The Rise of Satellite TVs and the Use of Social Media response
Please respond to "Who needs democracy if we can pick our favorite girl" and "'Democratic Entertainment'," two pieces on the Super Girl phenomenon on the Hunan Satellite TV and through the promotion of social media. How can these analyses of the Super Girl phenomenon serve as an entry point for your understanding of more recent media events such as "Voice of China", "I am a Singer," and "Sing My Song"? Use quotes with page numbers to support your analyses. Due Wednesday April 23 by 10 pm, comments to two other responses due by 11:59 pm. I look forward to reading your final response for this semester!
I find it very interesting that in the article by Bingchun Meng "Super Girl as Media Spectacle" she uses a lot of American TV shows to depict their affluence in China. The show "Super Girl" is giving China a chance to impose a form of democracy by giving the people a position, in which they can vote. "This participatory nature seems to give people a rare chance to make their voice count in an authoritarian society, albeit on an issue totally irrelevant to public policy." (Meng, p.266) HTV has tried to appeal to the public without a political influence, although it is still inadvertently being controlled by the government. "The rather misplaced enthusiasm on the democratic implications of Super Girl is an indication of how far China is from democracy rather than of how close it has come to." (Meng, p.269). The show, Super Girl is giving people the ability to vote, so it makes them feel like they have a say in society. Meng even touches on the topic of democracy by stating that "the kind of participation reality TV allows is very different from what is required for democratic politics." (Meng, p.259). The media outlets are how the government "controls" the society. Although, the main television station did not have the rights to show Super Girl, HTV became the governments main outlet, which made the other station upset.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting aspect is the Super Girl show was seen as a "true" and "real" aspect of television. This was shown when Li Yuchun was chosen as the winner of Super Girl because of her realness that the fans connected too, although she was not the best singer. "...the most important factor is the contestants themselves, who are expected to demonstrate the real self (zhen wo) during the contest." (Meng, p.264). Her display of being genuine allowed her to win the competition. The people voting were not focused on how the person sounded, but how authentic they were.
In the “Democratic entertainment” commodity article Jian and Liu use that term to describe China’s “fake” stance towards democracy shown through television. The show Super Girl was the first example where over 400 million people watched this show in awe. This article is similar to the article by Meng, because of the false move towards democracy that the reality show showcased. Although, Super Girl is a form of “democratic entertainment” through reality television, it is not a move towards democracy for China. “In fact, Supergirl has created a new type of ‘reality TV/telecommunication/Internet/ music industry’ enterprise.” (Jian and Liu, p.529). Super Girl may have changed how China’s media industry has shown television shows, but it has not changed their political arena.
I would disagree with the thesis of the Meng article. I believe that the show is a genuine response among the people of China to a platform of Democracy. Ordinary people often feel powerless. They may want change but any protest or actions against the government will surely lead to hardship and most probably will fail. So when the HTV provided the people with a democratic outlet, viewers may have used the show as a form of protest. Just because the show provides no political power does not mean it is not a true representation of democracy in China.
DeleteI agree with Chris Garr. There are a lot of positive aspects that can come from a show like this that allows people to express their opinions without being scared of government response.
DeleteThe popularity of these types of shows relies on the viewer/consumer participation mechanism. On the surface, the formula of Supergirl and the Idol series is fairly identical. However, the rhetoric of viewer democracy is more appealing in China more so than in Western countries. Supergirl claims that it is manufacturing an idol from among ordinary people. It is labeled as the “ordinary idol phenomenon”. As, Jian and Liu state, “This fairy tale concept is very attractive and effective in a country where voting for politicians is not commonly practiced” (p525). People may often feel frustrated with the lack of responsiveness and control over the government. This type of show provides an outlet to let people take part in making a choice; a choice that is often not government sanctioned and may be made in contrast to government sanctioned values. Also, as the article points out, political control, albeit with competitive strategies, resulted in the development of reality TV in China. The Chinese state still held power by controlling political opinions in the mass media. Also, a governmental television group, the CCTV, retained a dominant position in broadcasting news, acquiring 60% of the market share. As a consequence, many provincial television stations concentrated on entertainment programs, rather than news, in order to compete with CCTV. Entertainment programs’ broadcasting time had expanded to over 20% between 2002 and 2003. So democratic and entrepreneurial impulses lead into the phenomenon.
