The iconicity of celebrity and the spiritual impulse

Celebrity has a powerful material presence in contemporary consumer culture but its surface aesthetic resonates with the promise of deeper meanings. This Marketplace Icon contribution speculates on the iconicity of celebrity from a spiritual perspective. The social value or authenticity of contemporary celebrity, and the social processes through which it emerges, are matters of debate amongst researchers and competing approaches include field theory, functionalism, and anthropologically inflected accounts of the latent need for ritual, myth and spiritual fulfillment evinced by celebrity “worship.” We focus on the latter area as a partial explanation of the phenomenon whereby so many consumers seem so enchanted by images of, and stories about, individuals with whom they, or we, often have little in common. We speculate that the powerful presence of celebrity in Western consumer culture to some extent reflects and exploits a latent need for myths of redemption through the iconic character of many, though by no means all, manifestations of celebrity consumption.     

《还乡》的神话原型解读

哈代在小说《还乡》中引用大量神话原型意象进行环境描写和人物塑造,尤其体现在小说背景埃格敦荒原氛围、男女主人公克林.约布赖特和尤苔沙的命运归属上。通过这些原型的应用,强化了该小说的悲剧性质。     

Tourist narratives about the dissonant heritage of the Borderlands: the case of South-eastern Poland

ABSTRACT

One of the important effects of the political transformation after 1989 in Eastern Europe is the development of tourism and increasing mobility of citizens from many countries, previously separated by the ‘Iron Curtain’. The process of economic and socio-cultural change justifies the debate regarding the future, but also on the legacy of the past. As for South-eastern Poland, tourism has been used as an important narrative tool for spreading, strengthening or weakening ethnic and national stereotypes by promoting cultural resources and performances that enable cooperation and mutual understanding. However, it can also be a source of potential fears or conflicts, for instance by creating controversial tourist attractions and stories about certain historical events. This paper discusses strategies of ‘past presencing’ of the heritage of South-eastern Poland border regions in public life, culture and tourism, drawing on a few examples which show different ways of restoring the memory of the former Eastern Borderlands. The theme village called ‘The Borderland Settlement’ and the historical reconstruction ‘Volyn 1943–2013’ relate to the main myths and the active memory concept that frame tourist narratives and contribute to the reinvention and reinterpretation of dissonant heritage.     

佤族创世神话中的伦理道德观

佤族的创世神话,蕴涵和展现了世人同宗,团结友爱;勤劳勇敢,为民造福;善恶有报,惩恶扬善和诚信友善,重义轻利等伦理道德观.研究佤族创世神话中的伦理道德观,对于弘扬佤民族精神,建设佤族和谐社会,将起到积极有效的作用.     

中越神话中“生态自我”的建构

中越神话是两国最早的生态伦理叙事,揭示了远古先民通过认同自然环境、民族血脉和自然万物来逐步构建东方式的生态自我:人与天一,万物一齐。这与阿伦·奈斯所提出的"生态自我"有异曲同工之妙,都主张人与自然的共荣共生。这为中越两国共建北部湾经济圈提供了指导思想和核心原则:热爱自然、睦邻友好和崇尚生命。     

论“嫦娥”的文学阐释及意义生成

神话是一个可以被重复演绎的隐喻世界。嫦娥奔月是内涵丰富的远古神话之一,几后世文人把＂嫦娥＂作为寂寞之思的美丽载体和诗意生存的极致象征,亦在她身上肇启出关于现实生存和女性情感的思考与批评。     

Neopagan Pilgrimages in the Age of the Internet: A Life Changing Religious Experience or an Example of Commodification?

This paper focuses on the phenomenon of Neopagan ‘pilgrimages’, which are advertised on the Internet and directed to various ancient sacred sites in Greece and in the Mediterranean Sea. After showing how travellers to Greece in the Modern Age have been inspired by classical myths and have often represented their trips as ‘pilgrimages’, the paper examines how Neopagans, women belonging to the Goddess Spirituality Movement, use travels to ancient sacred places as a way to reconstruct their own identity. Therefore, the perception and representation of the tourist journey as ‘pilgrimage’ obscures the reality of the commodification of religious experiences, in a globalised context in which different consumers ‘buy’ different experiences of ancient Greece.     

鲁迅《故事新编》的神话思维

《故事新编》是鲁迅一部独特的小说集,其创作过程涵括了鲁迅思想发展的多个时期,呈现了颇为复杂的思想内涵和审美风貌;其独特的创作方法与现实意义,也蕴含着鲁迅复杂的神话观,也启迪了后来的文学创作。文章着重探讨了鲁迅的神话观,分析了《故事新编》的神话思维及其现实意义。     

《庄子》神话思维探因

神话之于庄子不仅是任他驱遣的材料,而且更为他提供了写作时的神话思维方式:认识世界(观物)的方式和表达的方式;形成庄子神话思维的原因是商代文化的传承、楚地宗教氛围的滋养、庄子独特个性的影响和黑暗现实的激发;理想和现实的矛盾作为一种外力促使了庄子对神话思维的自觉选择和运用。