluation of the knowledge and acceptance of contemporary teenagers. For example, the same is true for the "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" that are loved by teenagers. Permeated with education about ethical concepts such as justice and good and evil, popular songs can also serve as moral education functions in mainstream ideologies, such as "A Letter from Home" and "Work" sung by Li Chunbo, and "Chang Hui" sung by Chen Hong. "Look at Home" and so on, which also contain simple moral education such as filial piety to parents, strengthening the sense of family responsibility, being loyal to one's duties, and doing one's job well. In terms of influence and effectiveness, the lyrics of these songs are far stronger than those empty and boring moral educations. Reports and newspapers are full of clichéd sermons.

In today’s consumer society, literature and art are often borrowed by other cultural phenomena such as advertising media, fashion shows, product packaging, various festivals, etc. And it covers the daily life of the public. This kind of borrowing has caused many sub-literary and artistic phenomena, or the expansion of literary boundaries, thus forming a trend of aesthetic generalization or the aestheticization of daily life. How to deal with it?

First of all, we should see that this kind of borrowing of literature and art is not a bad thing. On the contrary, it will expand and promote the development of literature and art in form. Literature and art are often borrowed by religion to produce Western church music, church murals, and Chinese Dunhuang Bianwen. What religion values ????is the appeal of literature and art to enhance its influence and appeal. If there is originality, advertising literature may also be a new literary genre; there are many large-scale songs and dances in theme parks. Such large-scale songs and dances can also be an independent form, which is different from the party song and dance forms. The high-quality products produced in the future will also be It may become an art classic in popular culture; communication borrows literature to create text messages with strong literary qualities, and the emergence of text message literature is also about to emerge (in fact, haven't we seen this form in "Shi Shuo Xin Yu"?). Internet literature is gradually forming its unique literary genre, language and other formal characteristics with the help of the widespread use of the Internet, and is changing the reading habits of readers and even changing the relationship between the audience and the producer. From a Marxist point of view. , when material production conditions, including technology, undergo certain changes, ideology, including superstructures such as literature and art, will undergo rapid or slow changes. Each era has its own literature and art. In today's information age and consumer era, literature and art have expanded, mutated and produced variants, which should be understandable, tolerated and gradually accepted.

Secondly, the aestheticization of daily life brought about by the borrowing of literature and art from other fields is not a bad thing, but a good thing. In the pursuit of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, the public's desire for a better life can only become stronger and stronger. The public demands that their food, clothing, housing and transportation become more and more aesthetic. It will become a normal trend in consumer society for producers to "infuse" aesthetics into their products in order to adapt to the needs of consumers. Beauty should belong to the public.

What’s wrong with the public being inspired by beauty in the beauty products and the atmosphere created by the whole society to improve their own quality? Isn’t it not both humane and artistic to print Tang poems on gift boxes for gifts? When shopping in the mall Isn’t it pleasing to the eyes to just look at its beautifully arranged display windows? Would we reject the spacious, comfortable and artistically interesting shopping environment? Of course, stimulating consumption is the purpose of sellers, but is it right to “infuse” the artistry into it? Do we just have disgust and rejection? Daily life becomes part of aesthetic culture, art becomes part of a better life, and artistic production becomes part of cultural production. Sub-literary and artistic phenomena can also bring the enjoyment of beauty to the public. To generalize poetically What's wrong with that?