ReplyDeleteIn the first season of Supergirl, the leading contender and winner of the show was androgynous. As Bingchun Meng states, “In a word, her tomboy appearance does not fit in with the conventional Chinese standard of feminine beauty” (p264). Her appearance led to a controversy surrounding her sexual identity. The mainstream view in China still considers homosexuality a kind of moral degradation. Many fans applauded her for her “realnesss”. She won not because she was the best singer but because she was the best contestant that revealed her “true self”. On many of Li’s fan websites, such as the Post Bar on baidu.com, the most circulated catch phrases are words like “true self”, “purity and truthfulness”, “genuine and sincere”, or “authentic individuality”. All these expressions related to the meaning of “real” in one way or another. The fact that she appeared androgynous and may have been a lesbian actually might have helped her win. Her victory might be seen as a response against a government espousing certain rules of propriety by a frustrated youth citizenry. The people voting may have chose her because she represented a “real” ordinary person rather than a “fake” token representative of state sanctioned values.
I liked how you touched on the "realness" and "true self" and how she was her true self that it might have helped her win the audiences vote.
DeleteIn fact, many Chinese audience wants to see real elements in the TV program, so they are like those who show a true emotional player.
DeleteI agree with your description of the voting system as an outlet. I believe it is a way to put democracy out of the context of government and into the context of entertainment in order to distract people from political problems and get them more engaged in pseudo-reality and therefore pacify them.
DeleteI like your idea about the success of the Chinese reality shows and the reason why Li Yuchu became the winner. The rebelling against the traditional norm and government regulation is appealing to common people, especial young generation, but it is perfectly controlled with the field of entertainment.
DeleteI like your extension on the relationship between the lack of voting for government officials and being able to have democratic power to chose their favorite singer.
DeleteI also agree that rebelling against both the traditional norm and government regulation is extremely appealing to the young generation.
DeleteWhile the first reading believed that the Super Girl spectacle was just a demonstration of how far away from democracy China is, I think it is a demonstration of just how great a desire the Chinese people have to be involved in something bigger than themselves. Huang calls Super Girl “a karaoke for nationwide people (Jian & Liu 528)” and the fact that this show was designed to interact with the common people is why it gained such immense popularity. Super Girl, as well as I am a Singer and Sing my Song have become a part of popular culture because they connect with their audiences and give them power. “Popular Culture has connections with local hopes and local aspirations, local tragedies, and local scenarios that are the everyday experiences of ordinary folk (Meng pg. 258).” These shows give the Chinese people a chance to make a change and have their opinion matter. I feel like they get to channel some of their frustrations against having little to no voice in the government into fully participating in Super Girl and I am a Singer.
ReplyDeleteSuper Girl managed to find a way to interact with the common people—giving them a voice—and, in turn, the people of China have fallen in love with this it. This is why reality TV tapped into this potential market, and many other shows like Voice of China and I am a Singer have started popping up. These shows are tapping into a society that longs to somehow make a difference and be heard. “…Reality TV subverts the hierarchy between celebrities and average Joes—to participate in a reality television show does not seem to require and special talent or training yet it gives people chance to earn instant fame (Meng pg.258).” In an especially materialistic and “appearances is everything” society like China, this chance at instant fame—to go from nothing to something—is a very alluring opportunity. As more shows like Super Girl are created, it only boosts reality TV’s popularity by giving more people the opportunity to get their chance in the limelight.
