Two Patterns Of Contemporary China Mass Culture Study

Two Patterns of Contemporary China Mass Culture Study 桝dorno's Pattern and Althusser's Pattern(Abstract)Mass culture has developed extensively in China since the 1990's and gradually attracted scholars' attention Mass culture which we talk about nowadays is not the "popularization" of literature and art we have advocated all along The mass culture of China appeared thirties or forties years later than the West. It is the outcome of the extremely unbalanced process of modernization under the influence of the West, and is also a worldwide cultural phenomenon of the era. In this sense, mass culture reveals the general law and the development of culture. However, the complicated phenomenon of mass culture in China brings much difficulty to our researchers .We have got to a common view upon the complexity and the challenge of China mass culture. But strictly speaking, most of our researchers consider mass culture too simply They mainly borrowed the concepts used by the westerners indiscriminately, particularly the pattern of Adorno's critical theory on mass culture. Most of their essays are filled with the words in Adorno's pattern such as "reproduction, fraudulence, immediateness, superficiality, singleness and standardization", Some even digress far from the subject because they misunderstand mass culture as "popularization of the art and literature "or "the culture for common people" raised in the Yan'an Forum on the Art and Literature Many researchers despise mass culture in their hearts. And without the least hesitation, they criticize it in terms of Adorno's theory which they think of as a general description of all modern mass societies out of considering its historical conditions In fact , Adorno's theory is based on the cultural position of the elite , rejecting the technological rationale and taking a pessimistic view on the masses. Just like many western Marxist theories ,it is divorced seriously from both the realities and the masses. It do not believe the masses , because the fascism power of that time was growing by drawing support from mass movement , and the modem social technology and institutions enable state power to reproduce the single and standardized social bodies who are fit in with state ideology .Besides these, the different developing levels of mass culture at that time and at present lead to the time limitations of Adono's theory .Furthermore , for the great differences between mass culture in China and in the West, it is really impossible to get to the essence of the mass culture of China in terms of Adorno's pattern .In considerations of these, the essay begins with the description and analysis of the emerging and development of mass culture in China, and then probes into its Chinese characteristics , sorts out the discourse system of Adorno's theory with the consideration of its historical context and the relations ofpowers. Upon this, the essay makes an effort to find a new relation between the studies of mass culture and the theory prevailing in the West .We can't regard any theory as inevitably general and totally truthful, but as a discourse system which is the outcome of the specific times with its function and significance in given relations of powers. In this sense , we must go out of Adorno's pattern in our studies of mass culture.We object to denouncing mass culture like Adorno. And we also disagree that the reason mass culture is welcomed extensively and continually just comes from the vulgar interests of the masses .It is a crude and irresponsible prejudice. As we have demonstrated again and again ,mass culture has become a part of the social life , and can bring positive aesthetic effects . If we think about mass culture objectively , we can find out its aesthetic values. Therefore , the essay inquires into the relations among mass culture , the daily life of the masses and their desires of changing living surroundings. That is to say , how mass culture reflects the relations between the feelings of daily life and real life . It concerns about the problem of...