To treat the aesthetics of "girls", it is necessary to conform to the laws of physical and mental development of young people
Liu Haiming (Professor and Doctoral Supervisor of Chongqing University)
Each era has its own aesthetic preferences.
Due to the biased aesthetic taste, subcultures in history can be described as one after another.
In our country, whether it is "the king of Chu has a slender waist" in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, or the plump body in the Tang Dynasty, or the "sick plum" phenomenon in the Jiangnan area described by Gong Zizhen in the Qing Dynasty, all witness the phenomenon of subcultures in different eras. .
Although it is said that "know the history to learn from the past, and check the ancients to the present", it is also difficult to avoid the arrival of new subcultures by "knowing the history" and "checking the ancients".
The so-called "girly" aesthetic is a subculture that has emerged in recent years.
In September 2021, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television issued a document requesting to "resolutely put an end to abnormal aesthetics such as 'girls'".
A few days ago, at the TV drama creation symposium held by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, the aesthetics of "Niangpao" was included in the list of firm boycotts.
When "oil head, powder face, A4 waist, artificial orchid finger" has become a fashion, I don't know how many parents and teachers are worried about it, so that the relevant management departments also attach great importance to the problems caused by this subculture.
To treat the subculture of "girls", it is not enough to sternly reprimand and resolutely resist, it is also necessary to trace the social and cultural soil that caused this aesthetic.
The traditional family education structure of strict fathers and loving mothers basically guarantees the harmony of yin and yang in gender education.
Since the reform and opening up, with the acceleration of social industrialization in our country, the number of rural adult male migrant workers has increased, while the time spent at home by urban adult males has also decreased, and the phenomenon of yin and yang imbalance in gender education has become increasingly prominent.
What connects the home is the TV show.
Now, TV programs have become the "second mentor" of teenagers. From cartoons to entertainment programs, they are very popular. Many children are looking for their own life mentors from the TV screen.
In order to cater to the young people's worship of stars, the singers, movie stars and hosts created by TV programs are also adapting to the family education model of yin and yang.
As the French scholar Talde said: "Society is made up of a group of people, and the many similarities they show are caused by imitation or anti-imitation." For children who grew up in front of the TV, the " There are many "Niangxing", and they naturally become replicas of idols. The dress and behavior of "Niangxing" are "mass-produced" from the outside to the inside for young audiences who meet the aesthetics of "Niangpao".
In the era of mass communication, the imitation effect of stars is far beyond any previous era.
If female male stars are active on the screen, their embodied communication effect will catalyze a large number of boys who lack masculinity.
Television media is an open school, and it cannot be hoped that by purifying the screen, the aesthetic preference of "girls" can be eliminated. In this regard, a lot of painstaking and meticulous work needs to be done.
People are the products of society.
In the era of mass media, television media plays an important role, but the media is not the only medium that shapes people.
In real life, from clothing, food to street performance art, from self-media to group performances in squares, these display media are shaping the aesthetic tastes of the younger generation (including male teenagers).
If the relevant elements in the social and cultural soil cannot be truly eliminated, even if all the TV programs are replaced with the image of a burly man, as long as young male audiences do not buy it, these "tough stars" will still be unsalable or even abandoned. The fate of the "girl", which lacks communication power, still cannot achieve the expected effect of curing this subculture.
Mei takes music as beauty, and people take personality as beauty. No matter what era, society needs people with different images and personalities.
In an industrial society, aesthetics can easily lose aesthetic diversity due to the standardization of products.
When media organizations and commercial organizations shape the spiritual and material cultural needs of the younger generation, because reverse imitation is easy to give people a refreshing feeling, such imitation is in line with the profit purpose of business logic.
For the sake of commercial interests, the media and commercial organizations have reversed the traditional society's masculinity as beauty, which has provided the possibility for the popularity of the "girlspot" aesthetic.
In the treatment of the subculture of "girls", it is necessary to respect the logic of business, but also to make use of the staged nature of this logic to facilitate the early withdrawal of this subculture from the stage of history, rather than simply issuing an "expulsion order".
It is easy to issue an "expulsion order", but it is obviously not easy to make young male teenagers willing to accept the new type of star who has an anti-"girlfriend" aesthetic.
The aesthetics of "girls" is a staged subcultural phenomenon of industrialized society, and such a phenomenon needs to be treated rationally.
To treat the subculture of "girls", the most taboo is to use the film and television image of industrial culture to solidify the image of the younger generation.
The aesthetic popularity of "Niangpao" is jointly shaped by the family, the media and the commodity society. To treat this subculture, we might as well start from the traditional Chinese culture advocated "Heaven Xingjian, the gentleman is self-improvement; the terrain is Kun, the gentleman is virtuous" , guide young people to receive inspirational education, let them understand the truth of self-improvement, and hone their noble character by challenging themselves and overcoming difficulties.
To treat the subculture of "girls", you might as well learn from Gong Zizhen's management of "sick plums", follow the law of plum tree development, follow the laws of physical and mental development of young people, "recover the whole", and guide and help male teenagers to consciously bid farewell to the subculture of "girls" , to create a new form of healthy youth culture.