I agree with you on your statement that "Super Girl managed to find a way to interact with the common people". I think that because of this, it lead to its popularity and why many Chinese people like the show.
DeleteI agree with your point of view, one of these programs is the key to success, the audience can interact with the program.
DeleteI agree that the popularity of these shows is due to the fact that they allow the Chinese people to feel as though they have power in the midst of a government that deprives them of individual power.
DeleteI agree with the overall point of your post. An interesting subject how reality TV indeed does have its merits in helping society have a voice, yet is represented by such garbage over here in the states.
Delete“Super Girl” is the Chinese version of American Idol. "… Super Girl is an indication of how far China is from democracy rather than of how close it has come to." (Meng, p.269). With this new television show, Super Girl not indicating that China may be moving towards a more democratic society. This may be far fetched because it is only a television and we may be analyzing things a little too closely, but we can see this democracy by seeing the viewers are able to vote on who they want to win but that does not mean that China has started to become a democracy. It is a show that wants to draw in an audience so to do so they implement a system where the viewers have a say in who wins. With the viewers having some kind of power, it is more likely to draw in a large number of viewers to watch the show. Super Girl, I am Singer, Voice of China, and Sing My Song are popular shows that Chinese are watching because they have this sense of democracy in which they can vote for their candidate that they want to win.
ReplyDelete“Reality TV’s commodity chain makes full use of a multimedia platform, including TV, phone lines, and the internet. With the aid of integrated media technologies, this type of program can make money from sponsorship revenues, cellular text messages, and even the continuous exploitation of talent.” (Jian and Liu 1). With the help of technological advances in China, China is able to exploit the talented singers in China and because of the cell phones ability to text and send data through the phone without calling, polls are able to be taken and with this, shows are now able to show this type of democracy and allow people from China to have a voice.
I agree with you that even though Super Girl has changed the perception of the citizens in China, it does not necessarily mean that China is moving toward democracy.
DeleteI agree with the authors when they write that it is folly to overanalyze the signification of the presence of token democracy in TV shows. I too believe that it is just entertainment, nothing more and nothing less.
DeleteI agree with you when you say that the show is a way that people can express their opinions, but that doesn't change the politics of China.
DeleteA quote from ‘Democratic entertainment’ commodity and unpaid labor of reality
ReplyDeleteTV: a preliminary analysis of China’s Supergirl' states the following, "Supergirl claims that it is manufacturing an idol ‘from among ordinary people with the assistance of ordinary people. It is labeled as the ‘ordinary idol phenomenon’ (pingmin ouxiang)." (pg. 525) The article seems to focus on the aspect that reality shows such as Super Girl are meant to transform contestants and audience members as unpaid labor through the ideas of "democratic television." I must say I disagree completely. I am more on the side of Chris Garr's comment where he discussed this as an outlet from people's protests can be heard and not oppressed by government control. We live in a society where unpaid labor is the norm and is very beneficial to all participants. Viewers of American Idol and Super Girl get free entertainment and an icon to look up to to follow their dreams, contestants get a free opportunity to display their talents when they may not have many opportunities where they come from, and companies get free advertisement. If we our going define one genre of entertainment as a spectacle then we must take into account other outlets of entertainment the same. Facebook, YouTube, advertisements on our cable network, Netflix, Hulu are all responsible for "exploiting" unpaid labor. When a company wants to endorse a celebrity for their brand they want someone who is relate-able to the brand. That is why Olympic champions are highly revered because they are seen as heroes of their countries who have overcome boundaries and obstacles to succeed. Some part of me feels as though the articles are presenting the idea that these show are just here to make money when the way these shows are marketed are very similar across different cultures. One American contestant named Jillian Jensen on X factor told her story about being bullied which brought national awareness to a problem that goes widely unnoticed. She is real in a sense we can all relate to what she went through.
