one

Many people are still wondering whether literature is facing an era of consumption. Some people even deny the arrival of the consumption era by taking the unbalanced development between the eastern and western parts of China and the fact that the whole society is still building a well-off society.

Jean Baudriard, a French scholar, put forward the fourth stage, namely, the stage of consumer society, on the basis of the three stages of historical change put forward by Marx, namely, the pre-commercialization stage, the commodity stage and the commercialization stage. In the consumer society, the quantity of commodities is not only extremely inflated, but also there are too many commodities, which makes people's various needs mainly depend on the customers. 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 been recognized by most experts that the world has entered the consumer society.

China's economy is in a period of accelerating the transition to a market economy and improving the socialist market economic system as soon as possible. Although China's eastern and western development, urban development, rural development and mountain development are still unbalanced, China has entered the intermediate development stage of consumer society. With the steady growth of residents' income, while meeting the basic needs of life, residents spend more on enjoyment consumption such as entertainment, tourism and leisure. In 2002, the Engel coefficient of urban households in China was 37.7%, which was 19.8% lower than that of197.5%. In 2002, the ratio of 1996 decreased by 10.9 percentage points. Color TV, refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioner, DVD player, water heater and other durable consumer goods. It has gradually become a common item in residents' family life; High-end consumer goods such as home computers, notebook computers and automobiles have gradually entered the family; Housing demand has also become a hot consumption spot pursued by urban residents. Some experts believe that what should be considered at present is not to implement a moderate consumption policy, but to continue to expand domestic demand and urge China to turn its huge consumption potential into realistic purchasing power, so as to maintain the long-term development potential of the national economy. Because in recent years 10, the final consumption rate and household consumption rate in China have been declining. This phenomenon of high savings and low consumption is unfavorable to the national economy.

No matter from the reality of economic development or the future direction, expanding domestic demand and stimulating consumption are not only policies to develop China's economy, but also facts that we have to admit.

From the perspective of cultural consumption, the serious shortage of cultural consumption in China is a problem that we should attach great importance to. According to statistics, most of the cultural consumption of Chinese residents is educational consumption. In 200 1 year, the per capita expenditure on education is 428.3 yuan, while the expenditure on culture and entertainment is only 122.3 yuan, and the expenditure on entertainment and durable consumer goods is 139.4 yuan, and the proportion of education expenditure is obviously large. As far as the book market is concerned, in 2000, China bought 5.55 books per capita, which was 29.77 yuan, while the book sales in the United States in 1999 was 24.02 billion dollars, which was about 100 dollars per capita, equivalent to more than 800 yuan. Judging from the relationship between production and consumption, the serious shortage of cultural consumption will not only directly affect the production and development of literature and art, the normal operation of the national economy, but also affect the improvement of the quality of the whole people. Without the main body of cultural consumption, the prosperity and development of literary and artistic production will also become a fantasy.

Therefore, when the consumption era comes, we really can't adopt the ostrich policy. The arrival of the choppy consumption era has become an unavoidable fact. As critics, theorists and intellectuals, we should also look at social problems from the perspective of economics. We should neither adopt an evasive policy nor be prejudiced against the arrival of a consumer society, but should admit the facts and respond positively. This is the attitude of seeking truth from facts and keeping pace with the times.

two

In the current consumption era, literature faces two biggest problems. One is what literature is in the era of consumption, and the other is the significance of literature in the era of consumption. The first question was discussed several years ago. Although there is no conclusion, some scholars' viewpoints, such as Peng Yafei's Image Society and the Future of Literature and Fei Yong's What is Literature in Our Time, provide new ideas for thinking about this issue. On the issue of the meaning of literature, some critics and theorists are more worried: 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, in the process of stimulating consumption, the aestheticization of daily life brought by borrowing or using literature and art in other fields will make the "poetic" of literature and art generalized, thus reducing the appeal of literature and art; Third, the commercialization of literature and art will cause the loss of creativity and individuality of literature and art, which will lead to the loss of literary significance. It should be said that understanding these three problems is indeed a complex and arduous task, and it is also a problem that is constantly changing and solving in practice. In fact, these issues have been raised and discussed in Frankfurt School for a long time, but there are puzzles and controversies on these issues, and their conclusions are inconsistent. Discussions on these issues have been going on.

