"Transposition of the Self in Everyday Presentation along the Formation of a New Consumerist Popular Culture in the People’s Republic of China." / Linda Chiu-han Lai

"Transposition of the Self in Everyday Presentation along the Formation of a New Consumerist Popular Culture in the People's Republic of China." Paper delivered at the NCA (National Communication Association) Annual Convention 1998, New York City, USA

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Abstract

Chinese selfhood is often subjected to philosophical containment: confucianization or marxianization. This essay reconfigures the question as the presentation of the person in everyday dramaturgy by analyzing a variety of screen texts since late `80s.  The contemporary “self,” I argue, embodies a set of complex relations reconciling economic demands, political disciplinary power, and textualization, all directed towards effective government.

feature images: [L] Trouble-shooters (1988), [R] Chinese Businessman (1992)