Meng discussed the process of creating the spectacle and finding the right people to display the message the show needed to display in order to capture the right audiences. Many feel that the shows are schemes to produce the idea of a democratic system when it is just another attempt to earn money. The argument seems one sided at times when there are so many benefits to program such as these. In my communications course I learned how exorbitantly expensive without the use of advertisement. We all enjoy YouTube and the vast amount of videos accessible to us, but we never consider how much a subscription fee would cost if companies did no t put advertisements on videos.
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DeleteI agree with your idea. These two papers are too critical on an entertaining TV show. It seems that audience are manipulated by the producer to earn profit. Their focusing on the political and economical aspects leads to their neglecting on the cultural and spiritual aspects of the show. The themes such as dream and persistence are also the reasons why these TV shows became popular.
DeleteThe first article, we can know the super girl is a reality show. People like this program, because it can give some people who like the music provide an opportunity to show their talent. People want to see a person through their own efforts to become a star. Super girl achieve the common that people have a dream of becoming a star. People through music competition, go to the entertainment media. We can find the super girl; this program is very popular with young people. Because many young people want to see ordinary people around them and see how they work so hard. People can get the power through this program, so as to stimulate their potential. At page 260 it shows “The Super Girl phenomenon provides an opportunity to rethink cultural politics of marketization, media production and consumption in the contemporary Chinese context.”
ReplyDeleteThrough these shows "Voice of China", "I am a Singer," and "Sing My Song"? We know that these programs have a lot in common. First of all, these programs like super girl, singing by the players and the judges scores composed of programs. Chinese people like this program, because it is competitive, people can choose their own like idols according to their own preferences. At the same time, this program is very attractive to young people, because, most contestants have become the idol singer.
this kind of programs are becoming the most popular thing in China right now, some of them are good, but the rest are just pieces of trash...
DeleteI really agree with you that "people like this program, because it can give some people who like music provide and opportunity to show their talent". But I think this is just for that time, because audience's entertainment tendency and preference is changing all the time
DeleteThe Super Girl phenomenon provides an opportunity to rethink cultural politics of marginalization, media production and consumption in the contemporary Chinese context.”
Deletethis a step to made us (ordinary human being) to show themselves with equal chance, you also have chance to show yourself and get famous.lol
The democratic system and ideals of Supergirl do make it seem like a step towards engaging people in politics and acclimating them with the democratic process in order for them to demand it in their government, however, it is very apparent that the show is nothing more than a method of pacification. It seems more like a way of acclimating the masses to consumerism through technology. The show itself is steeped in consumerism; the full title of the show is the name of a dairy company. “HSTV profited from the advertising, as well as from sponsor fees and text messages. e-e media profited from the artist’s contract and everything generated by the spin-offs, plus whatever benefits came from the official website, and so on” (Jian). In order to vote, a person has to pay a fee per text message. Paying to voice your opinion is not democracy; it is consuming a product. “Democracy becomes a commodity consumed and produced by the audiences themselves” (Jian). Reality programing such as this does not make people more engaged in politics and thinking about democracy in terms of government, if anything it tries to turn people away from the idea of democracy in government by putting it in the context of entertainment instead of politics. Entertainment democracy is a way to make people more engaged in television and pseudo-reality to distract them from the real social and political problems. The Meng article talked about how viewers started to campaign for their favorite contestant. The show is getting people to put their free time and money into campaigning for a singer, not to become more active in politics. These shows use “ordinary people” to feed various products and brands in order to mold citizens into overactive consumers to pacify them and create revenue for the state.
ReplyDeleteI liked how Meng discussed the way contestants only revealed certain aspects of their lives that would perpetuate their image of “true self”. This very fact contradicts the proclaimed “truthfulness” and “realness” of the show. It illustrates how the media can mold what the viewers see and therefore what they think. This fact further disproves the argument that the show is used to get people to think for themselves and participate.
I found it interesting that you pointed out the fact that the show controlled what things the contestants could and couldn't say about themselves. Also, that it disproves the purpose of the show being that people can think for themselves through Super Girl.
