当青春成为最后的乌托邦 ：探析 "小字辈" 文本所影射的文化现象 = When youth becomes the last utopia : a study of the 'tiny texts' cultural phenomena

• Main Author: 王捷灵 Ong, Cerys Jie Ling
• Other Authors: Ting Chun Chun
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: Chinese
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Humanities::Literature::Chinese
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146937
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

本文以分析近十年来在华语文娱市场流行的几个小字辈文本(名称包含 “小”字的文本)作为切入点，探讨它们共同的价值取向以及文化意涵。这些文本 主要的生产以及消费者皆为青年，在内容方面推崇过好“小日子”，抓住“小确 幸”为理想的生活模式，并且在美学形式上采用“小清新”的唯美风格。总体而 言，这些文本体现一种拒绝长大与遮蔽劳动现实的逃避倾向，但本文将以社会批判 性的角度去理解这种倾向背后所隐藏的现实问题。当代青年文化偏向这类内容及审 美，表面上折射出青年某种自我沉溺的精神状态，也同时透露他们对于自身状况以 及所处世界的消极态度。本研究透过挖掘青年这个特定群体在华人社会中的角色衍 变与其意义，来进一步解释这种态度的两面性。最后，本文将试图探究小清新的美 学风格可以如何被转化以及诠释,成为一股重新联结大时代的力量。This paper analyses “tiny texts” (texts beginning with “xiao” meaning “tiny” in Chinese) that have proliferated in the Chinese cultural entertainment market over the past ten years. By interpreting them as social texts—observing them in the socio-political and economic context that gave rise to the texts—the commonalities within and around these texts serve as a point of departure for investigation of the larger cultural phenomena they represent. The paper discerns that the Youth are the main producers and consumers of these texts, which tend to endorse the mentality of seizing “tiny luck” (xiao que xing) while looking upon the "little life" (xiao ri zi) of social and political apathy as an ideal life model. In terms of aesthetics, tiny texts frequently adopt the style of “little fresh” (xiao qing xin). These texts contain recurring themes such as the refusal of “growing up” and avoidance of labour, reflecting an escapist attitude alluding to underlying tensions and realities which this paper seeks to critically examine. The paper argues that demand for such self-indulgent content and aesthetics embodied by tiny texts instead reflect the Youth’s state of atomization and helplessness. This study further explains such duality by exploring the evolving significance of the Youth and their role in the Chinese society. Finally, the paper attempts to discover how the "little fresh" aesthetic can be redefined and repurposed into a force that reconnects the individual with society.