Song Qi
"Versailles literature" has suddenly become popular in the public eye recently, and the topic of Douban's newly launched "Versailles Literature Competition" is like a carnival, and all netizens are eager to try and dedicate their own written fanxue paragraphs. Similar to the embarrassment of any small circle of self-amusement being thrown into the field of public opinion, many veteran "mortal scholars" have strangled their wrists: No, this is very extraordinary.
The origin of "Versailles literature"
Rather than saying that "Fanxue" is a kind of Internet literary style, it is better to say that it is a "terrier", this time the public and the media will push Fanxue to the outlet, on the one hand, perhaps this stem is extremely playable, not only poking at the nerves of everyone, everyone can "learn", but also "Be "Versailles", on the other hand, or just this year is slightly depressed, everyone has been bored for a long time.
In July 2020, Southern Weekend published an article titled "Versailles Literature: Imaginations about Identity and Wealth", which was a more in-depth report of the early days of Fanxue. It can be said that at that time, Fanxue was still only a "niche research" within the small circle of netizens "Little Milk Ball" and Douban "Versailles Learning Study Group".
In an earlier interview, Little Milk Ball said, "The initial notice of this phenomenon stemmed from friends complaining to her, and some people described the high-end hotels, luxury goods, and red wines they enjoyed on social platforms every day, and there was a 'faint' sense of superiority between the lines." I found inspiration in the Japanese manga "The Rose of Versailles", which tells the life of the nobles in the Palace of Versailles in France at the end of the 18th century, "I wanted to use this word to mock those people, and they undoubtedly wanted to express a sense of superiority in a 'simple and unpretentious' tone."
Japanese manga artist Riyoko Ikeda's shonen manga "Rose of Versailles"
If you know a little about Little Milk Ball, you will know that she is a "humor blogger". Returning to the "Versailles Open Class" released by Little Milk Ball in May this year, this video that has been circulated with a bunch of "Versailles Literature" and other "Versailles Literature" content will find that this is actually a funny video. In the video, the little milk ball jokingly called himself an "honorary lecturer", produced a rather joyful courseware, a serious description of "what is Versailles", "Versailles is a spirit", but also set up a "I am where I am" class training, in the Fanxue online class, the little milk ball not only has to interact seriously with the "students" who have to take online classes due to the epidemic, but also has a similar review of homework, urging everyone to take notes, class logistics and practice.
Little Milk Ball "Versailles Open Class" video
From the perspective of funny videos, the performance of the little milk ball in the video is very humorous, the classroom atmosphere is imitated beautifully, and to a certain extent, it also mocks those "circle of friends" that we will smile after seeing it in life. The Douban "Versailles Study Group" is more like the "after-school seminar group" of the class, gathering a group of members who study the case of "Fanxue", and everyone may complain about encountering people with high "mortal value" around them, or analyze whether the essence of "Fanxue" is contained in various text paragraphs.
Versailles Study Group Advocates "Studying All Who Doesn't Speak"
Interestingly, 4 months later, Meng Qiqi, a text creator who seems to be regarded as a "research object" by the Fanxue Study Group, has become the spokesperson for Fanxue in the eyes of the public. With the usual tone of the humorous blogger, Little Milk Ball posted that the fanxue who was once the "playground of the spiritual aristocracy" was "dead", and the whole Weibo from text to picture is still hilarious.
Small milk ball Weibo and picture
At this time, "Versailles literature" is no longer simply a funny Internet "meme", as if it is really some kind of network literature.
The essence of all learning is humor and understatement
It is no longer necessary to delve into whether fanxue is the product of humor or a real existence inherited and carried forward by the only pure-blood descendant of the French royal Mary Antony, and now the "stem" and "literature" are like versailles bridges, showing off or self-deprecating, and it is no longer so clear. Up to now, everyone is willing to participate in this "Versailles Literature Competition", willing to "learn from mortals", and willing to "learn the spirit of Versailles".
The essence of Versailles literature, in my personal opinion, is not the accumulation of luxury brands, exotic cities, and foreign language vocabulary in words, nor is it the "troubles" of one's superior life in the mouth of others. In the study of the "lecturer" of the little milk ball and the fan of learning for several months, there is a relative consensus that the high-end "Versailles literature" should make the superior words without a trace, and the expression method should be extremely understated, in order to truly reflect the noble temperament, otherwise, it is like a dream imagination that is seen at a glance.