DeleteThe super girl of Hunan satellite was big in 2005 in China. It is the first popular reality talent show in china. From then on, more and more similar ones came into being and occupied the prime time of most of local satellites. Even CCTV followed the trend and produced ones, such as Avenue of Stars (星光大道). There are many elements contribute to the success of these TV shows, including the music, the severe competition, famous stars being judge or commentators, and even audience’s sympathy to the life stories of competitors. The entry points of these two papers are interesting. It is helpful to re-examine the popular cultural phenomenon from different aspects of view, such as political or economical ones. Since popular cultural phenomenon is a reflection of the society and people’s ideology.
ReplyDeleteFor the first one, Who needs democracy if we can pick our favorite girl? Super girl as media spectacle, the author explore the super girl phenomenon from the political aspect to examine the democracy situation in China. The winner was supposed to be selected by the audience. However, the emphasis on participation further blurs the boundary between mediated and unmediated aspects of life, rendering more power to those who control the media (p.268 Meng). In the conclusion of the paper, he argued that the rather misplaced enthusiasm on the democratic implications of Super Girl is an indication of how far China is from democracy rather than of how close it has come to (p.269 Meng). As for the second paper, Democratic entertainment commodity and unpaid labor of reality TV: a preliminary analysis of China’s Super girl, through analyzing the production and consumption of Supergirl, the author explored the feature and formation of this new form of media commodities and audiences as a new form of labor. By creating an innovative process of launching new talent into large audiences, the TV station and the entertainment industries, called the “cross-media entertainment company”, generated profits from an entirely new form of commodity (p.538 Jian & Liu).
check out my reponse and maybe you would have some other thoughts...
DeleteI strongly agree with your opinion that the popular cultural phenomenon could reflect the society and people’s ideology in China. I think many kinds of Chinese shows and programs can reflect different kinds of social values in China.
DeleteI really found your point about about the popular cultural phenomenon reflects both society and the people's ideology in China very interesting. It brings to my attention a new way to view China through a show, and as an outsider, and to get more of an insight into society.
DeleteI thought that it was interesting that they used the show as a way for China to voice their opinions and address political issues in a unique way. The article, "Super Girl as Media Spectacle", even states that the only way that the show gained more and more popularity was because of it being "the only chance for average Chinese to make their voice count" China doesn't easily allow their citizens to speak their mind or talk about how they are feeling. Also, according to the article the obvious political publicity didn't stop the show from airing. Even though that was the reason for the show's booming popularity, they still let it continue airing and used the excuse of making Super Girl a spectacle for the media. I thought it was interesting that since China doesn't have a say in many things that they used this as a way to give the people a voice and a way to express their feelings.
ReplyDeleteI agree Super Girl is a way for the citizens to voice their opinion of how of they like people who are genuine. But it did not give them a political outlet, HTV was made for citizens to watch programs that had little to no governmental influence.
Deletesuper girl also made a huge step to let people have equal chance to show themselves.
DeleteHonestly, it was pretty interesting to watch these kind of shows before, however, it is not fun at all watching them. there are a lot of advertisment, and there are a lot of news that comes out about someone in the show just trying to bring up the attention, and there are also a lot of fake performance in order to achieve the purpose of the show that the director wants.
ReplyDeletein these 3 to 3 years, CHinese televisions are full of these shows, a few of them are good, but the rest of them are just trash, they cannot bring anything good to the society, and they will bring terrible effects to the teenagers. I wouldnt watch any of them now.
for example, there is a show called Saving our relationship, I have watched it a couple of times, however, that was at the time that I have nothing to do, and browsing the social network, I watched them like watching jokes, there are a lot people said that the people that join the show are fake, who would want to let everybody know what happened between them and their life partners? and most of the things that happened between them are unbelievable..
there are too many shows that I can think of which are pieces of trash. also, there is a funny thing about Feichengwurao, this show is from my city, and I know two girls who have been on that stage, they all have told me that half of the girls are actresses, only about 3 to 5 girls are really there looking for love.
