Cultural Studies (3)

1. Cultural Studies (3) “城市飛行”& Foreign Laborers in Taiwan

2. Outline • Questions & Practice: Semiotics + Marxism + Foucault • Foreign Laborers & 城市飛行

3. Q 1: How do we do a semiotic reading of fashion? • Constructions of femininity: • Silk + embroidery of flowers + curving edges, • the 旗 collar • Chest and Waist lines; loose pants Source: 中國時報 穿出好樣東方味920602

4. How do we do a semiotic reading?

5. How do we do a semiotic reading? • 長期以來仰慕東方文化的米蘭大師Giorgio Armani，季季都在Oriental的意境裡做變化，無論是珠繡，緞質禮服或者是合身長褲，亞曼尼走來始終如一。 • Armani是中國式的寬宏大度 . .

6. How do we do a semiotic reading? 反觀Cavalli. . .完全向刺繡投降，無論是連身長洋裝或短版旗袍，從外套到鞋子到長褲，就算不是真刺繡，也要印上像刺繡的印花才甘心。黃色和寶藍是基本的調性，加上最愛豹紋、切片寶石和正紅色的點綴，當仁不讓得到好萊塢女星最愛。

7. context • 西方世界的服裝精神在於，把女人裝飾成一朵胸大腰細的花。20世紀大師Christian Dior 的「New Look」可視為個中經典。但80年代以降，來自日本的三傑：Issey Miyake，Comme des Garcons和Yohji Yamamoto等人以東方沉潛力量征服西方之後，重視寫意的服裝傳統也漸漸糅合於西方服裝之中。 http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/modern.htm

8. Q 2: How do we do a Marxist reading of Fashion trends? • re-contextualization. Capitalist production is a process of abstraction and alienation. e.g. Who are making the clothes? Who are producing the “ethnic colors”? Do wearing the Chinese robe makes Chinese culture better understood? • Paris, New York, Tokyo  Taiwan • super models and stars  boutiques  department stores  street vendors

9. Prescriptive language in fashion business on all levels • 以男生來說，東方風格的打扮以細節最為重要。就拿港星成龍來說吧！每回他出席國外重要場合，總是以寬大的袍裝為主，無論是烏干紗或是馬褂，總是帶有一字領，或是梅花扣等細節，如此溫文儒雅的造型，也正好平衡了他給人的武生形象。 • 　若以女生而言，在剪裁上可選擇上寬下窄的和服式線條，多些刺繡花鳥也無妨。在顏色上則可以用比較大膽的色彩，如正黃色，紅色或寶藍色都是首選，港星楊紫瓊可說是最佳代言人。

10. Prescriptive language in fashion business ◎最炫的行頭～中國繡花鞋、斑馬紋背包 ◎讓自己穿得粉「中國」風 ◎我是年輕人，我要戴玉鐲子 ◎三寸金蓮沒有，繡花鞋倒是挺多的！ ◎中國風， 少了配件行頭可不行 1. http://cityguide.pchome.com.tw/news_play/890922play3.html

11. Hierarchy in fashion business • 肚兜題詩句，穿出中國風，盤釦、繡花全用上，旗袍領特別多，濃濃中國味濃厚 http://www.cdnnews.com.tw/20030128/news/nxyzh/T90049002003012719505500.htm

12. Questions 3, 4, 5 . . . • How do we avoid being the reductionism of Marxism? • What does it mean to study to discourse of “the Chinese”? (e.g. 龍的傳人，旗袍？） How do we position ourselves in relation to all the dominant discourses? • Why is the line between text and context, history and representation blurred? • How does our understanding of foreign laborers in Taiwan help us understand 〈城市飛行〉?

13. From Marxism to Cultural Studies • Base and Superstructure • Circuit of Culture • All the five actions actually happen on each level ; • Consumption is not “a tap on the knee

14. From Marxism to Cultural Studies (2) Three positions in decoding of communication : (Stuart Hall) • the dominant-hegemonic -- “preferred” meaning • the negotiated code, • the oppositional code -- at the oppositional code level viewers/listeners/readers “detotalize the message in the preferred code in order to retotalize the message within some alternative framework of reference” (1980: 138). (http://www.sociology.org/content/vol006.002/vannini_myers.html )

15. Part II: Foreign Laborers and 城市飛行 Outline:

16. Outline • 1. Context of Foreign Laborers in Taiwan; • 2. Causes for Exploitation & Discrimination • 3. Their works and problems • 4. Their Self Expressions • 5. 城市飛行

17. Foreign Laborers • Laborers, wives and prostitutes; • Common problems: • cultural differences, family and emotional problems • Exploitation (of husbands, agents and employers)and discrimination; • complex laws (hard to get work permit; hard to get citizenship) • lack of social support systems Our focus

18. Taiwan in the Hierarchy of Global Labor Market • The flows of laborers -- part of flexible accumulation of capital in global capitalism • 中東國家-- 薪水比較少﹑仲介費也比較低; 勞動條件比較差， • 馬來西亞或新加坡--薪水多一點; 仲介費高一點;待遇稍微好一點; • 香港和台灣 • 加拿大

