University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Faculty Publications Anthropology, Department of 6-2008 Message in a Bottle: Lyrical Laments and Emotional Expression in Mandopop Marc L. Moskowitz University of South Carolina - Columbia,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/anth_facpub Part of the Anthropology Commons Publication Info Published in The China Quarterly, Volume 194, 2008, pages 365-379. © The China Quarterly 2008, Cambridge University Press. This Article is brought to you by the Anthropology, Department of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. 365 Message in a Bottle: lyrical laments and Emotional Expression in Mandopop* Marc L. Moskowitz ABSTRACT This article explores the ubiquitous themes of loneliness, isolation and anomie in Mandopop (Mandarin Chinese language pop music). This is not to imply that people in the PRC and Taiwan are lonelier than people from other countries but, rather, that being human they experience these emotions. What is distinctive here is that Mandopop becomes a primary conduit to express feelings that are sanctioned in daily speech. The article addresses these concerns and uses in-depth interviews in Shanghai and Taipei to find out why Mandopop's themes ofloneliness and isolation are so resonant to its fans. ] drew away from the window, and sat down in my one chair hy the bedside, feeling it very sorrowful and strange that this first night of my hright fortunes should he the loneliest] had ever known. (Charles Dickens, Great Expectations) I "You want to tell me ahout it?" she asked him.