The Paper's reporter Wang Qianni intern Zhao Mengyuan
Li Jing is a young writer, her new work "Renewing the Self: Individual Discourse in Contemporary Cultural Phenomena" (hereinafter referred to as "Renewing the Self") carefully reads the literary and cultural phenomena of the past decade Chinese mainland, such as "Sister Riding the Wind and Waves", "Youth Has You", "Sound into people's hearts", "All is Good", "The Distance Between Us and Evil" and "New Female Writing", and sorts out a contemporary empirical history of writing and reproducing "self", and examines a series of cultural phenomena such as "pan CP culture" and others have made quite original analysis.
He Guimei, a professor at the Department of Chinese of Peking University, believes that the object of discussion of "Renewing Yourself" is novel at present, involving various cultural phenomena such as literature, TV dramas, variety shows, and new literary and artistic practices in the Internet era, and is an in-depth exploration, depiction and reflection on Chinese mass culture and humanistic phenomena in the past decade. Mao Jian, a professor at the International Chinese Culture College of East China Normal University, commented: "Li Jing used the flesh to think about new mechanisms, new aesthetics and new ideas at this moment, and in the era of theoretical pasting, she threw away the standardized script and wrote the youth version of 'I come, I see, I conquer'. ”
A few days ago, the surging news interviewed Li Jing, in her eyes, what kind of group are "star-chasing" women, and are contemporary women more rational about love or more "love brain"? What insight does she have on the construction of "women's writing" and "women's communities"?
dictate
Is "true feeling" star chasing the original sin of contemporary women?
"Pan CP culture" is a phenomenon that I pay special attention to in my new book "Renewing Myself". CP, the so-called "pairing", has a variety of relationship forms. CP powder can either snort "paper people" (i.e. virtual characters) or real people. The "pan-CP culture" emphasizes that this behavior extends from the two-dimensional field to a wider range of online and offline life scenarios, and is generally accepted as a mode of thinking and emotion.
The biggest attraction of CP is that it can temporarily forget all the problems in reality, and freely imagine and experience a period of equal, romantic, and idealized intimate relationships. Even if the emotional relationship between many CP fans in reality is not bad, it does not hinder their imaginary pursuit of a more complete state.
It's easy to see that CP fans are almost all women. Entertainment industries such as film and drama with women as the main audience are the "fertile soil" for CP, so it is not surprising that CP fans are mostly women.
In recent years, women's enthusiasm for CP has become a remarkable phenomenon. One sociological explanation is that women (especially East Asian women) are still in a weak position in the family, marriage, and workplace, and are still the objects of patriarchal cultural domination, repression, and gaze. Compared with men in a gender dominant position, women bear such "real trauma" and are more eager for equal and complete emotional relationships, and CP culture offers precisely this possibility.
In this kind of imagination, even if there is no lack of guidance from all aspects such as "official matching", women can still feel that they have flipped into masters and have the opportunity to create and narrate stories. Here, "equality" and "control" are key. For example, when I analyzed the music variety show "Sound into People's Hearts" in the book, I mentioned the phenomenon of "full CP".
Some contestants in "Sound into People's Hearts"
The reason why the fans are tireless is because the level of the players' business is evenly matched, and there are enough people, and the relationship between them is intricate, providing a large enough space for combinations. Fans can make up countless sweet story lines through "LaLang Match", from the bits and pieces of CP daily interaction and even blank space. True or false is less important, as long as the subjective perception is "real", can meet the emotional needs. Compared with the intimate relationships that face many difficulties in reality, the "sweetness" and "purity" of CP are higher, and even if the final be (bad ending), the cost is much smaller. Cp is therefore really a typical microcosm of contemporary spiritual life: in a modern society full of uncertainty and mobility, the increasingly atomized individual is so enthusiastic and cautiously engaged in emotional utopias, or intoxicated, or resisted, opening up new possibilities for digital survival.
In the current star-chasing behavior, there is another interesting phenomenon, that is, "clay sculpture". "Clay sculpture" is the harmonic sound of "reverse Sue", that is, the abbreviation of reverse Mary Sue, which refers specifically to reversing the physiological sex of the fantasy object and giving it the temperament of the opposite gender. From a purely conceptual point of view, clay sculpture should be the most radical, rebellious, and most direct challenge to the binary gender system, reflecting the more open gender attitude of the younger generation. However, if we look at the actual situation, we will find that the seemingly liberating behavior of "clay sculpture" is often mapping and copying the unequal power order.
