| The “folk-rock” music surfaced in mainland China as the part of the elite culture in the 1980 s. It was the kind of music that aimed at intellectuals as well as social elites to arouse their social consciousness and ideals rather than that tried to curry favor with the public and make a living in the entertainment industry. Notably, the ideality behind the music was held up by inspiration from the political and economic reforms since the 1980 s. As the policy of reform was unfolded, the “folk-rock” music which reached its climax in the mid-1990 s surprised people who had been conditioned to take themselves as a collective whole since the revolution period. But unfortunately, that the popular music with blurring characteristics goes hand in hand with the mass culture in the 21 st century gradually drains energy of the “folk-rock” music.In fact, the whole producing and consuming process of the “folk-rock” music is much directed by young people. Their passion, expressed either in shouting or in melancholy, embodies and endows the music with an ageless persona. And in turn, the “folk-rock” music also defines this group of people and preserves some drastic physical and mental feelings they have experienced since the reform.This dissertation investigates the development of the “folk-rock” music and the subjectivity of youth within. By focusing on five singers—Cui Jian, Zhang Chu, Pu Shu, Xu Wei, and Wang Feng—and their music compositions, it explores the evolvement of youth?s subjectivity and its interaction with the political and economic changes brought by the reform. Cui Jian?s music, for instance, stands out against the bankruptcy of the ideal of the revolution as well as the radical social changes by mobilizing the knowledge of socialism. To this point, his music unfolds the tension between individualism and collectivism which is an important cultural theme since the singer?s time. But the fact that an expanding capitalist market facilitates the social transformation effectively suppresses any explicit resistance to an implicit disturbance. Zhang?s music evidences how a young person keeps his/her critical attitude in this new era but exposes his/her weakness to the cruel world. That society run by capitalism dissembles social groups into an individual atom functioning apart on a production line weakens the virtue and strength of self-reliance and transforms it into a kind of individual murmur. Even though the young person in Zhang?s music holds fast to a resistant position, the critical voices within no longer appeal to social consciousness but resorts to personal speculation.As a developed capitalist market and the coming of a new era both arouse melancholy and ecstasy peculiar to the end of the century, youth apart from the memory of the socialist revolution were trapped by the nation-oriented economic development and the following confusion. Consequently, although the ways of expressing the “self” are getting diverse and delicate, the “self” under the shadow of a prosperous commercial market cannot but conspire with different authorities and vested interest groups. The “folk-rock” music of Pu Shu, Xu Wei, and Wang Feng demonstrates how an individual is stranded in the various patterns of cultural performance. They witness the vitality of youth changes from fierce to mild. Especially for Wang, the youth in his music transmutes into a spokesperson for the government and successful businessmen as the nation-state and mainstream capitalist culture with abundant benefits entice Wang into cooperation. That is to say, the youth that used to be radical in Cui?s music eventually fulfills their betrayal in Wang?s songs. The trajectory explains how the youth come to this stage and indicates the directions of their future. |
PDF Full Text Request