From the perspective of cultural economics, the commodity circulation of literature and art not only circulates wealth, but also has the significance, pleasure and social recognition of production and circulation. Therefore, readers (viewers) can still get meaning and pleasure 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 commodity among many commodities. For consumers, they choose meaning, pleasure and social recognition. " The meaning and pleasure in the process of commodity circulation are different, but it does not mean that literature and art will only weaken its meaning after circulation as a commodity. Whether the meaning is weakened or maintained and enhanced mainly depends on the social value and artistic value of literature and art itself. From the perspective of communication, the greater the circulation of literature and art as a commodity exchange, the greater its significance, its social benefits and its social value. From the perspective of winning more exchange/circulation opportunities, literature and art, as a commodity, should consider its artistic value and social significance more seriously, because inferior art goods will only spoil consumers' appetite and accelerate their withdrawal from the market. For example, shoddy soap operas and lame romantic martial arts novels. From the marketing point of view, art, as a commodity, must also establish its own brand awareness and make it exquisite and beautiful in order to attract more consumers. Just like Zhang Yimou's films and other works of art, he created an aestheticism atmosphere through various artistic means, that is, he tried to win more markets and consumers with his exquisite works. Zhang Yimou wants to market. In fact, since the successful production of Red Sorghum and Story of Autumn Chrysanthemum, he has been exploring the market-oriented road of movies. He can make a sensational work from a theme that has no sensational effect, such as "None Less" and "My Mom and Dad", because he knows some marketing skills. Later, people criticized his Hero and House of Flying Daggers as unsuccessful. This is precisely because he wants to build a brand too much and fails to grasp the interactive relationship between literary significance and market, which damages its market effect. I think he will constantly sum up experience and lessons in the exploration of marketization and achieve better results. Liu Sanjie's Impression, directed by him, has made progress in integrating folk culture, re-creating and market-oriented operation.

Will literature and art, as a commodity, weaken or lose its educational function, or even cause moral decline? This is not absolute. It must be admitted that literature and art, as commodities, will pay attention to the market, but there is no necessary connection between market possession and moral decline. This is just like the rise of market economy and the decline of morality are not necessarily related. The "moral panic" caused by the infiltration of capital into cultural production has existed since18th century, as Terry Lowell, a British cultural critic, pointed out: "In18th century, the rise of novels caused widespread attacks, and novels were accused of having a harmful moral impact on mentally retarded women and servants, who were eager consumers of this new form. From the church to the critics, novels have been attacked unanimously. This phenomenon reappeared in movies in 1930s and TV in 1950s. This panic is also concentrated on weak-willed children and adolescents, fearing that they are addicted to imitating the violent content played by the media. " ⑦ In China, when the dramas and novels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties rose, they were also criticized by official morality, and they were regarded as "teaching prostitutes and thieves". Some local officials also issued a ban on "prostitution". For example, when Zhou Jihua was a local official in the Qing Dynasty, he issued an order to "prohibit obscenity at night", which said: "Folk performances ... but there are many singers, so there are many people swimming; If gamblers come out, disaster will happen; Let young women draw faces and watch shows together, but don't ask girls, while young people are frivolous and mixed together. This is the best way to teach people obscenity. " Today, this is also a "moral panic" against women and teenagers. Even at the end of 1990s and the beginning of this century, people have been worried that the image of "Little Swallow" in the TV series Princess Zhu Huan will affect teenagers' moral pursuit. Now, when The Lord of the Rings's novels and movies appear, some people worry that teenagers will fall into fantasy and do something absurd regardless of history and reality. In fact, people only see the "possible existence" negative influence brought by the infiltration of capital into cultural production, or the momentum of "moral panic" caused by very few cases, while its positive moral influence, even its expansion in the field of literary imagination, is underestimated, and the knowledge and acceptance of contemporary teenagers also lack a correct evaluation. For example, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, which are deeply loved by teenagers, are also permeated with the education of ethical concepts such as justice, good and evil. Popular songs can also undertake the moral education function in mainstream ideology, such as A Letter from Li Chunbo, Work and Chen Hong's Visit Home Often, and also run through simple morality such as filial piety to parents, strengthening family responsibilities, being loyal to their duties and doing their jobs well. In terms of influence and effect, the lyrics of these songs are far stronger than those empty and boring moral education reports and high-level lectures full of cliches in newspapers.

