Chang And His Work Spread Phenomenon In The Context Of Consumer Culture Interpretation

Zhang Ailing (1920 - 1995) was an outstanding writer in the history of contemporary Chinese literature. During 1940's in Shanghai, Zhang was a great success as her works culminated in "Isolated Island Literature"movement. After 1949, as her literary stand contradicted main stream literature, Zhang headed off to Hongkong and later migrated to the US. She then never returned until her death in 1995. The communication and study of Zhang and her works in mainland China remains a cultural landscape during the decades of in and out of focus.With a mild political and ideological atmosphere in 1980's, Zhang as a writer and her works as classics were reestablished initially within the elite cultural studies, which was succeeded immediately by a wave of publicationns in pupular literature sense. Companied by the market-oriented transfomation of publishers, literature became soom commercialized under the dual pressure of obtaining profits and catering to popular tastes. The mania for Zhang and her works can be seen as a good case in point. Mass media played an active role in creating such a symbol consumption case as a "constructor" of social reality. In the context of consumption culture, Zhang and her works were integrated into a compact cultural text and successfully transferred to a hot consumption symbol. Both the integration of the writer and works into the consumption and the partnership of publishing and media in consumption logic contributed to the lasting mania for Zhang and her works. Zhang and her works have virtually become a cultural symbol in terms of the communication. Apparently, many fans of Zhang neglect the literal subjects and just consume the cultural symbol. Frankly, Zhang and her works do have a trait of "for consumption" in light of the interpretation of her works as projection of nostalgia or of the desolate and gloomy world she creats.This thesis is not intended to make any judgement on the soundness of the cultural text. Ideally,by reviewing the text,the thesis aims to focus on the present state and communication tendencies of literal publications in the context of consumption culture and mass media. Under the manipulation of publishers and mass media,the communication of publications has progressed from commercialization to symboliztion, through which communication text acquires new symbol value and meaning, whereas is deprived of inherent esthetic attribute and cultural value. Meanwhile, readers as consumers lose their subjectivity. The mania for Zhang,in a way, manifests such a collective unconsciousness in consumption logic. Also, mass media may undergo function alienation during the consumption-oriented communication process. Apart from releashing and communicating news, mass media seek to dig for entertainment, legend and interest stuff and hype sensational news that is likely to stir the public.