The most famous example in this regard is the "227 Incident" in the rice circle that aroused widespread concern in society in 2020, and the trigger was that in the same humanistic creation, Xiao Zhan was "clay sculpture" as a hair salon sister, which caused strong dissatisfaction among the fan group. We often see female artists being called "husbands", but fans of male artists, including CP fans, are mostly very resistant to the behavior of "feminizing" their idols. The masculinization of female artists is rarely opposed, but it is regarded as a legitimate demand to resist the feminization of male artists. Supporting the masculinization of female artists, or opposing the feminization of male artists, is actually two sides of the same coin, following the same logic: misogyny.
In other words, they believe that women and men each have some essential gender characteristics, and femininity is lower than male characteristics, so "femininity" is equivalent to self-degrading identity. In fact, misogyny is also a suppression of men, men must be masculine, must have manhood, which is also a deprivation of men's freedom.
Of course, some artists will also deliberately cater to the clay sculpture psychology of fans, creating wives/husbands to absorb traffic and harvest dividends. Creating a wife/husband is nothing less than another "wealth code".
Speaking of which, let's talk about the star-chasing behavior itself in general. Because the proportion of women in the star-chasing group is relatively high, the "rice circle women" are often used as a weapon of gender discrimination by men, and the observation of the fan group culture has become the basis for accusations against "women are brainless and irrational" in the field of public opinion. Without any understanding, they subconsciously refer to female star chasing as brainless and irrational, which is obviously unreasonable. This is another example of sexism, and another reinforcement of long-standing gender stereotypes, behind which is a certain sense of superiority and self-confirmation.
I think that star-chasing behavior is actually a combination of sensibility and rationality. The emotional side is well understood, and fans are involved in order to obtain a real sense of substitution, from a bystander to a participant, who can deeply participate in or even control their emotional relationship with their idols and obtain more realistic emotional satisfaction. The so-called idols are the result of the superposition of fiery imaginations. The capital, platform and brokerage teams are naturally well versed in this and are good at using human design to obtain benefits. However, once the transformation of human design or even the collapse of human design, there is a deviation from the image imagined by fans, helping it to soar in traffic, and it will become a black hole that swallows it up.
The rational side means that fans know very well how to "cultivate" idols, are familiar with the rules of the entertainment industry, and are good at social mobilization and self-organization, so as to successfully achieve the purpose of expanding the influence of their idols. It can be said that the repeated stigmatization of star-chasing behavior comes from the superposition of multiple forces, which is not only subject to gender stereotypes, but also affected by the chaos of the fan circle, and inevitably carries the limit of "outsider". It is difficult for people who do not follow stars to understand the emotional intensity and "addiction" of star chasers. And that kind of personalized and even somewhat mysterious mental journey is destined to be shared only within the circle, and there are almost two worlds inside and outside the circle.
Therefore, there is no need to overly glorify the star-chasing behavior because of the mentality of confrontation or proof; there is no need to be too conceited to "point out the country" and ignore the rationality and initiative of fans. What I am more wary of is the trap of overly "gendered" thinking. The path dependence of genderization often leads to the discussion of all issues ending in the mutual attack between the two sexes, shrinking the problem only to the perspective of gender. There is no point in denying the importance of a gender perspective, but only stressing that this is not the whole story.
Star chasing involves many levels, including personal emotional satisfaction, social organization mobilization, capital operation and business model, etc., which are inevitably intertwined. In the book, I analyze the manipulation of fan emotions by capital and the various chaos that breeds on the edge of law and morality, and try to look at star-chasing behavior from a more public perspective.
In the operation of the rice circle industry, it is necessary to create a fanatical, sticky, and willing audience for uncontrolled consumption, which is not necessarily related to gender. And when capital needs to "make stars" to circle money, its "star-chasing" behavior will only be more barbaric and crazier. Therefore, the spearhead should not only be aimed at gender differences, but also have a more comprehensive and structural vision, as well as more specific and meticulous investigation and research.
"The pressure of gender confrontation has shifted to within the female community"
I also touched on the issue of internal differences and solidarity among women in the book. On the one hand, when there is a common "enemy", it is often easy to unite. But more often, in the face of small and everyday differences in ideas, it often leads to constant divisions. The pressure of gender confrontation and the urgency brought about by the gender cultural situation will shift to the female group, and the tearing between the same sex will be even more painful.
But I think this is not only a question of advanced and backward, but also a question of whether diversity can be tolerated, that is, whether it can "seek common ground while reserving differences" to complete the liberation of women as a composite. Women are plural, subject to class, age, region, economic strength, cultural level and other aspects of the regulations, women's sorrow and joy are not necessarily everywhere common.