In today's consumer society, literature and art are often borrowed by other cultural phenomena, such as advertising media, fashion shows, commodity packaging, various festivals and so on. , and covers the daily life of the public. This borrowing has caused many literary phenomena, or the expansion of literary boundaries, thus forming the aesthetic generalization or aestheticization of daily life. How do we deal with this cultural phenomenon?

First of all, we should see that this borrowing of literature and art is not a bad thing, but will play a formal role in expanding and promoting the development of literature and art. In history, literature and art have often been borrowed by religions, resulting in western church music, church murals and variations in Dunhuang, China. Religion values the appeal of literature and art. Today's advertisements use literature to enhance their influence and appeal. If they are original, they may also produce a new literary genre, advertising literature. There are many large-scale songs and dances in theme parks, which can also be independent forms. Different from the evening song and dance forms, the fine products born in the future may also become artistic classics in popular culture. Communication borrows literary short messages, and short message literature is also on the rise (in fact, we have seen this form in Shi Shuo Xin Yu, right? )。 With the extensive use of the Internet, online literature is gradually forming its unique literary genre, language and other formal characteristics, and changing readers' reading habits, and even changing the relationship between audience and producers. From the Marxist point of view, when the material production conditions, including technology, have changed to some extent, the ideology, including the superstructure such as literature and art, will also change faster or slower. There is literature and art in an era. In today's information age and consumption age, literature and art have expanded, mutated and produced variants, which should be understandable, tolerant and gradually acceptable.

Secondly, the aestheticization of daily life brought 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 well-off society in an all-round way, the public's desire for a better life can only become stronger and stronger. The public demands their own food, clothing, housing and transportation to be more and more aesthetic, and it will become a normal trend for producers to "pour" aesthetics into their products in order to meet the needs of consumers. Beauty belongs to the public. What's wrong with the public being influenced by beauty in the atmosphere of beautiful products and the whole society making beauty, and then improving their own quality? Isn't it human and artistic to print Tang poetry on the gift box? Isn't it pleasing to see its beautifully decorated window when shopping? Will we refuse a spacious, comfortable and artistic shopping environment? Stimulating consumption is of course the seller's purpose, but do we just dislike and reject the artistry of "perfusion"? Daily life becomes a part of aesthetic culture, art becomes a part of beautiful life, and art production becomes a part of cultural production. Sub-literary phenomena can also bring aesthetic enjoyment to the public. What's wrong with poetic generalization?

