If you want to earn 85, you'll see how much you know about "kill Matt."

On Weibo, the word "kill Matt" has always been a high frequency word. It is a smart, stylish and intelligent English. However, because of the discourse monopoly and value reconstruction of the elite of cultural knowledge, the "Kill Matt" from "smart" into Chinese has become its antonym. Now on Weibo popular "kill Matt", almost all as an ugly carnival under the derogatory and existence. In the eyes of people, "kill Matt" is such a group: Keep a strange hairstyle, wearing exaggerated, wearing eccentric, heavy make-up, temperament strange, from the rural or rural and urban fringe of youth.

But this is actually a very interesting young subculture phenomenon. These "Kill Matt" youth, with last year's popular "wash shear blow combination" image together, constitute the current China a noteworthy group: the new generation of migrant workers. From a sociological point of view, how they are integrated into the city, accepted by the city (now ridiculed), how to complete their own personal modernization (now a half-modern thriller-wearing), is related to China's future social situation. But if we look at it from a cultural point of view, there are also a lot of places to think about, especially the contrast with the "little Fresh" style, which can be a straightforward demonstration of cultural diversity and cultural discrimination behind Chinese cultural pluralism.

The cultural characteristics and traceability of "killing Matt"

Now regarded as the "kill Matt" group, they are more rural out of the school, graduated from high schools or secondary vocational school. It has the remarkable characteristic in the identity level and the cultural value. In their cultural choices and preferences, a variety of network saliva songs are their favorite. On the outside, their clothing is cheap stall goods, the use of domestic mobile phone, and then used to take a photo of the QQ space, in addition, their photos are also a lot of photography studios, the background is usually a blue sky curtain, or the street sticker machine shot in the head. State of life, from the school out of the house, directly left the people, into the township above the small and medium-sized cities, or the suburbs of large cities, rented in the lower prices of residential buildings or basements, and is a number of people together to rent; professionally, the workers of the barber shop, the security guards, the restaurant attendants, the factories such as Foxconn, are their main jobs, Nor does it exclude work in grey and black areas, which, unlike many of their parents ' hard dirty in the construction industry, can hardly withstand such intense physical activity. Social circle, but also the same age of the villagers mainly. Of course, also extends to the network world, through playing dance, QQ video, etc., to meet the same age of friends with hobbies. Amateur activities of the place, is the Internet cafes, discos, roadside stalls and so on.

("Kill Matt", has been the net world real consumption main force. The source of this consumption pattern is due to the scarcity of "urban rural youth" in the real world culture consumption and the extreme yearning for "real City culture" of this group. In the virtual world, "kill Matt" just spend some money, can be more cool and drag, this is they like in the QQ space, as well as the dance group to dress up like a city youth the same reason)

After the 2010 's "Kill Matt", to reverse its cultural origins, it should be such a path: The city's "brain residue Non-mainstream" culture, western punk, heavy metal and other youth subculture, that is, killing Matt was affected by the 2000-2010 decades of the urban non-mainstream culture of the infection ( These people have now turned to the small fresh or the sale of Lori, is too, turning to the city of the United States, men, feminine, Korean version of the boys, but not the mainstream culture is inherited from Europe and the United States youth subculture.

But to the "kill Matt" here, this youth subculture, is no longer the Non-mainstream rebellion, not foreign kind of unconventional, to show the rebel style of heavy metals (give a person an exaggerated, hysterical, manic feeling), Gothic culture (in the cultural representation is the dark, gloomy, savage, death as the theme of literature, The art phenomenon, which is described as the fear of darkness, the sadness of death, the love of taboo and the beauty of utter pain, does not "kill the father" for the mainstream culture. Therefore, it can be said that "kill Matt" and foreign Non-mainstream youth subculture, not much similarities. Instead, their image is a failed effort to approach the mainstream. The "kill Matt" efforts to build an image of the city's people in mind, and then try to imitate it, in a similar group to form a trend. They've been trying to approach urban culture, become one of them, will cosplay (role-playing) life, and try to imitate the Japanese visual department of the anime image, pierced ears, hair dye, sexual indulgence, loaded with deep melancholy and other urban alternative youth, or aesthetic, lyrical literary youth (small fresh) popular practice.

