Research On Meaning Production And Dissemination In Tucao

As a new way of expressing one's feelings in network era,“Tucao”(to make incisive comments),featuring in its way of bantering and venting,unusual thinking pointcut,fooling with texts and overturning the authority,has become a new cultural phenomenon.Various texts,behaviors and multimedia allow the public to compete with each other in commenting popular news.With the increasing popularity of Weibo or Microblog,people involve themselves in the activities such as “forwarding” “commenting” or “giving likes”.One of the most featured is“Tucao”,in which the big names look for points that would attract the public by hyperbole,spoof or parody.Via straight and simple expressions stimulating people's emotional nerves,they create a network feast for self-expression and emotion-outlet.Thus the spread of the culture is closely related to Weibo,which provides a stage for making incisive comments by digitized technology and numerous fans and the culture adds fresh air to it.The essay aims at Weibo comments,targeting the popular topics mainly from the year2016 to 2017.It tries to reveal the significance of the culture by text analysis,content analysis,combined with symbolic interaction theory,carnival theory and the theory of exhibition and performance.Firstly,the essay traces its context and historical evolvement.The word “Tucao”originated in Japan,spread to Taiwan and developed later in Mainland.It also analyzes the phenomenon and psychology,stating the causes behind the phenomenon.Then it reveals its cultural significance via text analysis,mainly from “expression” and“arrogation”.The essay puts emphasis on Weibo comments using symbolic interaction theory,carnival theory and the theory of exhibition and performance.It illustrates the significance and values of “Tucao” from three perspectives — — ritual resistance,emotion outlet and symbolic interaction.As a representative of subculture,“Tucao” contradicts with the mainstream culture in expressing ideas.People express their own mood uncontrollably in the contradiction which signifies the resistance of ordinary people against the authorities.In the process,civilians look for their status and the elites protect their benefits.So in this “public place”,“Tucao” means to express social feelings and attitudes,to release emotion through venting and carnival so that the social contradictions could be relieved.Finally,the essay analyzes and reflects on the problems concerning “Tucao”.The culture brings along civilians and online celebrities,but personal opinion and unlimited commentscould lead to uncontrollable violence on the internet.The comments on Weibo could also be over-entertaining,web-violent or group-polarized.