Thirdly, there should be a new understanding of what is "poetic" in a consumer society. Take Chinese painting as an example. In the past, the descriptions of secluded ravines, tall forests, and fishermen and woodcutter temples were considered poetic. However, when Gao Jianfu, the founder of the "Lingnan School" and modern Chinese painting master Qi Baishi, etc., described ordinary people and their daily utensils, they could not be said to be poetic. It lacks poetry. Xu Beihong's horse paintings are certainly in line with the traditional poetic flavor, but the themes of realistic historical writing, such as "Tian Heng's Five Hundred Heroes", also have poetic flavor. Some contemporary texts include white-collar workers waiting for trains and women playing with cats, which cannot be said to be unpoetic. Liu Sifen, winner of the Mao Dun Literature Prize, author of the novel "White Gate Willow" and president of the Guangdong Academy of Painting, captures daily life phenomena into his paintings, which are not only fashionable, but also reveal the poetry of daily life. In today's oil painting world, describing daily life has become a common tendency among painters. At the 10th National Art Exhibition in 2004, "Girls·Girls" by Guangdong author Sun Hongmin painted two fashionable but mentally exhausted girls, and its meaning is also rich. This painting was nominated for a Silver Award ⑨. If you think about it carefully, some outstanding Western painters used to describe the daily life of nobles, such as bathing, dressing up, banquets, etc. It is both fashionable and full of poetry. Today's painters adhere to the spirit of "pen and ink should adapt to the times" and put their brushstrokes into the daily lives of ordinary people. As long as they have deep thoughts, they will also gain poetic flavor. In an era of advanced science and technology, poetry may be amplified and strengthened through certain technical techniques. Such as huge photos in light box advertisements, poetic and visually impactful commercials on TV, etc. On this point, I admire Benjamin, one of the representatives of the Frankfurt School. He believed that in the era of mechanical reproduction, the birth of modern mechanical reproduction art represented by movies, etc., although it has made the "glow" of traditional art (quite "poetry" and "charm") disappear, but because it liberates artworks from "parasitism on etiquette" 10, it makes art something for the masses, thus causing fundamental changes in the function, value and acceptance of art. Change. Since the function, value and acceptance of modern art have changed, why won’t “poeticity” change? In contemporary society, I would rather understand “poeticity” more broadly, as Heidegger once said It should dwell on the earth poetically. The "poetic" here not only refers to the spiritual home that human beings should have, but also refers to the harmonious relationship between humans and nature, between humans, and between humans and society. Contemporary literature and art have rich and profound thoughts, which can enlighten and alert people who are trapped in material confusion, and allow people to rebuild hope and confidence in a reasonable life in reality. Isn't it also the "poetry" of contemporary society?

< p>As for whether the commercialization of literature and art will cause the loss of creativity and individuality in literature and art, this is also a controversial issue. Both Benjamin and Jameson believe that the commodification of art will damage the creativity of art. Jameson in particular believes that in the postmodern cultural era, the uniqueness of art disappears and becomes a "similarity" of imitation. The phenomenon of losing creativity and artistic individuality certainly exists in today's literary and artistic production or cultural production, because the circulation of literature and art as commodities will naturally create a group of producers who create "currency". But the public's taste in buying art also changes. At a certain point, they will no longer be satisfied with "currency" and demand "high-quality products." In fact, in a consumer society with fierce business competition, literature and art must stand out in the market competition and win market share. If there is no strong personality and creativity, consumers will not buy it. Excellent art producers must not only consider market demand, but also adhere to their artistic ideals and artistic personality while adapting to the market. Balzac once wrote for the market, but he also left some creative "high-quality works" in his massive creations.

Shakespeare's plays have also catered to popular tastes, but he still produced the most outstanding works of any playwright. In a consumer society, even the production of material products must be branded with individuality in order to attract more consumers. Such as watches, mobile phones, micro-washing machines, etc., and their process designers are increasingly pursuing the personalization and uniqueness of appearance on the premise of ensuring the realization of their functions. Recently, Professor Piller from Germany first proposed the concept of "personalized mass production", that is, customers (buyers) can use the Internet and other tools to participate in the production process, design the personalized products they need, and then use Factory assembly, production and distribution. Dell's computers have begun to assemble various personalized computers according to user requirements. Some watch factories in Switzerland allow customers to participate in the design of watches. Professor Piller's research team is working with Adidas to ask consumers to design their own sports shoes on the website, and other users will participate in modifications. Finally, users will vote to select the most popular styles for mass production. Literary and artistic works as spiritual productions, such as dramas, movies, TV series, etc., will be ruthlessly abandoned by the public if they lack originality and individuality. Therefore, in the era of market economy and consumption, the commercialization of art also puts forward higher requirements for the originality of art. The key lies in whether artists and theorists can respond to such requirements and challenges and come up with more original works. Come.