Speaking of which, it's a bit like the British humor that is known around the world. Whenever American actors burst into tears at the Oscars, or public figures around the world show arrogance, they are easily denigrated and ridiculed by British audiences, and the British themselves often deliberately show embarrassment or discomfort, with self-deprecation and irony to talk to life.
Although the British love self-deprecation, this self-deprecation reveals a certain form of arrogance in their bones, and in "The Unspoken Rules of The Englishman's Words and Deeds", the British anthropologist Kate Fox writes about his compatriots: "The British can see at a glance any sign of self-boasting at a glance twenty steps away, even if it is only a small picture flashing on television, even in a language that we cannot understand, which does not hinder the exertion of this talent." In this way, the British are not only "Versailles" themselves, but also very sensitive to identifying those who are "high in value".
"The Unspoken Rules of The Englishman's Words and Deeds", by Kate Fox and translated by Yao Yunzhu, Life, Reading, and Xinzhi Triptych Bookstore, October 2010
The most rare thing about British humor is their understated and natural expression, and it can be said that the "Versailles" attribute has probably long been integrated with their culture. Kate mentions, "We have strict limits on all kinds of emotions such as excessive enthusiasm, passion, emotional outpouring, and self-aggrandizement." As a result, the British usually treat most of the moments worthy of boasting lightly, and naturally ridicule life, and British humor is everywhere. Kate has several Italian friends who are extremely immersed in British culture, but say that it is too difficult to achieve "British understatement", because the sudden humor of the British in any life scene is never deliberate.
Kate's book mentions two Representatives of the English national phrase: "I know my power." "Got it, don't talk nonsense!" Does it sound quite representative of the british spiritual logic, but also "Versailles" to explode?
The essence of mortal learning is irony and social insight
A further understanding of the spirit of mortal learning may reveal that the Russian writer Chekhov was already well versed in this way. His artistically accomplished humorous short stories depict the social vientiane of the 19th century with witty satire.
Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904
Look at his olga Ivanovna—"Every Wednesday, there is always a party in her house. At these evenings, hostesses and guests do not play cards, do not dance, and borrow various arts for entertainment. The actors of the theater recite, the opera singers sing, the painters paint on the souvenir book, the cellists play the cello, and the hostess herself also paints, sculpts, sings, accompanies. Chekhov added that there were no women in the room, because the lady thought that all women except the actress and her tailor were boring and vulgar. Olga's husband, Dmov, was on par with his "mortal value," and when questioned that he had no interest in art, Dmov responded—"I don't understand them," he said mildly, "and I have devoted my life to the study of natural sciences and medicine, and I have not had the time to take an interest in art." ”
And There is no shortage of such language masters in China, and Presumably their works are already familiar to everyone. I wonder if they can be counted as the originators of mortal learning? We have read the sorrows and joys of Wu Jingzi's Qing Dynasty literati in "The History of Ru Lin", and we have also seen the rise and fall of Yutai Tea House in Lao She's "Tea House", and in Qian Zhongshu's "Siege of the City", we have seen Fang Hong's wandering and success or failure. Speaking of which, in the Fanxue Competition, Qian Zhongshu has already used the Chinese-English penmanship mixed with mockery of returnees, remember a Mr. Zhang who visited Fang Hongwei when he first returned to China? He met with, "Hello! Doctor Fang, long time no see! While displaying the precious porcelain in the cabinet at home, he modestly said: "If the magnet is fake, at least it can also serve vegetables and rice." Sometimes I invite foreign Friends to dinner, so I use that Kangxi kiln 'oil-bottomed blue multicolored' plate to make Salad dish, and they all feel antique, and the taste of the dish is also a bit Old-time. ”
"Siege of the City", by Qian Zhong, People's Literature Publishing House, June 2013 (the first edition was published in 1947 by Shanghai Chenguang Publishing Company)
Of course, these humorous chapters have long been classified as satirical literature and entered the annals of literary history. Whether contemporary people hear from the classics or not, it is ultimately necessary to establish a new way of expressing ridicule, the humor of the little milk ball in the video medium, and the enthusiastic writing of "Versailles literature" on the Internet platform, including the insight into various phenomena in today's society.
