Chapter 7 Chapter Seven Jin Yong's Kitsch and Kitsch Yu Qiuyu

Lao Xia: The pursuit of fashion in academia and academic schools is not inferior to popular culture at all. It was like this in the 1980s, and it didn't make much progress in the 1990s.Some people say that the academic world has turned from the impetuosity of the 1980s to the calmness and maturity of the 1990s.The so-called "thinking fades out, academics stand out".It's actually all the same thing.The academia in the 1990s was not as good as it was in the 1980s, because the academia in the 1990s was as heartless as popular culture, and even those with a little brain were smart.One of the characteristics of popular culture is hype, following the ever-changing fashion, today this song is popular, tomorrow that song is popular; today's idol is Andy Lau, tomorrow is Zhou Huajian, the rankings are changing every week.What about academia?Its pace of change is no less fast than that of popular culture, with theoretical stars and methods changing every now and then.Postmodernism today, Derrida, Orientalism tomorrow, Said.

Today is localization, tomorrow is standardization; today is neo-conservatism, tomorrow is the new left; today is efficiency economics, and tomorrow is institutional economics.I think the pace of change between the two is parallel, but the coverage of popular culture is wide, while the academic circle is relatively small.But its a popular way.There is no real difference between the rhythm of updates and the alternation of trends.Wang Yichuan, a Ph.D. and professor at Beijing Normal University, must have been stimulated by the music rankings in popular culture, and came up with a ranking of modern and contemporary Chinese literature, which is ridiculous.

Wang Shuo: He raised Jin Yong very high, let Jin Yong kick Mao Dun away, and became a classic.Yan Jiayan, a professor at Peking University, also said that Jin Yong is a classic.I annoyed him by saying a few words to Jin Yong.In his speech at Beijing Normal University, he specifically talked about my criticism of Jin Yong. He didn’t care about it when he talked about it.This is also of the same nature as the personal attacks of popular culture.In the end, it must be said that he is not commenting on Jin Yong, but a personal praise of Jin Yong.I only talked about Jin Yong's novels, and Yan Jiayan defended Jin Yong's novels as classics, and followed him to defend Jin Yong.He still specializes in the study of modern literary history, so why did he look like a loyal gang of buddies.What does Patten have to do with martial arts novels?Rejecting Patten has nothing to do with being able to write a good novel.As soon as he gets to the character, he also moves from one topic to another like the spread of popular culture, and finally he stops when he reaches the human body.

Old Xia: They do have many things in common.Wang Yichuan must be very proud of making Jin Yong a classic.How can Jin Yong's novels become literary classics.At most, it is a classic of martial arts, and it is almost the same as a martial arts novel.In Jin Yong's books, except for a few punches, the characters are all fake, and he doesn't have a deep understanding of Chinese culture, it's just superficially lively.Besides, the gangsters in Liangshan can be ranked, pop songs can have charts, and Hollywood movies can be ranked at the box office, but academics are such a thing.How can truth be ranked?As a professor in the academy, why don't you even need the basics of common sense?Truth cannot rely on democratic voting, nor can it rely on rankings, only the size of power and the number of box office can rank seats.

Wang Shuo: You said that Jin Yong, including Yu Qiuyu and others, are considered very educated. It is obvious that they are familiar with some old Chinese books, such as classics, Buddha, Taoism, Qu Yuan, Ji Kang, Su Dongpo... …but isn’t that all they say?That is morality and justice.Good and evil retribution, this has been the case for thousands of years, this kind of thinking.They think that this is still the way of thinking in China today, as if this is enough.It's so old-fashioned, what's the point of hanging more book bags.People like Yu Qiuyu, who didn't know or knew a little about traditional culture like me at the beginning, were very fascinated by his concern for the country and the people, and you would think he was very decent.Very upright, as if being a human being should be like this, at least he seems to be serious about some things.Later I read what Zhu Dake wrote about Yu Qiuyu, saying that he wrote about cultural lipsticks and cultural condoms, and that he was actually as sensational as a singer.In fact, traditional culture can also provide a lot of flattery. As long as you are familiar with this thing, as long as you look at what is good and what is good, you can make anything into flattery. Ah... reflected in the sales is the selling point, every aspect needs this, and the common people also want this.They can only be more accepted by people if they flaunt themselves and elevate everything to the level of national wounds.Maybe China has been full of flattery in recent years, but Yu Qiuyu's kind of worry flattery is lacking, so he is urgently needed, and he just travels around the mountains and rivers with ease, lying at his desk with anxiety.

Old Xia: There are even more disgusting things. Generally, people who talk about Yu Qiuyu never pay attention.Yu Zhizhong frequently mentions officials, the mayor of such and such, the director of such and such, etc., and after feeling the feelings of the ancients, he finally mentions the current behavior of mayor of such and such as the finishing touch. Isn't it the contemporary successor of the ancient people's anxiety?Absolutely spot on and terribly clever. Wang Shuo: What do you think is the difference between academicism and mass culture?Has someone like Yu Qiuyu appeared in the past?

Lao Xia: I think his obsequiousness inherits the root-seeking literature of the 1980s." Wang Shuo: With Yu Qiuyu's writing style, writing like this, and pretending to be cultural, it seems that there are not many people. Old Xia: It seems that it has never happened before.A friend of mine said that when he heard about Yu Qiuyu, he thought he was from Taiwan. The little things that are fart have also become the wounds of the nation.It was actually an abscess on "Ah Q's" head. Wang Shuo: Maybe it's because the name is so sensational, Qiu Yu... feels a bit miserable.

