The Duality Of Idolatry And Iconoclasm

This study begins with the observation of a paradox: media fans as idolaters can also be the initiators of iconoclasm.Further,idolatrous vandalism is a paradox that accompanies human society,symbolizing the duality of the gestures of actors influenced by media culture.The innovation of this article is to explore how the contradiction between idolatry and idolatrous destruction has shaped the life of media culture,both historically and contemporary,from the perspective of the traditional audience in art studies,the media fan.The article follows the term media fans as proposed by the scholar Jenkins,but expands the meaning of the concept by considering the subjects of idolatry in all technological eras as media fans: both the traditional art media’s excessive audiences and today’s fan-based users of social media.The research method of this paper generally follows the visual theory research guided by the dialectical materialist view of history,analyzing and criticizing visual culture including classical art,contemporary art,stage art,handicrafts,costume culture,digital images,and so on.The observation of Internet fan culture and other emerging cultures is complemented by a qualitative research method guided by phenomenology.The main part begins with Chapter 2,which takes the three updates of mass media technology that occurred in the 20th-21 st centuries as the narrative structure,and discusses the theory and practice of new visual producers who are also the destroyers of old idols under three conditions of visual production: film,television,and social media,respectively,arguing that media fans are gradually losing their productive nature driven by the digital traffic economy and becoming the new idol worshipers.The third chapter,"The Historical Dimension of Idol Destruction," begins with a study of the "divine" and human duality of idols,and further develops the contradictory relationship between idol worship and idol destruction.From the religious idols of the classical period,to the Enlightenment geniuses of the Renaissance,to the social celebrities of the post-industrial revolution,and then to the entertainment idols and virtual idols of contemporary consumer culture,media fans have experienced the collapse of absolute beliefs and grand narratives,and have been given the opportunity to participate in the formulation of idol narratives in the Internet era,while bringing their collective and individual values into this field of struggle.The fourth chapter,"The Moral Grammar of Idol Destruction," explores the moral dimension of the duality between idol worship and idol destruction by considering idol destruction as a social conflict phenomenon triggered by the identity struggle of media fans.This chapter focuses on the new cultural landscape in the digital network environment-virtual play culture-and discusses the different representations of idol viewing within fan groups in the context of media convergence.At the same time,it returns to the discussion of the consensus of this emerging community and uses it as an entry point to understand the social consciousness fostered in the current technological environment.By analyzing the duality of idol worship and idol destruction,this paper reflects three forms of conflict in human society: the subversion of visual relations of production,the change of social thought,and the struggle for individuality.In this way,it responds to the spirit of materialistic dialectics: things evolve in a constant struggle.