Third, there should be a new understanding of "poetry" in the consumer society. Take Chinese painting as an example. In the past, it was poetic to describe the secluded valley, the high forest and the Yuqiao Temple. However, for Gao, the founder of Lingnan School of Painting and Qi Baishi, the master of modern Chinese painting, it cannot be said that it lacks poems describing ordinary people and their daily necessities. Xu Beihong's Painting a Horse conforms to traditional poetry, but realistic historical writing themes, such as Tian Heng 500 Heroes, are also poetic. Nowadays, some literati paintings, such as white-collar workers waiting for buses and women who are idle in keeping cats, cannot be said to be poetic. Liu Sifen, the winner of Mao Dun Literature Prize, the author of White Gate Willow and the president of Guangdong Painting Academy, captures the phenomenon of daily life in his paintings, which is not only fashionable, but also reveals the poetry of daily life. Nowadays, the description of daily life in oil painting has become a common tendency of painters. In the 10 national art exhibition in 2004, the painting "Girl, Girl" by Guangdong author Sun is a picture of two fashionable but mentally exhausted girls, and its significance is also rich. This painting was nominated for the silver prize. Come to think of it, some outstanding painters in the west once described the daily life of nobles, such as bathing, dressing, banquets and so on. It is both fashionable and poetic. In the spirit of "pen and ink should keep pace with the times", today's painters put brush strokes into the daily life of ordinary people, and as long as they have profound thoughts, they will also get poetry. In the era of advanced science and technology, it may be amplified and strengthened through certain technical poems. Such as huge photos in light box advertisements, advertisements with poetic and visual impact on TV, etc. At this point, I appreciate Benjamin, one of the representatives of Frankfurt School. In his view, in the era of mechanical reproduction, the birth of modern mechanical reproduction art, represented by movies, made the "light rhyme" of traditional art disappear, but because it made the works of art get rid of the "parasitic etiquette" and made the art become something for the public, so that the function, value and acceptance of modern art have changed, why can't "poetry" change? In contemporary society, I prefer to understand "poetry" in a broader sense, just as Heidegger said that people should live poetically on the earth. "Poetry" here refers not only to the spiritual home that human beings should have, but also to the harmonious relationship between man and nature, man and man, and man and society. Contemporary literature and art have rich and profound thoughts, which enlighten and alert people who are in material confusion and make people rebuild their hope and confidence in a reasonable life in reality. Isn't it also a "poem" in contemporary society?

Whether the commercialization of literature and art will cause the loss of creativity and individuality of literature and art is also a controversial issue. Both Benjamin and Jameson believe that the commercialization of art will damage the creativity of art, especially Jameson believes that in the post-modern cultural era, the uniqueness of art disappears and becomes an imitation. The phenomenon of losing creativity and artistic individuality certainly exists in today's literary and artistic production or cultural production, because literature and art, as a commodity circulation, will naturally produce a group of producers who create "money". However, the public's taste in buying art is also changing. At a certain time, he will not be satisfied with "money" but demand "fine products". In fact, in a consumer society with fierce commercial competition, if literature and art want to stand out in the market competition and win market share, consumers will not buy it without strong personality and creativity. Excellent art producers should not only consider the market demand, but also adhere to their artistic ideals and artistic individuality in adapting to the market. Balzac once wrote for the market, but he also left some creative "masterpieces" in a lot of creation. Shakespeare's plays also cater to the public's tastes, but his excellent works are still the most among all playwrights. In the consumer society, even the production of material products should be branded with personality in order to attract more consumers. Such as watches, mobile phones, micro washing machines, etc. On the premise of ensuring the realization of functions, their process designers are increasingly pursuing the individuality and uniqueness of appearance. Recently, Professor Piller of Germany first put forward the concept of "personalized mass production", that is, customers (buyers) can participate in the production process with the help of tools such as the Internet and design their own personalized products, which are then assembled, produced and distributed by manufacturers. Dell's computers have begun to assemble various personalized computers according to users' requirements. Some watch factories in Switzerland can let customers participate in the design of watches. Professor Pillar's research team is working with Adidas to invite consumers to design their own sports shoes on the website, and other users will participate in the modification. Finally, users will vote for the most popular styles for mass production. Literary and artistic works, as spiritual products, have to be criticized by the public, such as plays, movies and TV plays. If they lack originality and individuality, they will be mercilessly abandoned by the public. Therefore, in the era of market economy and consumption, the commercialization of art also puts forward higher requirements for artistic originality. The key lies in whether artists and theorists can meet this requirement and challenge and produce more original works.