But it takes a capital investment to integrate into this culture, but for them this is undoubtedly very luxurious, their economic ability, can not realize their imagined way of life, so, exaggerated appearance, cheap clothing, domestic mobile phone and internet cafes low pixel camera from the photo, can only shape their present image. Their admission of fashion, in the eyes of many urban people, but is thriller, exaggeration, two force, rustic, and a wearing a bad suit with sports shoes farmers is a nature, but is another kind of local flavor, is a group of 21st century "leap soil." As a result, in this consumer society, they become the ugly carnival of consumer goods, and sister Furong, Sharp elder brother, Sister Feng, etc., become "God general existence."

("Kill Matt" in the process of drawing close to "city culture", all kinds of consumption behavior, is the real cultural consumption of this ethnic group just need. To meet the needs of China's true cock-silk community, it is necessary to know their pain point-the biggest attempt by the Matt to become a "city dweller", for which they are willing to pay very little cash. Each class has its own "heart", and can "solve" the "heart" of things, is this class the biggest "just need"!

To kill Matt and the little fresh separation.

Contrary to the killing of Matt, the "little freshness" that has continued to prevail in recent years it in the youth culture form, and it constitutes a polarization, at one end, there is no intersection, they are not the difference between hippies and yuppies, in the current words, is "short and ugly" cock silk and "white rich beauty" The distance between the goddess, and this distance is to sell how many kidney also difficult to fill, constituted the sociology master Bourdieu in "the gap" said by "taste and taste" isolated from the social stratification.

The little freshness is mainly for girls who have received a university education or are undergoing a university education, cultural form, the main characteristics are: dress, keen on the light of elegant color, cloth shoes, white linen shirt and long ankle cotton skirt, no eyeglasses, sportswear, love the brand is H&m, Uniqlo, stores of Nike ADI, etc. "Weapons" equipped with laptops, Lomo cameras, SLR, iphone (apple) mobile phone, and then through the PS of the beautiful, backlight, warm colors of various photos, like in the campus or micro-blog reported to the location, hair status, hair food photos, on Starbucks, drink Evian mineral water, hold cloth dolls, pet dog , or behave like pets and children, like tourism, Gulangyu, Lijiang, Wu Town, Hong Kong, Macao, Overseas especially Korea, Japan and Europe are the holy places in their minds; Murakami, Anne Baby, cheer, Chai, Liu are their cultural idols. They despise the vulgar kill Matt, also do not bird cynical angry green, also from time to time to install a Meng, send a whine, also will have some concern about current affairs, but the final placement is in the "Chinese What?" What's wrong with this society? On a shallow and empty question. More often, they are addicted to their own small circle of the world, "if you are well, is sunny", "if only the first time in life," "Silent Love, Quiet joy" to become their golden rhyme. Many of them are the "non-mainstream" transformation of previous years, and will be "bourgeois", "petty bourgeoisie" reserve army.

"Kill Matt" and "small fresh" as a cultural phenomenon at the same time, but their power discourse is completely different, which also caused their very different society to see. Professor Zhang Ning, like a cultural critic, is a great change in the aesthetic taste of "a new aesthetic interest and appearance" and "small freshness", including the return of the oriental classical interest excluded from Western Enlightenment literature. "And the most typical is in the official very different treatment attitude, killing Matt is condemned, and small fresh is no interference or support, reflect ambiguous or unjust attitude."

If people like "Rising Sun" and so on often rise from the network and often get sympathy and welcome characters represent a grassroots culture, so the killing of Matt is simply a "weed culture", they grow people ignore the place, grow up is no attention, not only not be respected and valued, It may even be faced with the negative effects of being removed, like the Internet movie "Siping Youth", which was circulated online some time ago, became a banned object.

"Siping Youth" It is the Siping people's Theater in Jilin Province, a group of young Errenzhuan actors, the leisure time filming of the network film, which is full of northeast dialect, a lot of foul language, plot spoof. After the popularity of the Internet, the official (Siping culture Radio and television news Bureau) attitude is unusually clear, that is "seriously affected the image of Siping City", the people's theater to dismiss all the cast staff, while the Internet to remove video. Although objectively speaking, the film is vulgar, but far from causing such serious consequences. But still, the internet is popular, does not mean that it receives attention, on the contrary, people are behind it, as onlookers "kill Matt" like, just to get fun, and the illusion of cultural challenges to the mainstream culture of the official, these cast staff, in everyone's eyes still a group of rustic to kill Matt. So the case can be seen, Dick Silk will eventually be difficult to reverse attack.

