How to treat the phenomenon of Han Han and Jing M. Guo?

How to treat the phenomenon of Han Han and Jing M. Guo? Professor Xiao Ying's point of view is the best answer! The full text is as follows:

Why am I addicted to Jing m Guo and Han Han?

Author: Xiao Ying

As a cultural phenomenon, Han Han is a contradictory combination, which combines two elements: one is capital power and the other is freedom myth.

Editor's Note: Since September last year, Xiao Ying, a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University, has given lectures on interpreting contemporary cultural phenomena in more than ten universities in China, including Jilin University, Nanjing University and Wuhan University, with the topic of "Criticism of Contemporary Cultural Pathology". Professor Xiao Ying's views have been widely discussed on the Internet. This article is a speech by Professor Xiao Ying at China University of Political Science and Law.

Xiao Ying was born in 1962. Graduated from Peking University, Ph.D., postdoctoral fellow in literature. He is currently a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University.

On Jing M.Guo Phenomenon

In the current era of big data, their follow-up is actually largely controlled or induced. Therefore, fans of polished rice country are very unreasonable. Because as fans, they no longer take responsibility for themselves as individuals, and they no longer need morality.

On Han Han phenomenon

At present, there is no public opinion about the Han Han incident. But if we don't have the courage and efforts to pursue the truth in the face of such an influential event, it would be tantamount to mental suicide.

There are many pathological phenomena in current culture. I mainly take Jing M.Guo and Han Han, two typical post-80s figures, as cases to analyze several morbid phenomena in current culture. Before talking about morbid culture, we need to understand the basic characteristics of current culture.

Meaning defect and media control

Mcluhan, the father of modern media philosophy, put forward an important proposition when he understood media: media is information. We receive information through TV, Internet and other media. The editing and dissemination of information by the media and the way we interpret information will affect the composition and significance of information. Regarding the relationship between the current media and the times, I mainly talk about two points:

First, in the information age, our information reception is faced with the problem of "image deception", that is, we will face the lack of information and the distortion of meaning when receiving images. At the end of 20 13, there was a famous news photo: at the funeral of South African national hero and former President Mandela, US President Barack Obama, Danish Prime Minister Schmidt and British Prime Minister David Cameron were taking selfies, next to Michelle, who looked miserable, and was interpreted as jealous of Schmidt. Three western dignitaries actually took selfies at the funeral of this great African leader, which caused public outcry and condemnation. But we might as well look at the photos taken by the same reporter from another angle: the South African people sang and danced, and laughed and bid farewell to Mandela to express their high respect for him. At the funeral, it is a custom in South Africa to say goodbye to the beloved deceased with song and dance and joy. In fact, it is the custom of many nationalities to enjoy funerals. But in the cultural context of China or the West, it is immoral to take selfies at funerals! If we first look at this photo showing the joyful scene of the South African people's farewell to Mandela, and then look at this selfie, will we think that the so-called "out of line" move is actually very harmonious with the funeral scene?

In media communication, because of the lack of information and distortion of meaning, the real image is not equal to the real scene, and the real scene is not equal to the real meaning, that is, "real image ≠ real ≠ real", which is what I call "image trick". Network media is now a new media that integrates all media. From the "selfie door" incident, we can see that the spread of new media is very convenient, but it is also very dangerous.

Second, today's cultural era faces the problems of big data monitoring and media control. Schoenberg said in the era of big data that big data happened through network technologies, such as Google. Google's main business is not selling advertisements, but collecting data. It stores all the search information, classifies it, analyzes what people like, and then provides it to relevant commercial organizations. Therefore, what to buy and what not to buy, although seemingly free, is actually the result of data collection, analysis, monitoring and forecasting. So big data brings great control, and it is invisible control. Comprehensive monitoring and prediction in the era of big data can be economic, cultural or political.

Information overload has caused a state of chaos. Therefore, questioning and distinguishing information is a basic survival skill at present. We need to develop suspicious cognitive habits, otherwise we are likely to be manipulated.

Carnival of technical media

Technical media has a carnival instinct, which is embodied in cultural expression, that is, consumption reality and shameless entertainment. "Brother Sharp" is a typical expression of online consumption and entertainment. After the 20 10 Spring Festival, Brother Sharp filled the entertainment gap in the media at the beginning of the year and became the focus of online carnival at that time.

At the beginning of the incident, a person who bought a camera accidentally photographed a tramp outside the door while trying on the camera, and posted the photo to a circle website. Later, the photos were reprinted to the end of the world. Com, also added a long and grotesque title, saying that the characters in the photo are "killing gorgeous first-class passers-by", "handsome enough to stab your dog's eye", followed by "human flesh details of relatives and friends". In this way, an online carnival began. The first step of the carnival was to associate Brother Sharp with fashion, calling him the first master of "mashup" at that time, and doing a lot of PS on his pictures, such as nostalgia, fashion and so on. Some people say that America also has "Brother Sharp". Finally, the brand logo appeared in the seemingly utilitarian online carnival, and the business face finally surfaced. The real "sharp brother" was a Jiangxi farmer who was working in Ningbo at that time. He has some mental problems. He has been separated from his family for many years and has two sons at home. This "sharp brother" from a poor family is not "sharp" at all.

