Disneyland and Walt Disney World: Traditional Values in Futuristic Form

The Disney parks—Disneyland in California and Walt Disney World in Florida—presented a radical refinement and departure from the traditions of the amusement park: the theme park. Designed for the values of long distance travel, suburban lifestyle, family life, the major vacation excursion, and the new visual culture of telecommunications, these places have grown to attain the status of national popular culture capitals. Because of their importance to American life, these institutions have suffered more than their share of attacks as key symbols ofpopular culture. Like all such targets of elitist ire (led by such accusations as “plastic” and “mindless”), the Disney parks must be experienced carefully and studied closely to see beyond these simplistic slings and arrows. Emerging from this study was a contention directly opposed to the common wisdom of the theme parks' futuristic and artificial nature: they may in fact serve as cultural preserves for the most nostalgic images and dreams of a nation. They are a very special kind of museum, of course—of past and future not as they were or will be but as popular taste has shaped and nurtured them in the collective imagination. The Disney “archive” of Americana is thus highly valuable as a display of popular thought on every featured theme.     

Cedar Point: A Park in Progress

This is a biography of an amusement park, Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, by its marketing director. This life history, using sources close to the park and in the popular press ouer many decades, traces the many shifts in circumstance, philosophy and mood in its development ouer a span from 1897 to its present status as “one of the great parks of the country.” This case study of a single park that has incorporated characteristics of many growth stages ofparks ingeneral serues as a capsule history: from its beginnings as a resort; expansion of rides and attractions during the flush years of the 1920s; the backsliding deterioration of the Depression years and the immediatepost- War period; the decline of the big-city parks and the moue to the suburbs in the 50s; and the Disney effect: the advent of the national super theme park, with its revolutionary impact on the traditional park concept. According to Hildebrandt, Cedar Point is “the only modern superpark that also has an ancient history…. the only old-time amusement park to successfully make the transition to the new amusement park culture.”     

The Sale of Two Cities: A Semiotic Comparison of Disneyland with Marriott's Great America

Much is revealed through the contrast of two related but divergent forms. In this essay, Elizabeth Mechlingand Jay Mechlingcontrast Disneyland with a later but more loosely themed park, Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara, California. Using the perspectives and methods of semiotics in Louis Marin's Marxist reading, this essay asks, “What are the stories that Disneyland and Marriott's Great America tell?…the ways in which popular culture both teaches and evokes stories that ‘think themselves’ in our minds.” These two parks, though allied in the theme format and rooted in a common bourgeois capitalist culture, are found to promote very different attitudes and values.     

符号-物、虚像与大众文化批判--巴特《流行体系》解读

20世纪40年代之后,对大众文化的批判构成当时欧洲思想界的一个重要主题,巴特是其中一位重要代表.与法兰克福学派从思辨角度批判大众文化不同,巴特主要从索绪尔结构语言学方法入手,揭示经过大众传媒这一中介后,大众文化如何将自己建构为一种符号机制,并在日常生活中将人们吸收到这个体制的过程.巴特认为,这不再是人直接被物所支配,而是人被符号创造出来的虚像所支配,这是现代意识形态的重要特征.<流行体系>是巴特结合结构语言学方法分析大众文化的代表作.     

中央公园与民初北京社会

中央公园是北京城第一个近代意义上的“公园”,作为一个新兴的城市公共空间,中央公园接纳了近代社会生活的大量内容,新与旧、中与西、政治与文化、国家与社会,均在此有充分的呈现。可以说,中央公园为我们提供了一个社会史研究的模型,它见证了历史,也映射了民国初年北京社会的驳杂面相。     

试析大众文化的特点、负面效应及其对策

大众文化具有商业性、流动性、普及性与承载性等特点，它的兴起与传播已带来了较大的负面效应，造成了忽视文化的社会效益，排挤高雅文化，冲击占主流地位的文化，模塑大众，使大众文化品位逐步走向低俗化和单调化。对大众文化必须以“三个代表”思想为指导，坚持“重在建设”的方针，在坚持文化的领导权的前提下，大力加强文化法制建设，进行文化产业结构调整，使大众文化朝着代表先进文化的方向前进。     