Yea reality TV is tricky entertainment because, at this point, it is often hard to tell what is meant to be reality TV and what is meant to be reality.
DeleteI find your view interesting. I agree and disagree with it as well, these TV shows have become increasingly popular during our generation and it does seem like the quality of them have gotten worse. To be honest I can't name any popular artist that came from shows such as American Idol who is now on season 13. But I think it provides an opportunity for people, an opportunity that they wouldn't have if it weren't for these shows. But some shows have gotten very dramatic and are unbelievable but they will always attract a certain audience.
Delete“Super Girl” (“Happy Boy”) select show encouraged every Chinese female (male) to participate and gave every Chinese a chance to use their own rights to pick their favorite girl. It seemed that everyone in China had a chance to vote and be voted. Before I read this article, I never thought and related the “Super Girl” select show to “awareness of democracy”. “This participatory nature seems to give people a rare chance to make their voice count in an authoritarian society, albeit on an issue totally irrelevant to public policy.” (Meng, p.266) I think we cannot deny that to some degree, the fair right to participate and vote in this kind of show really gave people some “awareness of democracy”. But for me, I think the most important reason for the popularity and success for these popular Chinese shows is to meet the needs of their audience in different times.
ReplyDeleteBefore the “Super Girl” stars, most of Chinese stars were movie stars and film stars, and people felt that those stars had a great distance of common people’s life. But the “Super Girl” select show gave common people a chance to become a star and vote for own choices. Through the videos we watched on Tuesday and readings, we may find that Li Yuchun was not the best singer in the 2006 “Super Girl”, but she got the No.1 place. Many people thought her “real self” was an important reason for her popularity, but I don’t think so, at least I didn’t see any kind of “real self” about her. I think people’s aesthetic fatigue and feeling of freshness about her male appearance were more important than her “real self”. Her male appearance created imitative waves in China during that period, and many school girls imitated Li. People called Li “Chun Ge”, Chun is her first name and Ge means brother, and said “Xin Chun Ge, De Yong Sheng.”, which means if you believed in Chun Ge, you could live forever. Some rural areas in China painted her pictures on the wall and wrote: “Sheng Nan Sheng Nv Dou Yi Yang”, and it means “boys and girls are the same” (because many Chinese people in rural areas want to have sons). If Li Yuchun participated in “The Voice of China”, she might be weeded out at the very beginning. Because of the success of “Super Girl”, a lot of that kind of select shows flowed in China after “Super Girl”. After many years, people were tired of the singers who don’t really have singing talent. People had new taste for their entertainment tendency, and preferred people who have really talent for singing. The popularity of both “If You Are the One” and “I am a Singer” also meet audience’s entertainment tendency in different period and social conditions.
yeah I thought the point about the democratization of fame was quite interesting too, now anybody can have the chance at becoming famous, not just those with connections.
DeleteAt page 260 it shows “The Super Girl phenomenon provides an opportunity to rethink cultural politics of magnetization, media production and consumption in the contemporary Chinese context.” which is means everyone has same opportunity to show their voices,also in this kind of reality show only count the voice, in these show so people like Ping An(平安which is an ordinary human) have change to let all Chinese people around the world the hear his voice, i think this is the big step of social media to let everyone have equal opportunity to show themselves.
ReplyDelete"Super Girl " is an really old pronominal because at that time i think i was in middle school, so i think it just soso, also, i curious about the quantity of Super Girl, because the judges are not really famous at that time.
Be honestly, i do like i am a singer and the voice of China, because i think they have really good quantity just because of the judges there, and the form of the show.
I think it is important to examine how "equal" this opportunity is for ordinary people to show themselves. We should always ask what a person is trying to convey to the masses and, more importantly, in this case who is promoting them and getting paid for their participation (HTV, CCTV etc.)
