Imprisonment And Liberation

As a historical form of culture, mass culture was first born in the Western society with the industrialization and urbanization. In the last two decades of 20th century ,with the liberation of thought and the reform and opening-up, mass culture of China was born and developed rapidly. Nowadays mass culture was spreading to almost every corner in China. It became one of the three trunk cultural forms, contrasting with the rest-mainstream culture and elite Culture.There should be no doubt that culture is an industry. The mass culture specifically refers to the cultural products produced by the industry of culture since the twentieth century, such as films, advertisements, popular music, common novels, and TV programs.It is a big trend of the advanced cultural development that culture becomes the consumer goods. Cultural phenomena, such as popular culture, aesthetic in daily life, are becoming the mainstream of the social culture facing the culture situation. It is an urgent issue for the traditional culture and aesthetics to put forward prompt solution. In the course of the industraliation and commercialization of culture production, the culture shows the trend of perceptual enjoyment. The aim is to create the cultural forms to entertain the mass instead of providing rational introspection of the world, and capture large audience to earn profits.The magic power of the mass culture is really irresistable, but this kind of magic power has its inside operation mechanism. At first, the prevalence of mass culture directly caused the arrival of the age of aesthetics in daily life. People are gradually surrounded by a kind of artificial aesthetic nature. Expressing emotion, reminiscence, comfort, the pleasant sensation are filled in the social culture and the individual experience. Proletariat,as the fulfillment subject of the society within traditional theories, becomes the common public's member.They can not get an overall cognition of society. Secondly , through connection between pleasant sensation and human's unconsciousness, mass culture has caused people to be the captive of self-desire. In the mass culture, people sit in chair of subjective feeling ".Therefore, the mass culture becomes the paradise for the populace to escape from reality, and becomes magnificent mask which covers up the really facial features, avoiding the real face appearing in the life. The mass culture has the production driving force, and the commodity reproduction is in an unceasing circulation.