Moreover, why don't women internalize the sense of patriarchy and the sense of misogyny? The logic of palace fight dramas, that is, to use other women as their potential opponents, is not uncommon in reality. In an online, decentralized online environment, where both identity and dissimilarity are more extreme, gender war is unfolding in a powerful form.
So, whether it is possible to form a benign dialogue and understanding mechanism that can not only make the voice of the woman as a whole, but also understand each unique "she", at this stage, it is indeed quite difficult. Perhaps the whole society has to go through what Weber called the conceptual "battle of the gods", and it is precisely to expose all kinds of voices in order to gradually gain clarity and sobriety.
But at least there is one thing that can be worked on, and that is to be cautious about the application of doctrines, theories and ideas. I have observed that some people, once they have accepted a certain theory of "liberation", will mechanically apply it and stop thinking concretely. If we return more to the matter itself than to stop at conceptual disputes, to think more deeply about how to practice, to land, to maintain the mutual assistance relationship between theory and reality, if we do not just sit and talk about the "Tao" with moral anger, but work in a direction that is both critical and constructive, we will definitely change the current situation.
Here I would like to mention a work with a distinct feminist stance, the Korean drama "Spring Night". The picture of a community in which women understand and support each other in the play is very moving because of its idealization. The handling of the writer and director does not levitate, but lays out many clues that can be established. For example, the eldest sister in "Spring Night" has long endured domestic violence and becomes pregnant under sexual violence. After the mother learned of the child's encounter, while preparing small dishes for her at home, she could not help but cry bitterly, and at the same time wrote a card with the most solemn strokes: "You are already an excellent mother." ——Li Shuren's mother, Shen Xinshan. "The mother and daughter's respective struggles and mutual support make this scene not only a highlight moment in the whole play, but also deeply rooted in the rationality of life itself."
A card written by a mother to her daughter in Spring Nights
I discussed this Korean drama in the book to emphasize the value of this kind of creation, that is, to help break our fixed imagination of women's relationships, and the benign communication mechanism between women is put on the table as a possibility, giving it concreteness. It cannot be completely equated with reality, or directly provide answers to reality, but it can sow some positive ideas, emotional seeds, and some desires and methods for good.
The heroine of Spring Night (right) and her sister
Gender perceptions are changing, and positive and deepening thinking has begun to be made about the relationship between women. One of Wang Anyi's novellas, "Brothers," impressed me deeply, that "brothers" actually refers to a pair of close female friends who talk about nothing and seem indestructible. But when one of them has a family and children, he inadvertently reveals that they have long been crucified in their own small families, and they can no longer be as intimate as before.
After reading it, I was very sad and felt that the hard things that blocked each other in the formation of the female community, such as male domination, family system, social division of labor, social and cultural constraints, and so on. We can go further if we can see more clearly what contributes to and hinders women's unity, rather than simply attributing them to abstract, moralized conclusions.
In recent years, telling the story of the women's community has become a hot topic, and many excellent works have been introduced and produced, but there is no shortage of speculative works. The audience likes to see this theme, so they get together to "feed" them, and I am very disgusted by this content production routine that is rampant by "currying favor" and obtaining benefits. Moreover, the object and main audience of such works are also women. Showcasing the collective plight of women seems to be increasingly derived into "feminine" content production, thus delineating the boundaries of its influence.
It is worth investigating deeply, especially in the field of mass culture such as film and drama, the popularity of women's themes is mainly because women are the main consumers and topic makers, and women are still tools, not goals. This brings a paradox, women's theme fever is actually only a reflection of the relationship between supply and demand, has nothing to do with gender, only with traffic and revenue. This also once again confirms the weak position of women, which is harmful to the newly germinated process of gender consciousness.
As for how to expand the significance of women's themes, first of all, the works must be excellent, not only attracting people with hot topics, nor just limiting themselves to expressing the "political correctness" of gender, but to explore and reproduce the reality of the situation itself. The female dilemma is not isolated, it necessarily involves multifaceted relationships, or there is what Bourdieu calls a "field.". If it is expressed well enough, it can attract more attention.
Contemporary women as "historical intermediaries"
I also talked about "love" in Renewing Myself. The position and expression of love is also an important representation of the spirit of the times. As women become more aware that their gender identity leads to higher sunk costs in love and marriage, they become more cautious before entering intimate relationships, so that prudence turns negative. This is a "difficult love era", do we still need to actively choose "troublesome" love and marriage?
