Entertainment and Politics in Contemporary China

The opening chapter narrates the ever-intensifying entertainmentization and Westernization in China’s media as the country entered the twenty-first century. Wu introduces some of the most recent and representative cases (Super Girl, If You Are the One, Dwelling Narrowness, and Naked Wedding) to give readers a good sense of recent media developments in China and the source of tensions between its entertainment media and the political public sphere. This chapter also lays the theoretical ground by its critical reflections on theoretical traditions that have guided much scholarly thinking and studies of media and politics. Wu introduces a redefinition of politics, which has supported such theoretical interventions as cultural citizenship and aesthetic public sphere. They serve the overarching theoretical and empirical frameworks for this book’s examination of the entertainment–politics relationship in contemporary China. In addition, Wu discusses how authoritarianism manifests in a uniquely Chinese way, different from other systems such as those in the Middle East, and how the authoritarian rule creates an intricate interrelationship between the state, the entertainment media, and ordinary Chinese citizens. As the notion of “multiple modernities” addresses reservations about the application of largely Western born theories to authoritarian systems like China, Wu argues that empirically grounded insights about the connection between entertainment and politics in non-Western worlds promise more informed perspectives about the civic significance of entertainment media and new digital media in Western societies as well. The final section maps out the structure of the book.

This chapter offers an updated review of the cyberspace carved out by the Chinese state for its citizen-audience, which is at the same time connected to a globalizing world and disconnected from it. As one becomes more aware of the mechanism in which Internet censorship works in China, theoretical revisions by the notions of cultural citizenship and an aesthetic public sphere will prove useful to their understanding not only about the civic significance of entertainment, but also that of the Internet. As the Internet provides a fertile ground where audience discourses organically percolate, Wu reviews literature that has taken an evaluative approach to the civic potential of the new digital media based off of the traditional notion of politics and citizenship. Wu proposes that we break free of such confines, whether the conclusions are optimistic or pessimistic, and closely examine how entertainment converges with political reflections through the communicative channel of new digital media. To take on such an empirical enterprise of examining how ordinary citizens actually interact with the entertainment media as part of their civic life, this book samples broadly from both China’s mainstream media discourses about its entertainment and online discussions, both in traditional Internet forums and on newer social media platforms. Wu details empirical framework of the book, including sampling process and analytical methods.

In the first analytical chapter, Wu focuses on the case of Super Girl, a reality-based singing contest show, largely modeled off of American Idol, and spirited debates about political thoughts as a result of viewers’ passionate participation in Super Girl. Initially thanks to its nationwide voting element, the show garnered great success and invited much political comparison as Chinese voters cannot vote in the political sphere. As Super Girl became more popular and more politically provoking, China’s state regulators put a ban on voting. Wu closely studies public discourses in the mainstream newspapers as well as in online discussion forums, in the first season (Season 4, 2009) produced after the ban. As Super Girl producers painstakingly came up with alternative ways in which the viewers could channel their preferences and opinions to the development of the contests without direct voting, viewers frequently drew a connection between the show’s selection mechanism and political representation. They linked judges’ behaviors to broader competition in the general society and weaved discourses about Mainland China’s political culture. While newspaper contributors were more invested in the technicality of political processes, online discourses romanticized the power of the masses and harbored more explicit discussions about the political confines of Mainland China, such as the restraint on people’s freedom of speech, and the lack of systematic rules that treat all social members and situations consistently.

This chapter examines two widely popular television drama series in addition to the case of Super Girl, Dwelling Narrowness and Naked Wedding. Their titles joined a list of newly coined terms in the first decade of the twenty-first century to describe new life situations experienced by China’s young generations. On the one hand, China is suffering from enlarging wealth gaps, prevalent resentment held by ordinary citizens toward the rich, and lack of public trust in social justice. On the other hand, audience discussions about the dramas exhibited moral ambiguities. While viewers expressed deep-seated anger toward harsh consequences of China’s postsocialist developments, they also revealed sympathy toward the characters that are corrupt public officials and envy for people who take shortcuts to privileges. Such contradictions are emblematic of the despair with a lack of social mobility in contemporary China. Discussions of Super Girl echoed such sentiments. The public showed their mistrust toward the producers as suspect manipulators on the show. Newspaper contributors and online discussants alike composed an overarching thesis about today’s Chinese society and voiced genuine concerns that it is drifting away from valuing true talents, most disturbingly by such cultural institutions as TV networks. Furthermore, the public speculated and researched about the contestants’ family wealth and connections in making sense of their success on Super Girl. Overall, entertainment materials provided a platform for the viewers to voice their cynicism about frequent violations of social justice by the new rich in China and the monopoly they hold over life opportunities.

This chapter discusses cultural concerns around entertainment production in China. Shows like Super Girl and If You Are the One, a reality-based matchmaking show, inspired much critical reflection on culture and cultural production. While the Chinese state often justifies its regulations of the cultural industry through such critical public discourses, viewers interpreted the state authorities’ heavy hand in entertainment production as deeply political. In the case of If You Are the One, while viewers celebrated the open and quick-fire exchanges among the participants about what they seek in an ideal match, many viewers along with state regulators were troubled by scandals constantly visiting the show and potential manufacturing of controversies on the show to shore up viewership. As the state took measures to rein in the show, producers re-framed it as a “large-scale public service program,” instead of a “pure entertainment show.” However, viewers continued to evaluate the show’s cultural value in regard to its authenticity. Wu discusses this connection in particular from the angle of the show’s spotlight on the pervasive narrative about China’s “leftover women” problem. Because Super Girl was largely inspired by the global Idol series, Chinese audience also used the show to compare between the Chinese and the Western production fields, especially where China is lacking. The online community constructed more developed arguments about the artistic aspects of the show than the newspapers. Wu argues that such aesthetic critiques provided the basis of bonding among the discussants and deeper reflections on the show’s political implications.

In this concluding chapter of the book, Wu discusses what it means for political discourses to be deferred to entertainment conversations. Latest developments in American politics of 2016 may make it particularly challenging to contend for entertainment’s significance in politics. Critical theories that the book revises may be especially relevant in the American public’s sense-making of Donald Trump’s presidency. Wu argues that if entertainment continues to occupy a semi-polluted position in the West, one needs to acknowledge its role in Chinese citizens’ political communication. As the author addresses in this chapter lingering concerns with the limits and threat of entertainment, the more productive task is to examine entertainment’s power for average citizens in an empirically grounded manner. The theory of an aesthetic public sphere and the empirical undertakings of this book provide a useful framework. Furthermore, scholarly efforts should look more closely for the connection between informal public spheres and the official public sphere of a country. Wu discusses latest developments in China’s entertainment and politics, and how the book’s central theoretical and empirical frameworks apply to newly emerging cases. The thesis of an aesthetic public sphere provides an informative and balanced analytical perspective for readers to contextualize new shows and new struggles in the broader framework of entertainment and politics, in China and other media systems.