Old Xia: To put it bluntly, Yu Qiuyu's stuff is Qiong Yao of traditional culture, and he interprets traditional culture in the way of Qiong Yao.That kind of little love, with tears shining, is a bit of the loyalty of the hero and heroine, and the spirit of the coast guard.A few days ago, I read Duan Liu Zaifu's essay "Ask the Canghai" with my daughter-in-law at home.The language is similar to Yu Qiuyu's. The empty and lyrical passages remind me of Yang Shuo, Liu Baiyu, Wei Wei's prose, and Gorky's prose poems that have been included in middle school Chinese textbooks. This style of writing has an impact on Chinese prose writing very big.

The ending of previous articles often has something like "let the storm come harder".It's just that in Yu Qiuyu's words, there are a little more soft words from Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as "I am eagerly looking forward to", and the whole thing is a pop song. Wang Shuo: I think mass culture is the same all over the world.There is no essential difference between the West and China.There is a kind of secular care in popular culture, and there are some things that can touch people for a long time, such as things in romance novels, and middle-aged women are eager to move after watching "The Bridge of Madison County".For example, exciting things, Jin Yong's martial arts, Hollywood horror movies, Hong Kong and Taiwan kung fu movies, people who are really interesting, watching these will definitely be annoying.But the general public needs this kind of touching, just like housewives need oil, salt, sauce, vinegar tea every day, and white-collar workers need famous brand suits, ties and leather shoes.

Lao Xia: The difference between popular culture and elite culture is difficult to distinguish clearly in China. But in the West, there is an easier-to-see line between what is mass culture and what is not.It is not a work that has great influence and spread widely, which is called popular culture. For example, Ginsberg's long poem "Howl" in the 1950s actually sold more than 500,000 copies, which is also an astronomical figure in the history of poetry.The popularity of this poem has something to do with the bewildered turmoil of the young generation after World War II.But you can hardly say that Ginsberg's poems are popular culture.He has now become a must-read for liberal arts college students and has become a classic.In China, both popular culture and elite culture are moving closer to the mainstream, so you can't tell the difference between the localization trend in academia and the pseudo-folk production of popular culture.Actually there is no difference.

Wang Shuo: They coincide with each other.As soon as you enter the mass culture, you will have the feeling of being raped by prostitution, involuntary, and following along.However, as time passed, the initial shame gradually disappeared, leaving only enjoyment... money.The name, the applause of the flowers and beauties, the feeling of the stars and the moon can't help you. Old Xia: Yes.The same is true in academia.Of course, rhetoric in academia is more superficially serious than popular culture, such as get Said, Orientalism, and cultural hegemony.Discourse power.Discourse hegemony.New authoritarianism... In recent years, there have been continuous discussions about Chinese literature going to the world. Why can't Chinese literature win the Nobel Prize for Literature?It seems that our literature has reached that level long ago, and we are not given ethnic discrimination that is the hegemony of Western culture.Only the Chinese can go to this level to discuss why their own writers did not win the Nobel Prize for Literature.This hype is more disgusting than mass culture.It turns out that there is always talk about Chinese culture being hot in China, and I really thought that Chinese works were all the rage abroad.But as soon as I went abroad, I realized that this was just wishful thinking. I made up the collision between Chinese culture and Western culture, and there was nothing like that at all.Not to mention contemporary writers, even Lu Xun, foreign young people, and university liberal arts students don't know who Lu Xun is.But in China, there are a few liberal arts students who don't know Hemingway.What does it mean to go to the world? Only when your works go beyond the professional circle of sinology and go to other people's cultural markets, like Hemingway's popularity in China, can it be called going to the world.Isn't it ridiculous that just a few sinologists messed around in a small circle and made Chinese cultural people fascinated, thinking that they were well-known in the United States?Besides, sinologists read you and study you as a profession and a job, and it has little to do with the influence of Chinese culture outside. Taking a step back, to resist Western hegemony, you must have moral and material strength.The Charter of the United Nations is written in accordance with liberal values, and the rules of the World Trade Organization are set in accordance with the principles of free market and free trade. The G8, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and NATO, all systems that can influence the overall situation of the world are governed by the West. people control.This is not just military hegemony or political hegemony.cultural hegemony.Discursive hegemony is, most fundamentally, institutionalized hegemony. The construction of globalized institutions in today's world is based on Western rules.In terms of culture, theoretical research is also good, and movies.Be it literature or painting, the commanding heights are in the hands of the West.The three major European film awards, the Oscars.Grammy Music Awards.The Venice Annual Exhibition, the Nobel Prize, and even the highest honor award in sports are in the hands of Westerners, such as the Owens Award.World Footballer.European Footballer etc.This institutionalized global hegemony of the West is due to its strength.Even if you have a passion, you are an upright patriot, you have no strength, just shouting slogans to fight against others, isn't it the Boxer Regiment at the end of the century? Wang Shuo: As an individual, Chinese people today don’t love anything but themselves. When it comes to a specific person, he is unwilling to pluck a hair for the motherland, but he can use patriotism to satisfy his own self-interest.