On Powerlessness, the Taike, the Trite and the Mundane: Monga and Non-Élite Taiwaneseness

Abstract

This paper uses Niu Chengze's film Monga (艋舺, 2010) as a pretext for discussing definitions of Taiwan and Taiwanese identity in contemporary popular culture against a larger discursive background. First, it addresses the issues of power and lack thereof as reflected in the film's main characters and the social networks within which they move. Secondly, it explores the 台客 taike stereotype and the evolution of the taike discourse, and discusses its elements as employed in Monga and developed in other kinds of texts of contemporary popular culture with the purpose of defining Taiwan and a local identity. I will comment on powerlessness inherent in the origins of this stereotype, negatively appraised and associated with the lower classes, and on the power it has acquired in recent years, which resides in the potential persuasive efficiency of its elements in their contemporary form.