To some extent, I tend to think that the core of "Versailles literature" is high-level, as long as it is not satire for the sake of irony, irony and humor are a sharp weapon of language, the great writers who have passed away, with this brushwork, expose the vanity and vassalage of the upper class, expose the bullying of the bureaucracy, torture the corruption of the human heart by money, and spit on the moral corruption of celebrities, behind this, in fact, are full of sympathy of the authors for the poor life of the working people, those who see in the eyes of one era after another. The suffering of the people between social classes.
Irony is also a way of speaking out to awaken the sinking masses of people in society, including you and me.
Lao She left behind some valuable essays, discussing his views on irony and humor, as well as his own creative experience. In "On Irony", Lao She stated that "writers have a sense of justice": "Satire literature is the sharpest criticism, through the artistic image to make everyone clearly see what we support and oppose, how can we not need it?" ”
But just as the popular "exaggeration group" on the Internet will develop into "embarrassing exaggeration", "ridicule" may also develop into "embarrassment". Just as humor and disrespect are only a line apart, sharp irony and malicious slander may not be far apart, and the difference between this is difficult to describe clearly, but I think at least one thing we can tell: sarcasm with a sour taste is usually just the outlet of various emotions, while the satire with insight is somewhat reflective, that is, the public has seen it, thinking of others, thinking of themselves, the afterglow is long, if there are two brushes in the artistic technique, it can also be humorously understated, so that people can't help but torture the soul after hilarity.
Lao She, 1899-1966
Lao She mentioned in "Talking about Humor" that cross-talk is a kind of humor article. "Irony is inseparable from humor, because if one teaches a lesson with a straight face, it loses its irony, and it must humorously attack the flank, making people laugh a few times first, and then touch it carefully, and their faces will turn red." Back to our time, in the hot talk show performances, which of the passages circulating on the Internet, which ones have more vitality, whether they can also be understood.
Speaking of which, Lao She has always been dissatisfied with his satirical novels, and in a speech entitled "Reading and Writing", Lao She said: "Writing satirical novels can only be written unless you are a first-class contemporary writer. For this is what requires the highest wisdom and the sharpest minds. I didn't qualify for any of this, and of course I failed to write it! "Humility is like that.
The middle-class lifestyle is not representative of the masses
Back to Meng Qiqi, who is on the cusp of Fanxue, we can see many strange phenomena, And Meng's Weibo content is obviously "ridiculed" by netizens to the hot search, and is perfectly linked to her own "Fanxue", which is very passive. The original intention of the little milk ball is to take the initiative to mock others, and even laugh at themselves.
Recently, Meng Qiqi's attitude in various interviews, obviously there are many incomprehensions about this sudden "Versailles", for Meng Qiqi, 90% of his words come from the real new middle-class life, saying many details, "Is there anything difficult about such a life?" Just like the female writer who complained before that the property repair pipe was not in time to live in the "TOP5" community, she thought that she was just spitting out the ordinary troubles in life, why was it attacked by the group for its sense of superiority.
Here, I would like to mention the two Swedish ethnologists, Lovegren and Freikman, "The Good Life: A History of Middle-Class Life", although these two authors do not have a purely anthropologically trained perspective, but this work has many reference values for ethnology, anthropology, history, and sociology. After reading this book, you may have a deeper understanding of the "middle class", can the popular "middle class culture" really represent the masses? How are the social facts behind culture constructed? How do humans institutionalize themselves through culture? Can people in the current culture, whether they are "Versailles", "mortal scholars", and you and me, have enough perspective to jump out of the existing cultural experience and objectively examine their lives?
The Good Life, by Ovi Lovegren and Jonathan Freikman, translated by Zhao Bingxiang and Luo Yang, Peking University Press, January 2011
In Sweden, a welfare state with a privileged life, the formation of a middle-class worldview and way of life began only in the 19th century, and the term began to become popular in the 20th century. But interestingly, with the expansion of the Swedish middle class in the 19th century, their unique lifestyles and ideas gradually became the mainstream of Swedish culture, quickly occupying public discourse and influencing people's private lives.