Personally, I think the emergence of "Brother Sharp" is not a spontaneous phenomenon on the Internet. It is a kind of collusion between network marketers and brand marketers, aiming at launching hot spots and making brands and networks win-win. This is the reality of consumption. To some extent, it is not fraud, but the truth provides marketing hype space for the network and promoters, distorts the true meaning of reality and consumes reality at will.

Our reception of information is a reception in which the context is cut off. Without background, reality can be reshaped at will. Anyone who has studied movies knows that the same scene has different connections before and after, and its meaning may be completely opposite. This is the power of the media, used in a carnival, and the network is therefore extremely entertaining. This carnival will fundamentally disintegrate and subvert the value choice of traditional culture, replace positive value with negative value, replace beauty with ugliness, replace goodness with evil, and replace truth with falsehood. This gave birth to the ugliness of online trial.

Network culture has two basic characteristics. First of all, network technology rewrites the one-way communication path into interactive communication. Second, network communication has high-speed liquidity, so there will be the concept of "brushing the screen". Classic and beautiful things will inevitably encounter disintegration or subversion in network culture. At this time, people will find that things that can attract people's attention can exist; Who can be strange, strange, make a fool of himself, play hard and be stupid, and finally pat himself on the head with a brick, who is the master! Every word of Xifeng is self-destructive and self-flattering, but everyone will find that every word of Xifeng hits our hearts directly and makes us feel our ubiquitous superiority and superiority.

"The ugliness of network censorship" makes people lose their last sense of shame. For example, Gan Lulu, a very popular car model in recent years, her mother took large-scale photos with her in public, and mainstream TV stations followed suit to do this "human flesh" business. Only when they, the pushers behind them and the spectators watching them have lost their sense of shame can Gan Lulu's "pork show" have a market. China's morbid culture is largely caused by "marketization only", and box office and click-through rate determine everything. In this cultural background, China is completely "fashionable". In his Philosophy of Fashion, German social philosopher Zimmel pointed out that the motivation of fashion is beyond the application of objectivity and aesthetics, and it is only a form of sociology. In the era of fashion popularization, public behavior is based on the loss of sense of shame. Without shame, there can be fashionable sports. This may be the reason why Gan Lulu's mother and daughter have come this far. This is the morbid result of current culture.

Mob and fan culture

What I want to say under this heading is Jing M Guo, who has many followers. For them, Jing M.Guo's novels are not boring, but they are always "fresh". Reading Jing M.Guo is no longer a literary appreciation, but a life behavior after being seriously colonized by consumer culture. Just like we are used to rummaging through our mobile phones from time to time, this is just a subconscious action. Although the mobile phone doesn't bring you real new information, you still have to look through it from time to time. I think, for Jing M.Guo's fans, reading his novels and movies is an all-round, integrated and in-depth activity and a kind of life-Jing M.Guo life.

When we talk about the Jing M.Guo phenomenon, we must talk about his plagiarism, which is an important factor to understand the "Jing M.Guo phenomenon". In the final judgment of plagiarism case, Jing Ke copied Zhuang Yu's works as a whole, and Jing Ke fined Zhuang Yu 200,000 yuan and publicly apologized. Jing M.Guo openly declared: Only pay, no apology. Jing M.Guo's attitude aroused strong public criticism, but his fans said, "What's wrong with plagiarism? As long as it is a small four, we also love to copy. " There is even a new idiom called "San Mao Copying Four", which says that the title of "How Many Flowers Fall in My Dream" by the late Taiwan Province female writer San Mao is to copy "Xiao Si"!

Generally speaking, the post-80s youth have at least received high school education. Why is it so unreasonable? Actually, it's quite understandable One hundred years ago, Le Pen, a French scholar, specifically analyzed "group consciousness" in Mob. Le Pen believes that when a person is in the state of individual existence, his or her inner wildness and instinct are suppressed by the existence of responsibility and punishment, and he or she is a responsible individual at this time. Once you are in the crowd, everyone will remain anonymous. At this time, because of freedom from punishment-there is a saying in China that "the law does not blame the public"-everyone will let their instinctive impulse go, and the original wildness and social destructive power will be released, thus losing their sense of responsibility and morality in daily life. Fan culture is such a culture: let everyone give up themselves, lose their personality, follow their idols, and then try their best to maintain the existence of idols. In the current era of big data, their follow-up is actually largely controlled or induced. So Jing M.Guo fans-according to my observation, including Han Han fans, Cui Yongyuan fans and Zhao Benshan fans-are very unreasonable. Because as fans, they no longer take responsibility for themselves as individuals, and they no longer need morality. Accurately speaking, in the group state, because the consciousness is controlled by the group concept, fans lose their individuality, thus having irrational, fantasy, paranoia, fanaticism and immorality psychological characteristics.

