Wiki article
Taiwanese Electric Flower Cars (traditional: 電子花車, simplified: 电子花车, pinyin: diànzi huā chē) are trucks that have been converted into wheeled, neon-lit platforms, typically moving stages, upon which strippers can perform as the vehicle participates in religious, celebratory or funeral processions. These performances generally include stripping and occasionally involve full-on nudity. A. Marc L. Moskowitz remarked in his making of the documentary Funeral Strippers in Taiwan that stripping down to complete nudity on the Electric Flower Car has gone "underground because there were laws enacted against full nudity in the mid-80's".[1] As such, the tradition of the Electric Flower Car has generated a considerable amount of controversy.
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Traditional funeral practice[edit]
Despite being used in temple events and community performances, the Electric Flower Car is most well known in the funereal context. Traditionally, females clad in flamboyant and skimpy underwear would dance, sing and strip for the benefit of the dead. Statistically, Traditional burial ritual involves an open casket, the sacrifice of pigs, a procession with many people walking a certain distance to "send off" the deceased. In this practice it is believed that the louder and rowdier the procession, the easier it is for the deceased to cross over to the after-life. Rè Naò, meaning "hot and noisy" in the Chinese language is an indispensable element in a funeral. In the tradition, it is believed that the quality of the deceased after-life is gauged by the number of people who are present to "send off" the deceased during the funeral. A rowdy procession not only symbolize the status of the deceased as having lived a fulfilling life with an abundance of family and friends, it also creates a celebratory mood that is meant to signify the living's willingness at letting the dead move out of the physical world and thus, ensure the dead's smooth journey into the after-life. It marks a celebration rather than one's mournful passing at a funeral.
Rè Nào[edit]
In order to garner crowds and create a successful and exciting public event, strippers are hired to win attention and more importantly, attendance. Strippers arrive in large moving trucks that have been elaborately decorated with neon lights and pumping stereos. Their job is to dance, sing and strip for the deceased in an effort to heighten the atmosphere and please wandering spirits.
Religious Association[edit]
As a part of Taiwan's traditional folk culture, the practice of funeral stripping is closely linked to religious beliefs. It is believed by a large part of the Taiwanese people that higher Gods such as Matzu and Guanyin are more moral than the lower Gods (ghosts of real people whom people pray to and give offering to on specific festivals). However, lower Gods are associated with human vices such as gambling and womanizing. Therefore. if one would like to pray for things of a higher order such as good luck and protection, the higher Gods would be appealed to. If one wants to pray for one's vices such as addiction to drugs, gambling and womanizing, the lower Gods might be appealed to. Moskowitz, in an interview with i09 commented that besides having female strippers to send the deceased off in style, their presence is also to please the lower Gods.
Controversy[edit]
Due to the nature of the practice, laws have been enacted in the 1980s to limit the amount of exposure female strippers reveal during performances. The tradition of the Electric Flower Car have since moved out of Taiwan's urban centers into rural areas skirting cities. It is observed that these practices are more widespread in the South, a part of Taiwan that is associated with the working class, lack of solid education and more local traditions. In this light, funeral stripping have also involved itself in the discourse of the north and south, a split of culture that has always featured prominently in modern Taiwanese culture discourses. With the upper class men in Taipei complaining about the harmful effect of this practice on social morality, this practice has not only almost disappeared from the northern parts of Taiwan but is also slowly ebbing out as it proved to be incompatible with Taiwan's participation with a global culture.
There exists stereotypes and criticism of female funeral strippers in Taiwan. To some they appear as promiscuous, to others who wholly reject the impetus behind the practice look down on their profession. Strippers themselves, according to Moskowitz, come from generations who have been in the funereal or stripping business and thus see themselves as professionals.
Law[edit]
Like most folk sponsored practices such as the night markets in Taiwan, funeral stripping does not seem to be rubbing shoulders with the law, not if necessary. Moskowitz in his documentary observed that law enforces such as policemen and politicians themselves are sometimes present during these events. Managers of the event are careful to restrict the amount of skin shown during the performances.
References[edit]
See also[edit]
Electric Flower Car
Notes on format and Article
Taiwanese Electric Flower Car.
The electric flower car from what I understand is a moving stage in which professional strippers use to perform during religious, traditional, and funeral events. I find the text interesting to work with because I can experiment a lot with the layout and I can also separate it into different context.
For instance For the first 3 or 4 Pages I would plan on the introduction what is the electric car?, Its use and what not for the 5,6,7 and 8 page, the controversies it has brought how people view it in the society (how it as moved from urban cities to the more rural ones). While for the 9th and 10th pages I would like to attach my own views and some key points from articles that I have seen. For the remaining pages a conclusion and my take on how traditions and cultures are changing to fit with a modern setting.
For Illustrations I would like to make Collages and using Neon or bright colour tones because I feel that I would be an interesting setting or mix. I am still looking for a type face that would be suitable for the text ( mainly sanserif’s because the publication is also a serious one because it is not only talking about the stage but also how society views it).
Format or the layout weather printed or digital- I want to make it into fold out poster whereby it’s a book but when folded out it becomes a poster but sadly I do not have a printer that I can access but I would still be willing to try out that format.
I would be working with land scape using the idea of it being a stage, I would try to play around with the text as much as I Can but not too much where It becomes to difficult to read.
Type faces
For the Type I would like for some important text or wordsto be highlighted with a neon type face. I would say that I am still experimenting and would like to look in to it more. I was also looking at trying out some colours with some san serif typefaces they it did not work. I think that it would be better for me to use the neon type faces or a cursive type face as I would be experimenting a lot.
Examples of Float
I tried searching for the pictures of the float or stage cars but I could not find any that showed the full car so I had to search up some neon light parade floats. The reason I choose neon is because from what I have gathered a lot of the car stages are neon lit. Taking that into consideration I started looking at neon signs and fonts that I could use when making this publication.
Layout Ideas
When looking for layout ideas I stumbled on some posters that I taught would look very nice as a out especially when trying the neon font. They looked very unique I likes the colour combination with the layout especially ones that had a Collage background. I also found layouts that used bright colours as the background or interpreting the text into shapes very interesting. It would also be a very good idea instead of using neon fonts as too much of that can be distracting.