The Literary Spectacle Of The Second Media Age

The 80's literature is the most important literary phenomenon in China at the beginning of 21st century. After 2000, the 80's literature with the theme of youth has made great achievements in literary market. When such writers born in 1980s as Han Han, Guo Jingming, Zhang Yueran have become eye-catching literary stars or new millionaires, when the 80's literature has evolved from a literary event to a media event, there appeared a spectacle in our society. The 80's literature is the first writing trend of youngsters and the product of the cultural reform in the second media age. The Internet, which is based on computers, has overthrown the cultural power pattern in the first media age and made wide space for the appearance of a new literary force.This dissertation consists of three parts, including the introduction, the body part and the conclusion.In the introduction, the author points out the foundations of choosing the subject, research methods and the problems the author tries to solve.The body part is made up of five chapters, which focus on the relationship between the second media age and the 80's literature, the objective analysis of Chinese literature's system as well as the it's change in this age.The first chapter explains the meanings of the spectacle of 80's literature. Based on McLuhan's technological determinism, section one reveals the specific meanings of Poster's conception of The Second Media Age, and indicates that the media's technological feature in first media age is in agreement with the ideology of centralization, and that in the second media age it has a strong potential of decentralization in agreement with democratic ideology; also, it analyzes the features of Chinese traditional managing system of media and its relationship with traditional Chinese cultural situation, examines the impact of structural technology features on Chinese cultural situation, and then shows that the Internet entitled everyone to public media, which overthrew Chinese cultural situation. The second section of this chapter deals with the 80's literature in the background of second media age. It is pointed out that the 80's literature is a phenomenon of spectacle under the media culture, whose spiritual resources owe to the freedom given by Internet. Then the conflicts of mainstream literature with the 80's literature resulted from the collision of centralization in the first media age with the democratic ideology in the second media age.Chapter two explores the general view of the 80's literature. Firstly, it systematically examines the debates on naming those who were born in 1980s. Mainly analyzing the specific meaning of the 80s, the author points out that the 1980s as well as their writing is a typical cultural phenomenon in China and the 80's literature lacks continuity. Secondly, it summarizes the history of the 80's writing and their corresponding "three faces":angry and rebellious faces in the first stage, where Han Han and Chun Shu stand for the background spirit; sad faces in the second stage, where Guo Jingming and Zhang Yueran set the basic tone; game faces in the third stage, where the writers center on games, and the typical writers are Liu Dao and Xuan Yu.The third chapter analyses the literature production in the second media age. In the first section, the 80's literature is believed to reflect the game's essence of the post-modern culture, and then the game spirit is admitted as the most important spiritual background for creation from the point of the relationship between literature and game. Also, the author points out that game literature is based on market economically and internet spiritually by summarizing the roles the market and Internet play in the establishment of "Literature and Game Field". The second section historically explores the formation and development of the "Imaginative Space for Fame" of 80's literature in Chinese literature background, which is the centre of literature production and writer's subject consciousness.The author thinks that politics act as the leading force of the "Imaginative Space for Fame" before Reform and Open-up Policy. Later, the status and function of literature has marginalized in Chinese Political Ideologies, which made the market find its way in the "Literature's Right Field" and consequently its power was exerted perfectly by Internet. This situation helped the establishment of the "Imaginative Space for Fame" in second media age, in which the market plays the leading role and everybody can participate.Chapter four analyzes the fate of literature classics on the basis of the 80's literature. Firstly, it examines the theoretical discussions on literature classics in the electronic media's age and points out that the discussions show the crisis of literature classics in the transitional period of the first media age and the second media age. Then, from the technological view, the author analyzes the relationship between the subjects of rational discipline as the basis of classical arts, elitism cultural rights as the basis of ideologies and communicating media as well as the influences the change of media's prominent features had on the process of being classical, reaching a conclusion that the system of literature classics is the product of the first media age, while literature classics will come to an end in the second media age.The fifth chapter systematically examines the major readers and the process of socialization of the 80's literature, mainly focusing on its Reading Horizons as well as its major social factors. "Reading Craze" in 1980 and the dream "Knowledge Changes Fate" becoming the situation in which numerous students crowded onto the lone-plank bridge of College Entrance Examination, aesthetic education about literature seemed to have nothing to with 1980s under the exam-oriented system. TV resulted in the socialization of 1980s due to the fact that the motion pictures and cartoons made in Japan and Korea became the main spiritual food for 1980s after China's failure in this field, which had a direct effect on their writing and reading. Also, TV led to modern consumer psychology and the phenomenon of Idol Worship in their reading. After Reform and Open-up Policy, the rich reading resources didn't improve the situation in which the creation of children literature couldn't adjust to children's reading psychology. As a result,1980s fell down to the "hungry tramp" in the "reading banquet". Fortunately, one aspect of the 80's literature, the youth literature created by young writers has changed the situation in which adults created traditional works for children and youngsters, accordingly it met the reading need of self-identity. Therefore, the majority of 80's literature's consumers undoubtedly fell on the new "tribe" of 1980s, who were created by the consumption rights and Internet. The conclusion part makes the restatement that literature, as the career of freedom, represents the diversity. The 80's literature driven by Internet is the symbol of Chinese cultural democracy or the freedom in literature field, which its significance lies in. The diversity of the 80's literature not only can start a new situation in mass literature, but also can bear the responsibility for the inheritance and development of elegant literature.