Shouting Society
From Free net encyclopedia
The Shouting Society (SS), is a community founded by Hong Kong secondary students in 2003. It voices social criticism through various orchestrated acts, mostly musical in nature. The SS has several hundred members to date and they all have a common belief -- himbrew, which means the Earth has everything yet nothing.
In the literal context, the Shouting Society is a parody of the extra-curricular scholastic communities established in secondary schools. Traditionally, "societies" and "clubs" are set up in schools for the sake of students' academic and cultural development. However, as bureaucracy pervades these organizations, some students have founded an official society on similar lines, yet with comical intentions. Whether the SS is subversive from the school administration's perspective is subject to debate.
The reason the term (or extra-curricular activity, if you will) "Shouting" is used is best comprehended by the visual representation of Edvard Munch's most famous portrait - The Scream, a depiction of an attack of existential angst. Kierkegaard's definition of angst accurately describes the feelings of students on the receiving end of British and Hong Kong education. The majority of the education sector believes that the system has brought insecurity and despair to an otherwise carefree generation. Graduates have been criticized by employers for a lack of individuality and creative thinking. The hyper-real act of literally shouting for attention, though deemed "downright impertinence" by bystanders, is claimed by the member of SS to be a solution for an otherwise unalterable fact of life.
The SS (a word play on Schutzstaffel, due to the elite academic identity of its founders) is generally critical of the so-called "lobotomized generation", among other things. The disapproval is demonstrated by the somewhat self-satirical act of shouting in gangs (as if in protests, as the chanting of slogans is now a frequent scene in the streets of Hong Kong), and idolizing the leader (a.k.a. Chairman, as in Mao Zedong) of the society. However, though some consider the society's orchestrated activities (e.g. Psychedelic music performances coupled with ear-splitting vocals of nu metal, and the publishing of the Little Red Book, revised edition) as an irrational expression of emotion without coherent arguments, the society's popularity is on the rise. The SS is not a political or activist group per se, but most of its members are active participants of current affairs.
The SS has produced an experimental drama and has received mixed reviews. It is planning to produce an album by 2005.