现代企业第三种管理模式的新探索

作为现代企业“第三种管理模式”的企业文化已成为我国目前流行的战略管理方式,但是,在实施企业文化流程中对理论深度认知与实际操作的掌握问题仍有待探讨和深化。因此,在构建具有中国特色的企业文化进程中,进一步梳理外来企业文化与本土企业文化、群体企业文化与企业家文化、诚信文化与绿色文化之间的整合、取舍、共生、引领、互补和交融的相互关系很有必要。     

清代北京文人官僚的居家观念与时尚

北京一向以文人官僚为城市居民的主体。城居者在构筑居家样态和风貌的同时 ,也会展现出社会观念、价值标准以及文化时尚。清代文人官僚的居家观念与时尚 ,表现在对营建房屋的物质投入与精神投入上 ,以奢靡化为主要特征 ;房屋的建筑格局与居家方式 ,处处为礼法制度及其观念所约束 ;园第合一的建筑格局已为包括满族在内的士人官僚所倡导。值得注意的是 ,人们在造屋时所严格遵循的儒家礼法 ,却很少影响到园林的构筑。这似乎可以说是在封建政治程序化链条上出现的不规范的一节。     

动漫艺术在气象科普公益宣传中的探索与表现

科技的发展需要动漫这种大众性的视觉文化艺术形式的传播与宣传。动漫艺术的发展与应用开拓了气象科学宣传的新模式。在＂气象漫画＂的创作方面,网络游戏是＂气象动漫＂新颖的表现形式。打造具有品牌影响力的＂气象动漫＂角色品牌无疑是进行气象文化宣传的有效途径。＂气象动漫＂宣传必须以现代传媒为支撑,通过互联网、移动通讯、网络电视、移动电视、数字电影、触摸媒体等跨媒体平台,结合传统媒介如报刊杂志、广播电视等,逐渐形成以移动彩信、网络动漫、网络动漫游戏和手机动漫游戏等为代表的新媒体＂气象动漫＂作品表现形式。     

文学经典与大众文化--从简·奥斯汀小说的接受传播过程说起

二百年来奥斯汀小说的接受与传播过程，为如何看待和对待文学经典提供了丰富的启示。奥斯汀的小说经历了自身价值不断被发现与显现、在多重外力作用下从通俗文学走向文学经典的过程；在大众消费文化时代，奥斯汀小说作为源文本不断衍生、被开发，由文学资源成为文化产业链的资本。大众传播形式固然有削弱文学经典严肃性和深度感的一面，但经典本来就是一个不断建构的过程，各种重构和阐释为奥斯汀创作注入活力、延续生命，构建出文学经典与大众文化的良性互动关系。     

Be Happy Because Your Father Isn't Your Father: An Analysis of Colombian Telenovelas

Critics of mass-mediated culture have long maintained that media such as television, radio, and newspapers are instrumental in propagating class values. In his analysis of Colombian telenovelas, Azriel Bibliowicz argues that this apparently harmless form of entertainment also has a political and ideological base whose implicit messages serve to make its viewers forget reality. Just as Levi Strauss believes that mythsplay a central role in society, Bibliowicz claims that the purpose of myths in telenovelas is to have us lose sight o f the origins of the eristingsocial order and to exonerate the dominant class which controls society's means of production. He gives us an overview of the Colombian television industry, describes how a telenovela is made, and analyzes one-“Manuela”-which contains a social message. Readers will find some interesting similarities and differences between this study of a Colombian popular art form and the articles by Flora and Bonilla de Ramos which focus on the fotonovela and radio in the same country.     

中国文化创新论略(之五)——关于外来文化本土化与文化创新的思考

中国文化历经五千年薪火相传,顽强生命力源于她时外来异质文化具有选择与熔铸的融合特性。任何外来文化,只要找到与之相通的融合点.都可以经过转换,成为中华文化血液的一部分。中华文化正是在不断融合外来文化中壮大生机,丰富内涵,升华境界;也正是融合引起的激荡,涤除了身上的惰性,使之更加汪洋恣肆,博大精深。     

Silver screen sorting: Social identity and selective exposure in popular film viewing

While research in media and politics has long stressed the importance of television, the political impact of movies has largely been ignored. However, a small body of literature suggests that both political docudramas and popular films may have the capacity to change the issue attitudes of viewers. Building on that work, this paper examines the potential for selective exposure in movie viewership. We develop a theory that there is large-scale sorting into popular movies rooted in social identity theory. We argue that sorting is a result of two processes: film studios marketing films towards particular social groups and individuals sorting into films based on social group characteristics. We test this theory using a unique dataset in which undergraduate students were asked to rate trailers for a variety of political docudramas and popular films. Our results indicate that there is indeed widespread sorting into popular films on the basis of social identities rooted in socio-demographic traits.     

