Research On "The Little Prince" As A Symbol Of Consumption Since The New Century

Since we entered the new century,the aim of consumption has been not to obtain use value but to achieve symbolic value under the domination of the logic of consumerism.It is just as what Baudrillard says: �the aim of our consumption is not for survival,but for desire�.Symbol consumption has become a common phenomenon,and consumer culture has rapidly become the dominant ideology,penetrating into cultural and artistic fields.As a classic children's book,Little Prince is different from other common fairy tales when confronting consumer culture,for the purchase and sale of the book are not limited among parents and children,but popular among adult groups such as college students and white-collar workers.This paper exactly focuses on this unique phenomenon of literary consumption.Based on Baudrillard's theory of symbolic consumption,Roland Barthes' s Mythologies and semiotic theory,this paper makes a comprehensive analysis on the unique consumption phenomenon of little prince in the new century by means of symbol research,text analysis and questionnaire survey,pointing out that this very consumption of little prince belongs to the phenomenon of symbol consumption,analyzing the meaning of the consumption symbol and the construction path,and making a rational reflection on this phenomenon,so as to make a reasonable explanation on the phenomenon of symbolic consumption in the consumption society,especially the phenomenon of literary symbol consumption.The paper is divided into four parts:The first chapter proceeds with the background of symbol consumption phenomenon,and illustrates the new circumstances of literature in the age of consumerism: the production conditions of literature have changed with the development of economy,the support of mass media and the shift of popular aesthetics,and it is gradually becoming common for the public to consume the symbol of literature.The reader's reading questionnaires shows that it is typical of the symbolic consumption phenomenon in Little Prince.The second chapter proceeds from the audience's decoding of the symbols in Little Prince,sorting out the several symbolic significance of Little Prince that are formed currently: �pure love� �taste� �cure� and �fashion�,and analyzes the relationship between the consumption social values and the work itself,discovering that these symbols correspond to the value orientation of the public to the consumer society and are closely related to the content of the works,spiritual core,artistic technique,genre and form.The third chapter analyzes the path of symbol construction in Little Prince.The encoding of symbols includes the second-time creation of the work conducted by famous writers,the criticism of critics,the guidance of awareness made by the opinion leaders on social media,and marketing strategies of filmmakers,which formed the symbolic impression of Little Prince that the audience has on the work.The fourth chapter conducts a rational review and reflection on the symbolic consumption phenomenon of Little Prince.As a way of literature dissemination,symbolic construction does have merits,but it might deviate readers' reception of the textual connotation;the book consumerism resulted from consumption alienation phenomenon makes the book market thrive,but at the same time,it also makes reading suspended;readers might construct identity in the process of literature reading with the pursuit of symbolic value,but also might lose themselves.Under the background of consumerism,the phenomenon of symbolic consumption has already become a normalcy,and makes a great difference in the production,dissemination and reception of literature.This paper aims to explore a better way to make the best of literature symbols in consumption process taking the symbolic consumption phenomenon of Little Prince as an example,and makes some contribution to literature creation,communication and reception of today.