First of all, it is too necessary for women to have a clear understanding and expression of the cost of love and marriage. Of course, this clear cognition should develop in the direction of "gender conception maturity", rather than "calculation" or "exquisite egoism" that leads to equivalent exchange.
As a woman, I want to share two details of my life. One is that my mother once said that after I was born, she had mixed feelings when she saw that I was a girl. She doesn't have the slightest patriarchal complex, but the fact that I'm a girl makes her feel sad that her children will bear everything that this gender brings with them, just like her. The second is that she did not start to give birth like other relatives since I was first married. She would tell me about the price women pay in the process of childbearing and nurturing. I asked her about her mental journey at that time, and she said that everything seemed to be logical back then, and no one would think that this was a problem that needed to be tangled. So I think that being able to "see" and "narrate" women's efforts and risks in love and marriage today is a very important part of the progress of gender concepts.
Under the premise of seeing the risk, whether to take the initiative to choose, of course, is the freedom of the individual. But more importantly, women should at least stop being kidnapped by the "social clock" and blindly throw themselves into love and marriage that "have to do". Instead, on the basis of self-knowledge and self-love, we must choose the way we devote ourselves to and even leave, and constantly adjust our position, rather than being bound by external standards. In the process, we also have to refresh our understanding of many issues, such as gender division of labor, housework, maternal work, patriarchy, nuclear family, and so on.
And this is a long process, and our generation of women and even future generations of women happen to be the product of the transition, or the "middle of history". The term "intermediate" comes from Lu Xun's "Written Behind the Grave", which states that "in the chain of evolution, everything is an intermediate". Contemporary women should be conceived and opened up a new road in the traditional gender concept system, from breaking to standing, and building while criticizing. It's quite long and difficult, especially requiring a sober, tenacious, and intelligent and sustained effort.
Presumably, everyone has noticed the boom in women's themes in the book publishing market in recent years, as well as the activity of female writers. I also discussed the "New Women's Writing" album organized by Zhang Li of Beijing Normal University in the book. In the process of reading this album, I was awakened by the sharp brushstrokes of female writers, who dared to dissect and clean up their deep expectations of romantic love. In this regard, these works resonate with Chizuru No's view: "Romantic love may liberate a daughter from the 'power of the father', but on the other hand it will make her fall into the 'power of the husband'", and the so-called "love" "is actually a mechanism for women to use the purpose of their husband as their own purpose in order to mobilize their own energy.".
So to be precise, the New Women's Writing denies the mechanism of exploitation and male domination in the name of love, and reflects on the self-pua of women.
"New Women Writing" album
But this does not mean ending the search for a good relationship between the sexes. For example, an article in the album "Little Porcelain Talks about the Past" recalls the growth process of an ordinary female Xiao Porcelain in three marriages, and she finally harvested a complete love and marriage from her third husband. The biggest difference between the third husband and the previous two is that he neither negates Xiao Porcelain everywhere, nor tries to manipulate her, but respects her from the bottom of his heart and hopes that she can truly realize himself: "Just work hard towards your heart." Just be yourself. A good self definitely contains a good daughter-in-law. Therefore, what should be discarded is the kind of "love" that induces women to make unconditional sacrifices and sacrifices; what should be built is an emotional community that fully releases the value of both sexes and is built on top of two independent souls.
Women find solace in a variety of ways, not only from their ideal partner, but also from their favorite books, jobs, hobbies, or even just from themselves. Moreover, many online and offline women's support organizations will also provide practical support.
I believe that long-term women's writing and reading is an effective way to change gender perceptions, in addition to women's continuous voice in the public sphere, building their own field, men should also consciously renew themselves, so that men's gender concepts can further grow.
Now there is an increasingly extreme trend of "purification" in gender discussions on the Internet, constantly dividing and rejecting dissident forces. Wars between the sexes, wars within the sexes, are very frequent. Objectively speaking, men, as the dominant party in both sexes, are more difficult to change. Therefore, the most important thing is to let men also realize that the progress of gender concepts and the realization of gender equality are liberating for both sexes, and vice versa, it is a huge harm to both sexes. The misogynistic complex is also a discipline and violence against men, a common oppression of both sexes. For example, with the rise of women's consciousness, if some men still stay in the old gender concept, it will be very unfavorable to their marriage and family.
Improving men's gender concept will be a longer systematic project, which needs to be reshaped from national policies, school education, family education, and daily life. The ultimate goal is to cultivate a gender culture of mutual respect, seeking common ground while reserving differences and mutual recognition between the sexes.
Editor-in-Charge: Liang Jia
Proofreader: Luan Meng