So now on Weibo, a lot of people pay attention to such as @ Kill Matt Hadron, @ Leave a few hands, @ Kill horse Special Dragon less reds, shape their own "kill Matt" image, their micro-blogging language, the Northeast dialect and other dialects become condiments, Northeast xx Tun, Henan Zhumadian, Beijing Two-dial Zi is a hypothetical source of these microblogging users ( In fact, these are the places where migrant workers discharge or reside. But through their words and deeds it is obvious that they are not really killing Matt, but hundred percent of the cultural knowledge elite, just borrow or maliciously use this set of language and image, in order to ridicule the fun, to create network carnival, every word will be ironic to the end, so in the cultural dignity, completely belittle this group, Strengthen the social public to this group of discrimination and segregation.

(The tragedy of the killing Matt is that this group is a great contributor to the network consumption and network culture in the new economy, but the result is a "clown" in China's next generation culture. I think that this group is essentially just "urban rural youth" to their own positioning and urban identity of a pursuit of a means, but always be ignored and ridiculed. Because China since ancient times is a "laugh poor don't laugh prostitution" of the country. )

The cultural poor "kill Matt"

After the reform and opening-up, the social mobility intensified, the so-called "blind" finally to name. The first generation of migrant workers who came to town and improved their lives began to learn the same as city dwellers, wearing the clothes they bought at night market stalls (often outdated, being eliminated by city-dwellers), holding up handbags and not on the waist. But society does not allow them to really stay in the city. In the twinkling of an eye 20 years later, their descendants also came out from the countryside, into the city. But the fate of another cycle of jokes, their next generation, and in the study of the city style, but became not farmers "kill Matt". Strictly speaking, "kill Matt" are no longer farmers, but the household registration, still branded them in this identity, the city's gate, for them have been open, but after the gate, there is a thick layer of windshield in isolation they really enter.

In this sense, "" Kill Matt "will constitute the" third yuan "of Chinese society, they to the peasant image of the parents, is already belong to the strange, the gorgeously dressed city dweller, is no longer a simple, hard-working banker; For the city people, their bones always reveal the local flavor, No matter how hard the display, the result is not to remove the temperament. In the sociological sense, they have become the "third Yuan", which has no hometown and no future in China's unique urban-rural dualistic pattern. Culturally, he also faces this dilemma, the countryside sees them with a strange eye, and the city laughs at them with sarcasm.

(Killing Matt is the main component of China's "third-yuan" culture, the consumption of Chinese subculture, because the base is not small and the "urbanization" of the deep desire, the Asian culture group's consumption potential is very alarming. But because of the lack of power of speech, the Chinese mainstream people know little about them. )

At the same time, in the context of the monopoly of discourse rights, a large number of rural and small and medium-sized city stories are difficult to present in the urban media, and the big cities in the trivial, can become news. Newspapers, magazines, film and television, are kept in the display or luxury or small fresh image of the impact of dumping the desire to inflate the city's consumerism. In this dazzling light, the killing of the Matt has become a group of masked groups, only with the Foxconn more than 10 even jump and so on, can be short-lived attention. They live in a gray area, or black humor, where their lives are in a cultural area of separation, a symbol of low quality, confusion and danger. Of course, objectively speaking, "kill Matt" embodied in the culture, some rough, nondescript, but to see, this does not represent the "three vulgar" (vulgar vulgar kitsch). This is the result of the current social background, limited educational background, meager economic income, brutal living environment and the future of cramped development, they have no ability or consciousness to promote themselves well in culture, which is the result of the incomplete urbanization and modernization of individuals and groups, so Their cultural form has become the semi-finished culture, is not only the material poverty culture is also extremely poor "cultural poor".

Therefore, in the small fresh and comfortable life, enjoy the love of parents, bathed in the University of scholarly, arbitrary consumption of time, should not be high on the eye, coldly cast a Glance "kill Matt", and then reported to reveal no doubt contempt. What they need is more attention than ridicule, more compassion than contempt, more tolerance than rejection, because they may be in the time you are still chewing the old, they have been helpless to rely on their own labor, living in a foreign land to fight and fight life. They are trying hard to become a real city dweller with little fresh and hard to imagine ...