DeleteAs David pointed out, I also agree with the equal opportunity and shining light to the 'average joe' and showing how much talent they have. These shows just emphasize that anyone can be the next star and gives everyone an opportunity to show their voice like you stated.
DeletePeople changing themselves in the media industry is pretty common. Unfortunate, but almost inevitable.
DeleteThese two articles have been extremely insightful in their analysis of reality TV in China, through the example of Supergirl. I believe profit is the very bottom, unbreakable, immovable line for these media productions and Supergirl's attempt to subtly suggest it could be pronouncing democratic ideals is, fundamentally, untrue. Tuesday's article gives us plenty, popular sentiments that the show might be a sort of moral, democratic experiment: "the Super Girl phenomenon provides an opportunity to to rethink cultural politics of marketization, media production and consumption in the contemporary Chinese context. The unprecedented popularity of the show is premised upon a symbolic subversion of state ideology. From a Bakhtinian viewpoint, Super Girl has a carnivalesque dimension in terms of disturbing the current power hierarchy" ; and the arguments that claim the show was a successful democratic experiment which spurred the people to organize their cause (simply voting for one contestant or another) and distribute will and platform to others (pg 260). In addition, the second article points out that "Super Girl claims that it is manufacturing an idol 'from among ordinary people with the assistance of ordinary people'... [a] concept [that] is very attractive and effective in a country where voting for politicians is not commonly practiced."
ReplyDeleteBut the counter-arguments presented in these articles remain immensely more grounded in the world's economic realities. based on these articles, Super Girl does seem that the majority of it was or has been almost completely commodified. The author of the first article says "To view HTV as voice of people is to romanticize the strategic move of a newly emerged media conglomerate, which is a competitor of CCTV more in the economic rather than political sense" (pg 263). This claim is further evidenced in analysis of the objects of commobification. The majority of broadcasted and off-screen, folkloric actions were milked for attention and profit as well; “It is hardly surprising that after the show ended, the “pure and uncontaminated”
image of Li Yuchun turned into a hugely profitable commodity overnight” (pg 265).
It seems more acurate to classify the public's enthusiasm for the political out-bringings of the show to be "rather misplaced". and the media scholar Lu Xinyua asks an important question for any government to reflect on (especially ours); “if democracy can only parasite under the hegemony of market, is it really democracy?”
(pg 267).
I guess its quite interesting how these shows demonstrate the more practical considerations that form the foundation for a show based on democratic participation From just seeing clips of these shows one assumes that it is only entertainment, and that the audience voting scheme is merely a gimmick to increase popularity and interest in the show, however now I understand that the shows use this format because it reduces production costs by using the audience as unpaid labor. This is quite clever, and as the article "democratic entertainment" suggests, this new form of entertainment labor has the potential to be used in other forms of media as well.
ReplyDelete"Secondly, the new media commodities that these Supergirl-like talent shows havemanufactured enable the producers to expand their business to other fields, includingrecords, concerts, and name brand marketing. The traditionally separate media sectors –such as music, broadcasting, advertising, etc – are merging into an entertainment complex.Serialized talent competitions in China are operated not only as what Leyshon et al. called‘the externalization of the A & R functions’ (Leyshon et al. 2005: 196) but also as a powerful marketing tool for launching the careers of young performers. In conclusion, Supergirl hasformulated a new folk stardom by providing ‘democratic entertainment’. On the other hand it has created a new approach for the entertainment business in China’s growing markets."
