Essay Sample on Aesthetic Economy

Introduction

The recent trends in the consumption of fashion have attracted many views and have made it necessary to research on what factors affect the way people consume different fashion brands. Most of the researchers in the past have focused on the cultural features in some countries and how this can determine their tastes and preferences. Changes in technology are reflected in the consumption trends of fashion products. The use of social media, for instance, influences the popular culture and this could affect the fashion brands that people prefer. The imperial palace museum in Beijing, which is also known as the forbidden city, is a critical part in the political history of China and it was known as the forbidden city because the commoners were not allowed to enter the city unless they got express permission from the imperial family (Vickers 2010). The creative and cultural products in the Beijing Palace Museum are related to the cultural features in the country and they are useful in retaining the culture and fashion of the people of China. In this proposal, the aim is to analyze the new culture of fashion consumption in relation to this museum and also to determine cultural and creative products in the museum. The palace museum has adopted the new technology to promote its operations and this includes TV shows, social media, music, and games. The fashion consumption in the palace museum has taken a new twist as the cultural and creative products in it attracts new consumers in the world.

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The palace museum is located at the center of Beijing and it is located in the imperial place that was used between 1420 and 1912 by the Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty (Wei et al. 2018; Li, He, Sung. and Shengnan 2014). For over 500 years, the place was used as the home for the emperors and their households as well as the political center of the Chinese leaders (He 2016). The palace museum restores the Chinese palatial culture and architecture. It also influences the architectural and cultural culture of the people and this is seen both in China and the rest of East Asia. The palace was the home of 24 emperors and this left it with a rich cultural and architectural heritage. It is among the most famous places in China and the rest of the world. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared it a world heritage site in 1987 and it has retained its state since then (Li et al. 2018). In 2000, Starbucks opened a store at the palace and it attracted a lot of controversies. Several opinion leaders claimed that the palace museum was a sign of the Chinese heritage and the store was not part of it. The store closed in 2007 after the controversy was too much for the company to resist (Chiu, Shi and Kwan 2019; Segall, Lonner and Berry 1998). The controversy and the outcomes are an indication of the extent to which the area is protected by the Chinese government and society.

By the end of 2015, the museum had about 8,700 pieces of art, and these included cultural and creative arts (Zhao 2016). They were collected from 2013 to 2015 by the authority and the government. By the end of 2015, the sales of the products increased to about 1 billion Yuan from the 600 million Yuan that was collected in 2013. In the past, the sales were affected by political turmoil in the country and the high sales can be attributed to the peaceful political climate experienced in the past few years (Sun 2018). The management of the museum confirmed that it attracts a huge number of tourist from the whole world and that they intend to increase the varieties of the products and to make it possible to see and feel the culture of the palace using the art (Rengel 2018; Moore 2015). The museum has used the current trends in the market to create products that can satisfy the tastes and preference of the current generations. For instance, the Palace Museum Wild Cats TV series was made from the observation of the new culture of the people and the wild cats on the museum. They also use the suggestions of the public to design activities that meet the demands of their consumers. The historical and architectural culture of the museum is a major part of its existence and it is used to determine the way it is run. There are several online shops that the museum uses to attract customers and to increase its sales. Books and paintings are among the items that are sold via online platforms. The government gave a regulation in 2015 that allowed museums to use modern technology to promote their operations. The move enabled the museums to collaborate with the cultural, creative and tourism industries to increase their capacity. The aesthetic economy, a new concept that involves the market for emotional, experiential and intimate commodities, seems to be taking control of the museum. Most of the consumers are attached to the products they purchase from it (Michalski 2015). In this proposal, the aim will be to analyze the way the museum operates, the recent changes in fashion consumption and the possible trends in the future.

Research Questions

• How do culture and creative product from the Beijing Imperial Palace museum balance between cultural value and aesthesis value?
• What is the main reason that dominates the consumer purchase the products from Imperial Palace Museum? The practicability or Aesthetics
• What is the advantage of developing an aesthetic economy in Beijing Imperial Palace museum?