Myth of Capital Power and Freedom

It is dangerous to talk about Han Han. Whether you support him or oppose him, it always seems wrong. Regarding the authenticity of the gate of hell, I can't make a concrete argument here. My point is that Han Han, as a cultural phenomenon, is a contradictory combination, which combines two elements: one is capital power and the other is freedom myth.

When Triple Gate was first published, I was a postdoctoral student in contemporary literature at Peking University. I don't think this is a real masterpiece of teenagers, but I think it is a "mediocre novel deeply processed by adults". Preface to Triple Door was written by Cao Wenxuan, a professor of Peking University literature. When he wrote this preface, he once said, "There are almost no children in Han Han, the author of Triple Door. If no insider told you that this work was written by a teenager, you might think it was written by an adult. " Professor Cao Wenxuan can't see the shadow of this young writer. He should have questioned whether the real author of Triple Door was the teenager who opposed exam-oriented education. However, in the preface, Cao Wenxuan explained his doubts easily with "Even a wise man sometimes nods". Isn't that how The Emperor's New Clothes was made? I can't see the emperor wearing clothes. It's not that the emperor is naked, but that I didn't see it myself.

In 20 12, at the beginning of the "ghost writing by Han Han" storm, I was just a spectator, and later I participated in the lineup of questioning Han Han. After Han Han, Fang also questioned Jiang, but failed to proceed. This is not only because Fang's "Betraying Chiang Kai-shek" is hardly echoed, but also because Jiang served as the deputy editor of New Weekly after graduation and often appeared on TV as a guest and scholar. Although there is no doubt that public opinion spared Jiang, he showed his strength. If Han Han "takes two steps" like Jiang, "anti-Korea" may disappear automatically.

Why can Han Han go to the altar? In my opinion, the root cause is the collusion between industrial capital and cultural power.

Han Han was first made into a myth because of two needs: first, the needs of Han Han's family, especially the needs of his father Han Renjun, are not necessarily Han Han's own needs; The second is the need of Shanghai Germination magazine. At that time, the "budding" business was bleak and eager to find a shortcut to get out of trouble. It was found in the "New Concept Composition Contest" that among all the contestants, only Han Han has special news value. An unruly teenager who hung a red light in seven subjects won the first prize in the composition contest, which not only aroused great concern, but also confirmed that the bud was a genius Bole. Later, public opinion really regarded "Germination" as a sacred place to discover and even create "talented writers", so in the case of extremely shrinking national literary journals, the subscription of "Germination" rose from thousands or even hundreds to 500,000.

In shaping the myth of "genius Han Han", there are not only cultural forces, but also industrial capital forces. Han Han is not only a "genius writer" and a "public opinion leader", but also a tangible and intangible spokesperson for many brands. In recent 10 years, Han Han has been a specially recommended "Sina Top Blog". Recently, Han Han endorsed a group of outdoor advertisements for Sina mobile phone clients, using Han Han's photos. Slogans are "News is not what you like" and "News is not a trial". Sina is still unwilling to give up Han Han, doesn't it just feel that it can still attract gold? There is a strong capital force behind Han Han. At first he made it, he packed it, and now he uses it.

What is the mass basis and social basis of Han Han myth? It is a deep-rooted feudal culture in China. Until today, China is still a country accustomed to slavery and worship. Whether we want to pursue freedom or express rebellion, we must climb an idol. The German philosopher Benjamin said, "Where there are beggars, there are myths". "Han Han myth" is the product of our culture full of spiritual beggars.

Another context of Han Han myth is the resurgence of anti-intellectualism. Contemporary anti-intellectualism in China prevailed during the Cultural Revolution, and its representative slogans were "reading is useless" and "the more knowledge, the more reactionary". After 2000, Han Han, a "genius writer" who opposed exam-oriented education, embarked on the road of "no study is useful"-seven subjects hung red lights, but became a genius writer overnight, and eventually became a fashionable playboy and a responsive citizen opinion leader. The mythical combination of "capital power" and "freedom myth" in him has created the dream of a generation of young people-this is the unique magic and capital value of "Han Han".

At present, there is no public opinion about the Han Han incident. But if we don't have the courage and efforts to pursue the truth in the face of such an influential event, it would be tantamount to mental suicide. Mcluhan said: "Why pursue the truth? Because the truth sets you free. " Therefore, questioning Han Han is the pursuit of truth and freedom.

In the era of big data, we live in free fantasy under the control of media. Media information consumes reality endlessly. Because of blind obedience and credulity, we often meet in a false cultural landscape. We will lose the truth under the attack of capital power, media power and cultural power, or be discouraged and compromise and become their victims. This is the morbid state of China culture at present.

China Education News 201March 30th, 5 10 edition.