To cite a few typical portrayals of the Swedish middle class in the 19th century, you may be able to re-examine and rethink the growing "new middle class" in our society today.
Discipline time. For the Swedish middle class, the time system is highly rational, needs to be strictly formatted, time is broken down into smaller units, needs to be constantly quantified and standardized, the use of time also needs to be highly specialized, and everything corresponds to a special time and place, because for them time represents value, and the careful use of time is the basis for the refinement of production and labor, and it is also the necessary way for the bourgeoisie to acquire capital and status through work in the process of ascension.
The peasants, then, who work at sunrise and rest at sunset, and live according to the rhythms of nature, are regarded by them as lazy, undisciplined, and wasted time.
Advocating nature. The middle class loves nature-related themes and loves outdoor sports such as mountaineering. In Sweden in the 1750s and 1760s, middle-class living rooms and lounges were filled with exotic, natural motifs, vines on carpets, wild plant motifs, palm trees in the living room, and landscapes around the world were often displayed in the decoration. Roland Barthes pointed out sharply in 1972: "The love of the mountains fits perfectly with the middle-class worldview." "Their early travel guides, almost entirely filled with majestic mountains, exposed canyons, and rushing rapids, represented not only wild and novel, but also loneliness, alienation, freshness and purity." All of this is the unique cultural trait created by the middle class.
Farmers who can "75 names" to the land, fishermen who can call the blue fish in "25 different names", Laplanders who need to "distinguish between 40 different kinds of snow", those who have mastered the knowledge accumulated in natural practice are ignored and no longer praised. Of course, the emerging middle class has to prove the superiority of its knowledge and ideas.
Family happiness. Contemporary people's pursuit of great love has never stopped, and whether it will be thought that it was after the 18th century that the middle class gave marriage a love-based connotation. In an agrarian society, the basic unit of the social landscape is the farm, and the family is the unit of productive labor, and the maintenance between each other is reflected in the labor behavior. After the middle class has achieved social status, the family is no longer a unit of production, but a unit of consumption, in the culture of the middle class, they emphasize the importance of emotions for maintaining the family, "love" is the "glue" between husband and wife, and love is the family atmosphere they hope to build.
The Wedding of Arnolfini, [Dutch] Jan van Eck, 1434
But interestingly, at that time, the Swedish middle-class family, marriage is often an unequal alliance, men need to have a career, social status, real estate, furniture, in order to talk about marriage with women, young women are not familiar with the world, they have to be engaged to "successful people" who are several years older than themselves, they are regarded as innocent, need to be protected under the wings of their husbands, away from the "ugly society", pour energy into building a warm harbor of the family, raising offspring, most of the time, due to separation from society, They have little social common ground with their husbands. Unmarried women, on the other hand, have little chance of starting their own businesses and starting their own families.
Even so, "love" was still the romance, intimacy and affection that the middle class in the 19th century most admired, and was an important part of their new cultural complex. The authors write in the book: "This view reflects not only the middle class's youthful fascination with marriage, but also their new admiration for fraternity." They use this sincerity as a weapon to oppose the profligacy of emotions traditionally by the upper classes. The peasants' more realistic consideration of marriage is naturally regarded as vulgar by the middle class.
What is more interesting is that before the middle class formed the mainstream discourse, that is, in the late 18th century, the old elite of society was the nobility, the "old class" who really lived in Versailles. It is interesting to note that the emerging middle class in Sweden, on the one hand, must oppose the old aristocracy, alienate them, and respect and imitate them.
Thus, in the 19th century, the middle class seemed to be a subculture full of the spirit of struggle against the nobility, even symbolizing freedom and independence. By the end of the 19th century, the aristocracy had become a weak social class, and when the Swedish middle class merged with it socially and culturally, and quickly occupied the upper echelons of society, things became different. "An expanding class began to define its own way of life and ideas as 'Swedish culture' or even 'human nature', accompanied by its attempts to colonize and transform the cultures of other social groups that they regarded as representatives of the earth-like culture and even the lack of culture," the authors say. ”
The author refers to "other social groups", including peasants and working classes, in fact, in the author's eyes, "middle-class culture" still has the nature of "cultural hegemony".