The SuperGirl is a show that is based off of different western shows such as American Idol, the Voice, etc. These shows have big selling point of being able to vote for their favorite contestant via cell phone, computers, internet and other things. The biggest question is voting at what cost? “ Typically voters need to first spend RMB1 registering for voting, then after getting a confirmation, each person can cast up to 15 votes,” (Meng, pg 261). Giving a country of people who aren’t use to choosing and voting a choice makes it a big thing. But this posses the question, what exactly is democracy? Is this political democracy? Is this a tactic to distract away from bigger problems or a method of giving a little in order to calm the majority? Dr. Luo also talked about how viewers campaigned for their favorite contestants, using their own money to promote someone they wanted to win. I connect this with what I see here in the U.S. You don’t hear about people spending money to campaign for a particular contestant on American Idol but you frequently see the signs and banners for our political figures. To me this is a big difference and shows how much ‘democracy’ is given and how a country reacts to it. The articles also sign a lot of light on the advertisements by all the different companies on the show. ““The Mongolian Cow Sour Yogurt Super Girls Contest”. The company spent RMB 14 million (US$ 1.75 million) to get the exclusive naming right of the show.” (Meng, Pg 260) The company increased their sales by 270% when the show aired which started a chain reaction to all the different advertised that were to come. Companies that spend millions of dollars or extravagant commercials or a mention in the show to just increase their business have also been a major point in this show. I think this does effect the views psychologically; its telling them to support their favorite show and to support their favorite show to support the companies they do.
ReplyDeleteThe Supergirl phenomenon is fascinating. Over 400 million people tuned in in 2005. Those sorts of numbers would make executives at American broadcasting corporations do somersaults. What's even more remarkable than the numbers themselves is the democratic style in which the contest is presented. It is presented as, "an ordinary idol phenomenon (Jian and Liu, 525)."
ReplyDeleteChosen by the viewers, for the viewers. I'm just surprised the Chinese government hasn't put an end to this subversive democratic advertisement. Another interesting aspect is the rise of HTV, as opposed to the entirely state controlled CCTV. This is a private company, representing capitalism, espousing the power of public vote. Had it not been so wildly popular and profitable for everyone involved, surely the government would have intervened. Meng writes on page 263, "...;while access to CCTV is tightly controlled by state administration and propaganda officials, Super Girl gave the people a chance to make their voice count in an authoritarian society."
The popularity of American Idol in the US was also a phenomenon, and out of it countless shows of the same ilk were born. There is no telling how many more will be thought up. The success formula has been written for China (as far as singing competitions go), and I'm sure there will be many more successful reinterpretations of Super Girl. However, I'm sure that the government will be keeping a very close watch on these programs, to make sure that the people don't get distracted by what is really important - their freedom.
This has been a very interesting aspect of this class, to read about democracy in China in the sense of reality television as opposed to politics. But in that same vein, is it not showing the people's need and want to be a democratic republic? The people of China were so willing and ready that a huge number, some 400 Million people, voted for the singers they wanted to win. To me that is a staggering number because we do not even have that many people in America, much less, people who actually vote in America. If China suddenly became a democracy, would the voter turn out be similar or would it be like in American where we take it for granted? It is very interesting that these reality shows are able to bring out such significant debates for the people of China as well as the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteBut is it also possible that this is a facade of democracy and not really one at all for the people of China? Is this something that is being dangled precariously in their faces and then snatched away? This to me is a very interesting concept. American Idol and shows like Super Girl, show us that democracy is easy in our day and age of technology but also leave the door open for voter fraud (which isn't a big deal on a show but is in the real world arena of democracy) “Idol may strike some of its fans as more genuinely democratic than the real democratic process. The popular vote carries the day without any interference from an electoral college” (Stanley, 2006)." (page 2) This is interesting because it really shows the way that shows such as these might be the forerunners for how we elect presidents in the future.
And then there is the downside to this media spectacle: "In this society,
“everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation” (p. 7), so that
people lose touch with each other as well as with the historical reality they are living in" (page 4) This reminds me so much of Fahrenheit 451, wherein the peoples of the world are so ingrained in the spectacle of entertainment that they forget to live. So each of these situations brings about an interesting premise. I wonder what will happen next.