19. Trends in Taiwan • More domestic servants, fewer laborers -- 近五年製造業人數減少，營造業人數減少，服務業（家傭及看護工）增加自八十七年起印尼籍勞工增長成幾何倍數，越南勞工也是成倍數增長，且大都是服務業。菲律賓勞工人數從八十七年開始下降。 • 僱主及仲介公司愛用印傭及越南傭

20. Differences Among Different Nationals 因為菲律賓－－有團體性，支持系統比較足夠， 印尼﹑越南－－團結性不是那麼強，權利意識也比較弱，假日全部都沒有。

21. Trends in Taiwan • Clip 1 • More domestic servants, fewer laborers -- 近五年各國籍外勞人數消長趨勢製造業人數減少，營造業人數減少，服務業（家傭及看護工）增加自八十七年起印尼籍勞工增長成幾何倍數，越南勞工也是成倍數增長，且大都是服務業。菲律賓勞工人數從八十七年開始下降。

22. Causes for Exploitation& Discrimination • 輸出國的弱勢（經濟及文化）-- 無力保障自己的國民 (esp. Indonesia & Vietnam –or internal discrimination) • 高額仲介費--the government’s bureaucracies  高仲介費及外勞本國的窮困使外勞自己委曲求全，以求轉取薪資改善家庭 (仲介費︰ 12-14 萬；e.g. service fee, 1st year: 1800, 2nd year: 1700, 3rd year: 1500) • 輸入國僱主的階級意識--台灣許多僱主缺乏僱主的倫理，自己違反勞動倫理及法規，以封建時代主子的心態宰制外勞; • Media Exaggeration of Individual Cases (e.g. 劉俠， etc.)

23. Nature of their Works & Problems • 3D-dirty dangerous demeaning; (clip 5e.g. cleaner [vs. farmers]); • Low payment (less than 10,000 a month);每個小時加班費很低， • Cannot form a union by themselves; discriminated against by local workers; • 三年到六年 (return for 40 days) • The agencies as intermediaries are indispensable: complicated application procedure; 仲介費改為借貸費和服務費 • Mandatory savings

24. Problems: Emotional & at Work 《望鄉》 Homesick Eyes: • money (clip 5); • loss of jobs (clip 3) • exploitation -- domestic servants; e.g. Remi clip 9 • 5391’s case (clip 2; 7)

25. Their Self-Expressions 1.人生劇 • 「生活如戲劇，上演現實的遊戲，當殮布蓋上我們我們可還會有力氣，就如布袋戲的劇本，我們是被掌控的布偶，笑聲和淚水只是被寫好的故事，已經被安排的，熱鬧滾滾，一個布偶只能聽令於導演的手，只是扮演注定的角色，如果這是一個騙局，布偶又能如何？它扮演什麼都沒有意義。布幕緩緩降下，布偶被放回箱子裡，戲劇已經結束，布偶再也沒有用處，我們就是無力的布偶，被殮布蓋著，靜靜地接受 死亡的，結局。」

26. Their Self-Expressions 2.家庭幫傭 「在雇主家你上班，在台北車站你裝扮，艷麗的外表下我沒料到，你是一位家庭幫傭，手 機在你口袋，是你聯絡的工具，用來與朋友說笑。 喔！家庭幫傭！性感又有錢，遠近有名聲是她也有自己的難題：是一位年輕美眉還是一位寡婦，或者被愛人拋棄的苦命人。 喔！家庭幫傭！你是勞工羨幕的話題，也是仲介尋找的標的，充滿經驗也充滿誘惑－在這名字的背後所有的食譜你都得知道，因為你是，家庭幫傭」。

27. Different Identities on Sundays • 服飾﹑cell phones; • Criticism of the employers’ English, manners and customs: e.g. leftovers • clip 6

28. 城市飛行 • What is the film about? • What do the characters have in common or in contrast with each other? Which of them are from China? • What is the recurrent motif in the film? • Which is more powerful or more influential, the seminar, or 望鄉 or the film 城市飛行?

29. 城市飛行 • Theme: Urban nomads and their dreams • Methods: • Marxist Interpretation of their works and the backgrounds. • Semiotic Reading of their dreams and efforts.

30. 城市飛行 – urban nomads 1 • Chinese laborer 阿祥 illegal immigrant, looks for his wife （阿娟）(Disappeared for two years; they thought he died of plane crash.)  taxi driver ( story of 5391) • Who is the blue pilot? • Betel nut vendor, a homeless kid

31. 城市飛行 – urban nomads 2 • motorcycle courier (bad luck—things falling from above.) • director – goes for the dramatic or sensational (killings, black society)

32. Common Dream: airplane

33. Common Dream: dream of transcendence

34. Common Dream: mess  art

35. Airplane : connected with an unknown past • After the car accident, the airplane in the dark; the betel nut vendor’s words; • the moment of shooting the deer

36. Solutions and Chance Encounters Self-Parody; the film is not like the film within the film. Compromise, fun, mutual support. Revenge? But against whom?

37. Chance Encounters Lonely, bored, but willing to help. Joining the hunting ritual of the aborigine.

38. Chance Encounters (2)

39. Chance Encounters (3) The blue pilot

40. Chance Encounters (4)

41. Chance Encounters (4)