How to view vulgarity and elegance in artistic creation?

Two different understandings of "elegance" and "vulgarity"

There are two different understandings of "elegance" and "vulgarity" in culture. There are two different understandings of "elegance" and "vulgarity" of culture. One understanding is to take the meaning of their value evaluation, that is, "according to the high and low advantages and disadvantages of cultural quality" to specify what belongs to the "elegant" culture, what belongs to the "vulgar" culture. For example: we will be exquisite artistic achievements, profound academic writings, cultural taste, behavior and ideas, lofty social ideals of life, etc. called "elegant" and "excellent", and vice versa, it is judged as "vulgar" and "low". On the contrary, they are judged as "vulgar" and "vulgar". Here, "elegance" and "vulgarity" mean judging the taste of a cultural phenomenon, the depth of reasoning, the form of literature, the production of fine and coarse, towards the improvement and popularization, etc. This also means that the construction of social culture should be based on the principle of "elegance" and "excellence", while the opposite is "vulgarity" and "vulgarity". It also means that the social and cultural construction of the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty as its own responsibility, to support the elegant culture, to resist vulgar culture.

But in the daily language and application environment, people still want to add another meaning to "elegance and vulgarity", that is, "according to what people come to possess and enjoy" to stipulate what belongs to "elegant culture" and what belongs to "vulgar culture". "and what belongs to "popular culture". In this way, "elegant culture" can be associated with "elite culture" and so on, which refers to the culture that takes the upper class of the society as the main body and satisfies the needs of the people with higher status; while "popular culture" is naturally also associated with the "elite culture". "naturally, "popular culture", "common people's culture" and even "marketplace culture" can be associated with it, which refers to the culture that satisfies the needs of the general public, with the lower class of the society as the main body. It refers to the culture that satisfies the needs of the general public, with the lower class of society as the main body. Logically speaking, this kind of understanding and division only reflects that there are different types of subjects and levels of culture, and if we do not add in the status hierarchy discrimination and class prejudice, it should be said that it does not mean "high and low, superior and inferior, noble and low".

"Popular culture" is not crude, "elite culture" is not necessarily elegant and refined

The "popular, elegant" and "popular," "elite" cultures are not the same as the "popular," "elite" cultures.

The connection between "popular, elegant" and "popular, elite" should be analyzed and judged in a specific and realistic way, and not easily equated between them. Don't think that "popular culture" can only be crude and simple, while "elite culture" is necessarily elegant and refined. As a matter of fact, the "elegance and vulgarity" of culture is to be specifically revealed and judged in every creation. The works in our country's ancient masterpiece, the Book of Songs, which were originally the folk songs of the time, can become the teachers of elegance in the later generations; while many of the palace imperial works and scholarly essays, which were regarded as the ultimate of elegance in those years, have now become the trash of history together with other cultural dregs. Water Margin", "Journey to the West" and other novels, Peking Opera and other plays, traditional Chinese crafts, etc., originally from the folk "popular culture", "common" cultural products, now become the traditional culture in the treasure, into the elegant culture. History has proved that "popular culture" can also have its own fine works of art, with its own nobility and beauty; and "elite culture" is not guaranteed not to produce vulgar works, but also their vulgarity, boredom and emptiness. It is only through creative intelligence and careful labor, and not through a certain status, that fine works can be produced. This is true for anyone and any form of culture.

In real life, there are some serious misunderstandings and even prejudices about "elegance" and "vulgarity". In some people's subconscious mind, a fixed view of the ancient as elegant, see today as common; to few as elegant, to many as common; to far as elegant, to near as common, and so on. This is a stereotypical prejudice that should be discarded. Because in the end, "popular culture" is the deepest foundation of national culture, the most genuine "cultural text", and the root of the greatness of national culture. Without the secular life of the general public, human culture would lose its source of vitality.

The phenomenon of "secularization of culture" should be considered calmly

"Elegance and secularity" itself is a description and judgment of the taste of cultural phenomenon, which is centered on the quality of cultural products and cultural behaviors, and is not a definition of the main body of culture. It is a description and judgment of the taste of cultural phenomenon, which is centered on the quality of cultural products and cultural behaviors, not a definition of the subject of culture. At the same time, on the question of how to view the correlation between "elegance, vulgarity" and "elite, mass", it directly or indirectly reflects the fundamental position and the difference in the way of thinking on the concept of culture.

In the specific case of our country, along with the transformation of the whole society into a market economy, there is also a trend of "center of gravity" in the cultural field, and the cultural needs of the general public are becoming the dominant force in the market day by day. Some people call this the "secularization of culture" or the "proliferation of popular culture". We should think calmly about this. "Cultural center of gravity down" should be said to be a historical rationality of progress, is our culture "for the people" of the must.