three

The above is my defense of the significance of literature in the era of consumption, aiming at understanding the value of literature and its future development from a positive or positive aspect. I always feel that our current theoretical and critical circles are too pessimistic about the value, significance and development direction of literature. Some theorists and critics always think that the current literature tends to be poor, dull and vulgar because of the impact of value pluralism and market economy, and some even hold the position of "new left", thinking that the current literature has completely lost its criticism, become a slave to money and lust, and strangle it in collusion with consumer society and market economy. I think these views are dialectical. I don't deny that there are some disadvantages in modern literature, but the only way to solve these disadvantages is development. Development is also the last word for the survival and development of literature. It should be a fact that literature has developed greatly since the 1990s. For example, since the 1990s, writers and critics have begun to attach importance to narration, and achieved a major shift from "what to write" to "how to write". Style has developed greatly, and there are many breakthroughs in prose alone; There are also heavy works such as Dust Settled by Alai, White Deer Plain by Chen, and Choice by Zhang Ping, which are as valuable as those in the 1980s. There is also the marriage of literature and film and television, which not only formed the prosperity period of film and television, but also expanded the influence of literature and attracted a large number of audiences. These have greatly enriched people's cultural entertainment and spiritual needs. It can be said with certainty that there is no sign of decline and decline in modern literature, and there is no omen of "end". If the present literature is becoming meaningless and worthless and being enslaved by money, what is the future of literature? What's the point of development? Has the arrival of consumer society really become the bane of literature? Will the arrival of the era of science and technology really make literature completely disappear from the earth? I do not think this is necessarily the case. Think about China's Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Facing the market, literature experienced a period of excessive consumption and lust. Didn't Song and Yuan Dynasties have masterpieces? Sanyan Erpai has also become a classic of China literature, among which there are many excellent works that pursue spiritual supremacy. Even the controversial Jin Ping Mei has entered the 2 1 century with ups and downs. I think these things once catered to the market and the public, but they also constituted a "meaningful" part and link in China literature. Today's literature is still looking for and exploring new orientation, new significance and new value in meeting the challenges of market economy and consumer society, and there have been many new changes and opportunities. I am full of hope for the future of literature in the era of consumption.

Literature is a human study, and it is a spiritual production that pays attention to people, studies people, studies the relationship between people and society, and between people. Throughout the ages, literature is full of love for human beings and society. Whether praise or criticism, it is to pursue a better future for human beings and society. Since the appearance of modernist literature in the 20th century, literature seems to show many elements of despair to human beings and society, but as Adorno said, people saw hope from Kafka-style despair and were saved. It is the humanistic concern of literature to get salvation from criticism and hope from despair. In Buddhist language, this is great compassion. Literature and cultural studies are interlinked because they are permeated with critical spirit and full of saving concern for human society. This spirit of humanistic care will not be out of date in the 2 1 century, and I am afraid it will not be out of date in the future unless literature is no longer created by people. Humanistic care has different forms of expression in different times. 2 1 century, as long as literature and its literary research persist in criticizing, saving and surpassing reality, there will be no problems. This may be the reason why literature is still loved by people and has not been abandoned.

To annotate ...

① ② See Chen Xinnian: Transformation of Consumption Economy and Consumption Policy —— Reflections on How to Further Expand Consumption, Economic Research Reference, No.83, 2003.

③. Cultural consumption: an effective way to expand domestic demand, in Blue Book of Culture /2003: Report on the Development of Cultural Industry in China, edited by Xie, Social Science Literature Publishing House, 2003.

④ See He Jianfeng and Mclynn Killman Liu: Study on the Characteristics and Countermeasures of the Book Buyer's Market in China, Publishing Science No.4, 200 1.

⑤ Peng Yafei and Fei Yong published in Literature Review, No.5, 2003.

⑥ [English] John Fiske: Popular Economy-A Study of Popular Culture, edited by Yang Lu and Wang Yi, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, 200 1 Edition, p. 134.

⑦ [English] Terry Lowell's Cultural Production, Selected Works of Yang Lu, and Wang Yi's Research on Popular Culture, with ⑥, p. 128. Zhou Jihua's Collection of Family Shadows in Politics.

Pet-name ruby See Nanfang Daily, 7th edition, September 2004 12.

Attending [Germany] walter benjamin's Works of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Wesley Wang, China City Press, 2002, p. 17.

Hey, after playing for so long, I can't write any English. I'm tired. Go directly to Baidu for online translation. I hope it helps you ~!