文化因素对人口流动的长期影响：基于中国历史经验的实证分析

文化差异作为解释移民活动的决定因素已不是一个新的视角，然而截至目前,学界尚未对两者之间的量化因果关系进行过讨论。本文利用中国历史上的移民数据，采用新的文化差异度量指标（姓氏基因距离）来揭示地区间文化差异对移民活动的因果影响。研究发现：采用姓氏基因距离度量的地区间文化差异对移民行为具有较强的负向影响，即移民数量随着文化差异的缩小而增加，并且即使控制其他经济、地理等因素以及采用工具变量法进行两阶段回归，该结果依然稳健。本文不仅为理解文化差异与移民行为之间的关系提供了扎实的实证证据，同时也对理解中国自10世纪以来的移民特征及其决定因素有所贡献。     

赫哲族渔文化的形成及其传承机制

渔文化是赫哲族民族文化的核心。它是赫哲族特有的物质生产方式、生活方式、所繁衍生息的自然地理环境以及先民们探索创造的结晶,已融入传统民居、文学艺术和宗教信仰之中,并通过渔业生产、日常生活以及人生习俗得到生动体现。因此,与生产生活实践的结合性、与自然地理环境的协调性和兼收并蓄其他民族文化的包容性是渔文化的显著特点。赫哲族历经了沧桑久远的文明演变,创造了不朽的渔文化,其生存的需要、民族民俗学的研究及文物征集和人民政府的保护力度,分别构成了其得以传承的动力机制、长效机制和保障机制。     

Eight Ways of Looking at an Amusement Park

The amusement park is solidly part of the national experience as a pleasure of the multitudes, and has been many things to many people— escape, fantasy, otherworldliness, illusion, drama, total theater, spectacle; a safety zone of enjoyment, absurdity and release from the habits, norms and rules of everyday life. The dangerous, the absurd, the erotic, the hilarious and the weird invite the participant into a world of role-playing and the glories of play in its purest form, in modes both ancient and futuristic. Perhaps no single subject affordsso many aspects and approaches for study as the amusement park; from the most avant-garde technological problems of engineering attractions to the manifold psychological impact of those attractions and their ambience on the mood and motivation of the patron. The variety of departure-points is as dazzling and overwhelming as those to be found within the magic territory of the parks themselves. In exploring the possibilities of subject and theme for the study of the amusement park, Russel Nye provides a broad spectrum of park history and a generous taste of the many delights parks have provided to millions since their beginnings in the last century.     

从国际环境法的发展看全球环境治理——兼评国际法院等组织的角色定位

国际法院一直以来被视为解决涉及环境问题纠纷的首选场所,但包括"纸浆厂案"在内的一系列案件,逐渐暴露了国际法院应对复杂事实和特定区域环境问题的不足。国际法院虽然对国际环境法的发展做出了一定的贡献,但它是否能够满足不断增长的全球环境治理的需求,维系其在环境争端中的重要角色,近年来持续受到各方的批评和质疑。     

Baseball in Cuba

While futbol (soccer) has long been the favorite sport in most of Latin America, baseball holds sway in the circum-Caribbean region in countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. It is perhaps surprising that revolutionary Cuba, with its strong anti-American foreign policy, should continue to hold dear this sport that was born and nurtured in the United States. Yet Fidel Castro himself, who regularly issues anti-Yankee attacks, is also proud of demonstrating his skill with the bat andglove. Eric Wagner gives us a valuable overview of the development of baseball on the island, Cuba's singular success in international competition and the game's role in contemporary Cuba. With this background and analysis, it is easy to see why the revolutionary government has not tampered with a sport that is so firmly rooted as a popular national pastime. Regarding baseball in Cuba after 1959, Wagner discusses how it has become an integral part of the new social system in factories, villages, towns, urban neighborhoods and schools. Competition is fierce on both the local and national levels because of its wide appeal among the popular classes, who brought baseball with them when they assumed power in 1959. It is likely to continue to play an essential role in the country's socioeconomic integration.