Literature Review

The issues related to the aesthetic economy and the improvement of the museum as a source of money through tourism and promotion of the local culture have taken a new trend with the increased globalization and the use of new technology. In China, the palace museum attracts people from across the world and collects a huge anoint of revenue from the tourists who visit it. The concept of staging value has been in existence since the 1950s and it involves a situation whereby capitalism stops solving the needs of the people and it starts exploiting their desires. It involves intensifying and heightening life desires rather than meeting the primary needs of the people. There is a connection between aesthetics and the economy and this makes the aesthetic economy an important consideration for most of the governments (Bohme 2003). Similarly, the aesthetic economy supported by the palace museum in Beijing matters to the government of China.

Art is a tool that can be used to educate society (Billinghurst 2002). It is the only tool that can complete what the philosophy and religion fail (Marcuse 2003; Zhou and Brunn 2015). The use of artistic products to promote the culture helps in creating the aesthetic economy (Roberts 2002). Cultural production in the modern days is covered with the commodification and dominance of economic values of the art (Peters 2015). In China, the commodification of the artifacts in the Palace Museum is attributed to the income collected from the museum and the tourist activities associated with them. Understanding the value of the cultural and aesthetic economy is vital for the economy. There is also a need to have the optimism of the intellect and to understand the growing pessimism of the will. The issues of truth, polarization, and consent are critical to the development of the culture (Grossberg 2018). The use of the museum to pass the Chinese culture from generation to generation is a critical target of the government.

The effects of globalization and dizzying technologies have affected the cultural developments in the world. People are mingling from all parts of the world and it is hard to retain their original culture. Archaeologies of the future are affected by the disintegration of the people's culture (Jameson 2005; Powell 2006). Most of the people today spend most of their time watching movies and TV. When they watch a movie and they get to know about the place where the movie was acted, they get attracted to the place and they get the urge to travel. The attraction created in the movies is great and can change the views that people have about a location. Such fiction-induced tourism is effective in creating an attraction for the tourists and it can be used to expose the cultural heritage of a country (Lipovsek and Kesic, 2015). In the palace museum, the management is using TV series and other forms of the media to create more fiction-induced tourism (Liu 2017; Bowman, and McMahan 2007). The balance between cultural value and the aesthetic value can be found in this fiction, whereby the cultural aspects of the Chinese people can be seen in the aesthetic value of the products in the museum.

Literature of the Aesthetic Economy

In recent years, the value of the aesthetic economy has attracted many researchers due to the rising concern on how the government is taking advantage of the economy to grow their countries. Since its emergence in the 1950s, the aesthetic economy has been at the center of many cultural commodifications (Bohme 2003). The value in the markets is based on what people see and the value attached to different parts of the artifacts. For example, the value of gold and ivory is based on the perception attached to them (Bohme, 2016). In modern China, the economic experience of the people is affected by the exposure they have to the shared values in their culture (Duncan and Wallach 1980). The palace museum is one of the main areas where such sharing happens and this explains the main factors that dominate the purchase decisions of the consumers. The consumption of h female beauty is also at the center of the consumption trends in the Chinese economy (Pettinger 2008). The development of the aesthetic economy in a place like Beijing is likely to increase the economic growth and attraction of tourists.

Methodology

The research will be conducted by the use of qualitative research methods including interviewing and research groups and ethnography and participant observation. According to Bryman (2016), the gap between theory and practice can be reduced through the use of a mixture of different research methods. The museum management needs to understand the behaviors of their visitors (Lanir, Bak and Kuflik 2014, Sookhanaphibarn, K. and Thawonmas 2009). The knowledge can be used to predict the way people behave and to improve the experience they have in the museums (Strohmaier, Sprung, Nischelwitzer and Schadenbauer 2015). The use of participant observation will help to make this observation. The ethical issues affecting the collection of data include confidentiality and denial of access (Floridi and Taddeo 2016). The data collected from the museum will show the relationship it has with the people of Beijing. Museums use ideas from the anthropology and modern society to connect people with their products (Bouquet 2013). Interviewing the focus groups will also provide the researcher with adequate data on how the museum uses its products to balance cultural and aesthetic value.

Ethical Considerations

As stated above, the ethical aspect of research has to be observed to ensure that all research processes are standard. In this research, ethics will be observed by following the general guidelines of the research bodies. One of the ethical concerns is about the confidentiality of the research information. All participants will be allowed to opt whether to give their names or provide data in anonymity. They will also be informed on the use of the data and that it will not be used in any other way unless they have consented to it. Access to some of the required data may not be possible because of the regul...