mpts to seek liminal experience. Countercultures and subcultures, like
those of the hippies in the 1960s or punk in the 1970s, are also means of exploring
liminality, or what Turner also called “anti-structure.”
The liminal is the source of most cultural creativity and identity formation. Here the raw
materials of culture are forged. While we cannot long remain in the liminal or anti-
structure moment, our moments there are among the most precious and memorable
we have. While in the liminal state, our old identities are stripped from us, we may
either deny our animal appetites or explore them in extravagant ways, and remarkable
bonds are formed among those involved in a special form of community Turner called
“communitas.” The following chart is taken from The Ritual Process, and it documents
the various features of the normal condition of structure (structure here means social
patterns) and the liminal state of anti-structure.
normal state (structure) liminal state (anti-structure)
totality partiality
heterogeneity homogeneity
inequality equality
systems of nomenclature anonymity
status absence of status
distinctions of clothing nakedness/uniform clothing
sexuality sexual continence
maximization of sex minimization of sex
distinctions distinctions
rank distinctions absence of rank
wealth distinctions no wealth distinctions
secularity sacredness
technical knowledge sacred instruction
complexity simplicit英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】y
b. media and ritual
The most important thing to understand about ritual is that it is not reserved merely for
religious practices, though those are undoubtedly important. Rituals are a part of
everyday secular reality, and also very much a significant aspect of media experience.
Rituals are one of the primary ways in which we approach complexity in everyday life.
Since media are a principal means by which humans make contact with the larger
forces in their lives—the social, the historical, the mythic, the ideological—media are
themselves deeply ritualized. Consider how rich and familiar are our viewing habits: we
sit in front of our TVs, we peer into a screen, we cover ourselves with a favourite
blanket or sit in a much-loved chair, and we watch shows that have become old friends.
The ritual nature of media experience goes much further than our living rooms: we view
important historical events as they unfold in real time, and in the company of millions of
other viewers; we are brought into proximity with live events and real people as
mediated through the screen. Commentators too engage us in ritual ways, repeating
the same phrases, employing the same rhetorical conventions, and binding us to them
and the events they frame for us. We may imagine that we live in a rational and secular
society, but in fact we experience much of life through ritual.
Turner’s concept of liminality provides an entré to the larger problem
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