Three

The above is my defense for the meaning of literature in the consumer era. The purpose is to understand the value of literature and the future of development from a positive or positive aspect. I always feel that our current theoretical and critical circles are too pessimistic about the value of literature, its meaning, and its development direction. Some theorists and critics always believe that due to the impact of value pluralism and market economy, the meaning of current literature tends to be impoverished, flat, and vulgar. Some even hold a "New Left" stance and believe that current literature It has completely lost its critical nature and has become a slave to money and lust. It has conspired with the consumer society and market economy to kill literature. I think these views lack dialectics. I do not deny that there are indeed some shortcomings in current literature, but these shortcomings can only be solved through development. Development is also the last word for literature to survive and develop. Since the 1990s, literature has developed greatly. This should be a fact. For example, since the 1990s, writers and critics have begun to pay attention to narrative, and have achieved a major shift from "what to write" to "how to write"; literary styles have developed greatly, and many breakthroughs have appeared in prose alone; in novel creation, there are also people like Alai "The Dust Has Settled", Chen Zhongshi's "White Deer Plain", Zhang Ping's "The Choice" and other blockbuster works are no less valuable than the works of the 1980s; there is also the marriage of literature, film and television, which has formed The boom period of film and television, which in turn expanded the influence of literature, attracted a large number of audiences, and so on. These have greatly enriched the cultural, entertainment and spiritual needs of the people. It can be said with certainty that the current literature shows no signs of decline or decline, let alone “end”. If current literature is becoming meaningless and worthless, and is becoming a slave to money, then what future does literature have? What is the meaning of development? Has the advent of consumer society really become the nemesis of literature? Will the arrival of the technological age really cause literature to completely disappear from the earth? I don’t think so. Thinking about China's Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, literature also faced the market and experienced a period of rampant consumption and sensuality. Aren't there some excellent works preserved in the Song and Yuan scripts? Hasn't "Three Words and Two Patterns" also become a classic of Chinese literature? Is it an excellent work that pursues spiritual supremacy? Isn’t it the controversial "Jin Ping Mei" that has also entered the 21st century with ups and downs? I think these things once catered to the market and the public, and they also constitute It identifies the "meaningful" parts and links in Chinese literature. In meeting the challenges of market economy and consumer society, today's literature is still looking for and exploring new positioning, new meaning, and new value, and many new changes and turning points have occurred. I am full of hope for the future of literature in the consumer era.

Literature is human science, a spiritual production that pays attention to people, studies people, studies the relationship between people and society, and between people. Throughout the ages, literature has been full of love for human beings and society. Whether it is praising or criticizing, it is all for the pursuit of a better future for human beings and society.

Since the emergence of modernist literature in the 20th century, literature seems to express many elements of despair for human beings and society. However, as Adorno said, it is from Kafka-style despair that people see hope and are saved. To be saved from criticism and to gain hope from despair is the humanistic concern of literature. In Buddhist terms, this is great compassion. The reason why literature and cultural studies are connected is that they are essentially permeated with critical spirit and full of concern for the salvation of human society. This spirit of humanistic care will not be outdated in the 21st century, and I am afraid it will not be outdated in the future, unless literature is no longer created by people. Humanistic care has different forms of expression in various eras. In the 21st century, as long as literature and literary research persist in criticizing, saving, and achieving transcendence of reality, the general direction will not be wrong. This may be the reason why literature is still loved by people and has not been abandoned.

Notes

①②See Chen Xinxin: "Consumer Economic Transformation and Consumption Policy - Thoughts on How to Further Expand Consumption", "Economic Research Reference" Issue 83, 2003.

③See Li Kanghua: "Cultural Consumption: An Effective Way to Expand Domestic Demand", contained in "Cultural Blue Book/2003: China Cultural Industry Development Report", edited by Jiang Lansheng and Xie Shengwu, Social Sciences Literature Press 2003 Annual edition.

④See He Jianfeng and Liu Lian: "Research on the Characteristics and Countermeasures of my country's Book Buyer Market", "Publishing Science", Issue 4, 2001.

⑤Peng Yafei and Fei Yong wrote in "Literary Review" Issue 5, 2003.

⑥ [English] John Fiske: "Popular Economy", selected by Lu Yang and Wang Yi "Popular Culture Research", Shanghai Joint Publishing Bookstore 2001 edition, page 134.

⑦ [English] "Cultural Production" by Terry Lowell, "Popular Culture Research" edited by Lu Yang and Wang Yi, same as ⑥, page 128. ⑧Zhou Jihua's "Jiayintang Huicun's Political Records".

⑨See page 7 of "Nanfang Daily" on September 12, 2004.

⑩ [Germany] Walter Benjamin "Works of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", translated by Wang Caiyong, China City Press, 2002 edition, page 17.

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