An Infusion of Taunts into Erotica--Shanghai Civic Culture in Caricatures（1928-1937）
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Chen, Te-hsin
Abstract
Abstract
The Chinese way of taunts is so interesting, apart from the imperial actors and actresses recorded in the historical documents, jokes collected from all places anthologized and published continuously. Their contents have become the evidence for us to understand the characteristics and changes of satires in the past dynasties. Since there wasn’t much attention to the field all along, this dissertation will examine the contents of satires, jokes and indecent songs with concerns for the spiritual lives of lower classes, it will present more historical aspects which could hardly appear in formal history, and shows its differences from cross-national issues on politics, economy and military that top elites were care about. Cartoon was introduced to China by Europe and Japan in the early 20th Century, it was a kind of popular arts which was widely welcome in Shanghai, when “Shanghai Sketch” was issued in the 1920s and 1930s, it became one of the best sellers among leisure and entertaining books at once, it took over “Joke Anthology”, turning into the most characteristic medium that modern Chinese used in satires.
This dissertation will look into the satirical characteristics of the Shanghai citizens in the 1920s and 1930s through modern Chinese cartoon. The design of structure and selection of evidences in this dissertation will be based on the most representative work in Shanghai then: modern girl. It will discuss her molding, the way that Shanghai citizens courting her, her influence upon public occasions with her attendance or in absentia. Modern girl was quite a creation of modern city; it is also a worldwide phenomenon, she was the best spokesperson of Shanghai metropolis. Cartoon based on her stories were abundant and had better quality, which represented the highest standard among cartoonists’ creations in Shanghai. The funs that derived from her in cartoon are evidences for the satirical characteristics; the outburst of erotic feelings; which stands for Shanghai citizens in modernized trend.
Leo Ou-fan’s research in the school of Shanghai Neo-sensationalism points out that the phenomenon of internationalization in Shanghai, establishes a splendid modern world for her, which based on the appearance of buildings, civilian leisure and erotic pleasure, a place where the Shanghai citizens would like to be. The neo-sensationalism describes an abundant world, it is different from the traditional one; it’s rather like a foreign land in Hollywood movies. One the one hand, this dissertation will select some cartoonists’ works, calendar posters, advertisements, pictures, stage photos and descriptions of neo-sensationalism, in the sense of being a part of the group which takes part in making a modern Shanghai; on the other hand, the Shanghai caricaturists make fun of the modern world. Modern girl in Shanghai metropolis is the subject that the caricaturists satirize; the caricaturists produce an erotic world for the modern girl, which the Shanghai citizens would feel funny. This dissertation makes dialogues between the two different schools, so that the readers can see the subjects, the places and the techniques the two schools satirize, so that the satirical characteristics of the Shanghai citizens can be shown.
After the success in cartoon magazines, caricatures become an important reading stuff to satirize modern girls, the satirical characteristics can express through the vivid pictures and the jokes in connection with modern girls, which shows the modern features never before. Shanghai cartoon creates new stuff and brings Chinese tradition of satirizing into modern world; it certainly expresses the special fun of Shanghai itself, which become the masterpiece that reflects the taste of its citizens on satire.
Subjects
modern girl
urban culture
modernization
Shanghai Sketch
satire
Type
thesis
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