演藝人和嫩模書展宣傳與社會文化素養

每年一度的香港書展本來是閱讀愛好者的好去處,除了可以讓讀者得知形形色色的書籍,特別是新書或冷門書籍,也是作者,出版者,發行人和大眾交流的平台.可惜的是,近年來不少演藝人和出版商都趁機宣傳其所謂著作,而出版商轄下攤位員工各施各法,喧囂叫賣,四周簇擁著大批歌迷,影迷,以至’趁墟’的市民.更甚者,在今年書展中,一群被稱為’嫩模’(或’靚模’)的表演女郎或推廣模特兒將會發佈其圖片集,並搔首弄姿,徹底破壞書展原來的文化氣息,淪為充滿庸俗表演的推銷場所,以及變相的追星活動,與一般商場的演藝人的宣傳活動無異.

在此,我們不禁要質問這個社會:為何一年一度的書展仍然無法成為香港特區這文化荒漠的綠洲?為什麼書展淪入出版商之手後,竟轉作令人厭惡的’名人著作’(常有請槍之嫌)大賣場?為何每年有逾七十萬人進入書展,但大部分人依然無法走出與演藝人見面,購買低檔書,圖片集的怪圈內?

歸根究底是香港特區民眾忽略人文素養,以及審美觀的匱乏.雖然香港居民普遍工作繁忙,但他們即使有一點餘暇,也傾向觀賞商人制作的電影,電視劇,收聽流行音樂.可是,稍有一點品位的人只要看過一兩部影劇,都知道那般影劇僅屬公式化產品,部分著重官能刺激,欠缺文化內涵.更可悲的是,近年流行音樂創作素質低落,歌詞言之無物,演唱者五音不全,難引起聽眾長期共鳴,成為’用完即棄’的產品.

事實上,在百忙中閱讀文化藝術書籍,收聽古典音樂,不失是暫時放開工作煩惱的理想方法.在繁忙的工作中尋找心靈慰藉,陶冶性情本是人生的一點調節,可是人們在強大的商業宣傳下,往往不願意追尋被視為高格調的文藝作品.

另外,香港特區的教育過度重視實學,速效,輕視文化教育.縱使多數中小學設閱讀獎勵計劃,文化推廣活動,但也未能吸引大量學生參與.因此,教育當局須加大力度於文化藝術科目的擴展,提高學生對文藝作品的鑑賞力,減少過度操練和接受文藝課外活動作升學的參考指標,才能提升社會人士對閱讀文化的關注

原文發佈於2009年7月18日,6:25pm.

Promotions in Book Fair and cultural quality in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Book Fair, which is held in every July, is a good place for regular readers to know a wide range of books, especially new or unpopular books. It is also a place for exchanging ideas or views of authors, publishers, distributors and readers. Alas, many performers and publishers have taken the advantage to promote their so-called works in the book fair. The salespeople of publishers yell in order to promote the works. Fans or even residents sticking with the herd gather round stalls. Worst still, some showgirls and promotional models distribute photo collections with their appearances. They have even planned to pose sultry actions. After protests by a Facebook group, Trade Development Council, the organizer of book fair, divided a hall for performers to meet their fans. The actions of those performers totally disrupt the cultural atmosphere and transform the venue into a plebeian promotion place and performer following activity by devoted fans, as found in general shopping centres.

We have to question the society: Why the annual book fair still cannot become oasis of Hong Kong SAR, where people called it as ‘culture desert’? Why the fair is degraded to a selling place of disgusting ‘celebrity works’ (which are often ghost- written)? Why most of 700 thousand odd attendants still cannot get out of activities like seeing performers, buying low quality books and albums?

The ultimate reason of the norm is the lack of cultural quality and aesthetic standard among quality. Although Hong Kong people are often very busy, they often prefer popular music, television dramas and movies produced by merchants, rather than aesthetic works and fine arts. In fact, any person with some critical ideas often finds those dramas or movies usually have a few similar styles, or merely for sensual excitement. Sadly, most of the pop songs in recent years are rather meaningless and singers have no sense in rhythm. Those songs cannot impress audiences and people abandon them very quickly.

Reading some great literature and listening to classical music are effective methods to reduce annoyance derived from working or everyday life. Nourishment of our bored souls is necessary to urban people. However, the public often forget fine arts under the great influence of commercial propaganda.

Hong Kong government and people often stress on actual skills in education and defy arts and literature. Even a lot of reading or cultural promotional programmes are held in schools, not many students enter the programmes actively. Therefore, the educational authorities in Hong Kong must fully promote the appreciation of literature works, reduce unnecessarily training and adopt students having high ability in literature activities in order to improve public awareness on reading ‘regular books’.

The Chinese original text was distributed on 6:25pm, 18 July 2009; English translation was distributed on 5:42pm, 24 July 2009.