Is history repeating itself for China's new middle class in the 21st century? Various imaginary imaginations of high society and a better life, the constructed lifestyles and values, surround the new middle class, and consumption, nature, and art are gradually reduced to empty packaging. And are they the masses? I think they are only a small group of people, whether in history or in the world, from any point of view.
No one can enter the life of the other by imagination
When the new middle class enjoys a life that really works for itself, where does it need to be criticized?
Probably because if they jump out of this good life of less than a few decades, look at the past, or just in our land, look at the life of people who have become "others" to them, this kind of "understatement" of showing off or complaining, it is a bit rude; but obviously the angle also varies from person to person, many people like meng Qiqi wrote "romance", which represents a good life with money, status, and love, and the creator himself also said that girls should be as ambitious, hardworking, and can have all this as I do.
In short, one of the cornerstones of a middle-class worldview is control and economy. Controlling yourself and using emotions, money, and time economically are all necessary. They see themselves as representatives of a newer, better social system ruled by reason and morality. This worldview gives the central role to the individual: 'Create your own life!' Thus, the story of Meng Qiqi and the TOP5 female writers seems to be told as an inspirational story of struggling to take root in the big city and meeting good relatives.
Naturally, as the members of the Versailles study group put it, "People are really getting richer now." "For everyone who still has a vision for a better life, he has achieved small achievements in life, and when he hopes to show it, he will also find that the sentences he once issued in the circle of friends have a strong sense of mortal learning." I probably also pretended to be careless in my speech in the circle of friends, but when I was doing fieldwork in the northern countryside, I personally saw people wrapped in cotton clothes and beanies in the market, "10 pieces!" "7 pieces!" "10 pieces!" "7 pieces!" When the utensils of life are bargaining and arguing, I think when I want Versailles, I should blush and converge.
Returning to the Swedish middle class in The Good Life, the author mentions that most of the ancestors of the 19th-century Swedish middle class came from rural societies, they were farmers, farmers, craftsmen, but for many Swedes, it is difficult for them to understand that their ancestors experienced a life of "enduring hunger, disease, and poor living conditions, and exchanging the sweat of their foreheads for daily bread."
This forgetting is not the intention of the new generation, but the "poor days of the Swedes" no longer have grandparents or parents to tell for the next generation, and the children and grandchildren living in Sweden, a welfare country with abundant material conditions, cannot experience the hardships of the old days. For them, the countryside and nature are full of dreamy imaginations, and those backward health and medical conditions are hidden by the one-sidedness of longing. Yes, this group, which in the 19th century had already constructed a "middle class" culture and deeply influenced the culture of the world, now a casual description of their ordinary life would be enough to be "Versailles literature".
In Britain, the language and pronunciation of speech, what words are used, and how they are used, can reveal information about the status of social classes, and the British say, "As soon as he opens his mouth, I can see through him." Kate said so humorously in The Unspoken Rules of the British: "All Britons, whether they admit it or not, fall into some kind of social global class satellite positioning system that, as soon as he or she speaks, immediately tells us where the person is on the class map." ”
Therefore, whether it is the middle class trying to imitate the elegance of the Versailles aristocracy, or trying to show sympathy for the toiling masses, "why not eat meat", it is too easy to expose. The global social divide is becoming more and more serious, and the cultural gap between different groups of people is not only between rich and poor. For anthropological research, it is difficult to do the research of high society, the funds required to enter the field are too high, the energy is roughly equivalent to one's own origin and history of struggle, and all the research on the culture of others, if not years, yes, not months, not weeks, long-term personal participation, life, and strong empathy, it is difficult to draw results and conclusions. But anthropology still gives us a perspective on the other, trying to cross the gulf between different groups of people:
Maintaining openness, understanding, vigilance, and self-examination of every way of life is not an easy subject, and it is not easy to judge and judge the lives of others, but at least, we can always live with an attitude of tolerance and respect for others, and when talking about the culture in which we live, we are less superior and proud; when we show off in the Versailles style of others, we have more peace of mind to rejoice for others. And most importantly, when you are on your way to the good life you are looking forward to, always remember to leave a space and resources for people with different lifestyles, after all, there is no difference between high and low cultures, if the Eskimos are gone, if the earth is one day covered by glaciers, none of us will know how to survive in the ice and snow.
Editor-in-Charge: Shanshan Peng
Proofreader: Yan Zhang