CULTURAL CLASH AMONG OLD AND NEW CULTURE IN HARUKI MURAKAMI’S “A FOLKLORE FOR MY GENERATION: A PRE-HISTORY OF LATE-STAGE CAPITALISM”

Abstract

Culture is a set of norms and behaviour that continued to be passed down from generation to generation. However, as time passed, the values in the past have changed because it is no longer relatable in society. Consequently, society will have two opposing views, one that adheres to old values and the other that has embraced the new values. The combination of these two perspectives can be found in Haruki Murakami’s short story entitled “A Folklore for My Generation: A Pre-History of Late-Stage Capitalism”. Thus, this research objective is to describe how Murakami represented those two values in this short story. Using qualitative analytic methods and literature study, this paper combines Stuart Hall’s representation theory and Sylvia Walby’s patriarchal hegemony theory to reach our research objective. As for the result, we found that the teenagers’ view in the 60s about virginity and women’s emancipation came into conflict with the old culture. In the old culture, women were expected to remain virgins until they married, whereas teens in the 60s no longer considered virginity that important. Furthermore, the old culture also emphasized the role of domestic affairs for women but on the other side, men dominate the household due to their role as the head of household. Thus, it can be concluded that the cultural dominance of the view on virginity and women’s emancipation had shifted.