Kuso--the new style
The American master of Pop art Andy Warhol once said, "In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes." He meant that in a constantly changing society where the media obsessively seeks out the newest thing, anyone who wanted to could achieve a moment of fame. This prophetic remark from 1968 is being fulfilled in the world of blogs.
Wanwan, a nine-to-fiver in her twenties, has been posting cartoons about her life on her blog since the end of 2004. Her blog just happened to become wildly popular--it's had 40 million visits, and 150,000 people log on every day, making her the most popular Taiwanese blogger of 2005.
"Kuso culture," which like Wanwan's material begins with everyday life experiences and then gives them an imaginative, ironic twist, is now the rage of Taiwan's blogs. The word kuso, which literally means "crap" in Japanese, comes from Japanese youth pop culture, and refers to amateur, Dadaesque works by average people. The crude techniques used give the work a cheeky originality.
While Wanwan's work is all original, the kuso style often involves altering pre-existing material. A group of friends, for instance, acted out a trailer for a popular romantic film, with hammy imitations of the actors put on for laughs. Someone copied the flashy graphic style of the Apple Daily tabloid and put up his own photos he'd collected from around the Internet, calling it the Pineapple Daily--the site's received more than a million visitors. A few bloggers watch for typos and other mistakes in the press and mock them on their site. The site's motto mimics that of the old cartoon heroes, the "Righteous Warriors": "Let's go! Mistake Attack Force!"
This kind of tongue-in-cheek content would never make it into the mainstream media, but it's become the style of many blogs. They reject sanctimoniousness and try to make everything fun. Critics might say they lack depth, but behind the kuso trend is the strong desire of a new generation to rebel against mainstream values. Their ironic attitude is actually an alternative form of social observation. These kuso-style blogs are seeing millions of visitors--that's in the league of the mainstream media. Their influence is not to be underestimated.
Power to the townspeople
The advent of blogs means that people are no longer tiny islands in an ocean of information. Those of like opinion can interact and share information.
The spirit of blogging can be described with a catchphrase going around the net in Taiwan: "The townspeople have the power!" It's a reference to a scene from the Stephen Chow film Hail the Judge when a nosy townsperson says, "I came in with the townspeople to see what the fuss was about. But now I'm a bit too close to the action...." The "townspeople" are a motley crew who make a mountain out of every molehill and love to give their opinions. As the blogging movement gains steam, perhaps the quality of discourse will be raised. As of now, Taiwan's bloggers may still be lone voices in the wilderness, but the forum their medium provides for expression and stating grievances is a cultural phenomenon with great potential. As more and more people get serious about making their own media, perhaps blogs will become a true cultural force in Taiwan.
Blogs and other formats compared
Personal website:
There's a lot of freedom, but you have to rent space on a server and know computer languages like HTML and Java. The technological barriers to entry are quite high.
Bulletin Board System (BBS):
Popular among university students in Taiwan. Most of the systems are related to universities and schools. Topics discussed on the BBSes include politics, gossips, sports, music, etc. There is a strong sense of interaction between participants, but the interface is rather difficult to use and special software is required. The average user will have a hard time using BBSes. National Taiwan University's PTT is a representative example.
"Personalized news" site:
A kind of standardized news site people can apply for, through which they can make announcements in diary-like form. Though it is media created by individuals, the format of these types of sites is rather inflexible. They do not support hypertext like blogs do, and are less interactive. PCHome's Mypaper service is an example.
Blog:
A type of webpage with a format users can customize according to their own desires. Anyone who wants to start a blog can just sign up for an account with a site offering blogging services and they will have a space in which they can show off their creativity. Readers can also interact in real time by leaving comments about the blog's postings. Major blogging services in Taiwan include Wretch (www.wretch.cc), Yam (blog.yam.com), and Sina (blog.sina.com.tw).