Global Television Formats in the People’s Republic of :

Popular Culture, Identity and the ‘Mongolian Cow Sour Yoghurt Super Girls Contest’.

University of New South Wales

26th November 2007

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet

Surname or Family name: Zhu

First name: Xi Wen Other name/s: Serena

Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: Masters of Arts by Research

School: English, Media and Performing Arts Faculty: Arts and Social Science

Title: Global Television Formats in the People’s Republic of China: Popular Culture, Identity and the ‘Mongolian Cow Sour Yoghurt Super Girls Contest’.

Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE)

This thesis analyses the television program known as ‘Super Girls’, which aired on Satellite Television from 2004-2006 in the Peoples’ Republic of China. In the West, this program is sometimes referred to as ‘Chinese Idol’ because of its similarities to the globally popular television format, ‘Idol’. Although ‘Super Girls’ shares many similarities with ‘Idol’ there are also equally important differences. This thesis examines these differences as a way of theorising the how the program negotiates the localisation of a Western television format. First, the program is placed in the broader context of the increased liberalisation and commercialisation of the Chinese television industry. Secondly, the thesis analyses the concept of format television and presents the logic behind the global shift toward producing this type of programming. Next, specific aspects of Super Girls are analysed in detail to bring out how the program functioned culturally in the context of China. These aspects of Super Girls include, the way the program represents the changing role and potential of television from the PRC to contribute to negotiations on Chinese identity that take place among the various symbolic universes of Cultural China, including the global Chinese Diaspora. The thesis also explores the nature of the celebrities produced by the contest through isolating their meaning and significance within the Chinese context. The thesis argues that the contest winners are celebrated for their individuality and come to stand for the rise of ‘ordinary power’. The thesis also examines the ways in which Super Girls embraces its audience through new modes of address and offering new types of agency for its audience. As a result, Super Girls offers insight into how Chinese culture is now shaped by a rise of ‘ordinary empowerment’ where the bottom-up cultures are hybridised with the traditional high culture in television broadcasting.

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List of Content

Acknowledgements p.3

Chinese television p.4-17

Format television p.18-29

The ‘Idol’ p.30-54

Greater China p.55-62

Super Girls, Super Star p.63-84

Super Girls and Fan Interaction p.85-102

Conclusion p.103-105

References p.106-114

2 Acknowledgements

I would just like to say thank you to my parents and my grandma for all the support they gave me, and Scott Shaner for everything, you are the best Supervisor. I just couldn’t have done this without you guys.

Thank you!

3 1. Chinese Television

China is a country with autocratic leadership. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in order to maintain its political power has traditionally adopted many closed policies, and almost every aspect of life has been controlled, especially the media. Hence it is unsurprising that in the eyes of most western countries China is still seen to be a closed and controlled environment. However, times are changing. In this thesis, I will argue that although the Chinese media market is more controlled than in most western nations, contemporary China is relatively more open than most people think it is. It is evident that along with the development of global capitalism, Chinese media industries are undergoing rapid innovations. Likewise, in China, because of its past the impact of globalisation is even more obvious than it is in most of the western nations. China has now adopted many neo-liberal economic policies and approaches that emphasise the freeing up of market forces in many of the country’s developmental policies. The effects of this are nowhere more apparent than in China’s media industries.

In this thesis, I will examine how these forces play themselves out in the context of China’s media. In particular, I will analyse the case of a television program known as Super Girls (Chaoji nu-sheng). Super Girls is sometimes referred to, in the West, as ‘Chinese Idol’ because of its resemblance to the well known global television format, ‘Idol.’ Although Super Girls seems only loosely based on the Idol format, its emergence, combined with the hysteria that surrounded the program represents a signal of China’s entry into the global transnational media market. It can be stated that although politically China remains autocratic, to a certain extent its media environment has adopted its own agenda, particularly on the provincial level.

In general I argue Chinese television is now shaped by the agendas of commercialisation, globalisation and decentralisation that are creating a more competitive structure amongst the various levels of Chinese media (Weber 2000). As a result the problem the Chinese government faces is to balance the discourse of market competition with the discourses of control and propaganda (Weber 2000). The national government in my opinion is forced

4 to liberalise the media market in the face of post WTO forces. There are no signs of the Chinese government’s willingness to give up its control in mass media on the national level. Thus China’s media in Lee’s words can be viewed as being characterised by ‘commercialisation without independence’ and enjoying ‘bird-caged press freedom’” (Lee 2000, p.10). I argue the Chinese government tolerated forces of commercialisation, for instance they allowed the development of entertainment programs. Yet this tolerance is limited to the extent that the government’s ultimate control over the media industry is not threatened.

China and Neo-Liberalism

There is a general belief that ‘globalisation’ forces virtually all countries of the world to embrace the world market if they wish to achieve economic development (Lee 2000). And it is due to the drive for economic development, China chooses to liberalise its markets. One of the most profound changes of the Chinese market is its change towards neo-liberalism. Neo-liberalism has evolved over the past three decades; it can be identified as “a range of economic, social and related political policies that emphasises the market, fiscal discipline, trade, investment and financial liberalisation, deregulation, decentralisation, privatisation and a reduced role for the state” (Hewison & Robison 2006, p.ix). Neo-liberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practice that proposes human well-being can be advanced by the ideas of free markets and trade and state institutions should appropriate the practice of the market (Thorsen & Lie 2006). Thus it can be said that the essence of neo-liberalism in relation to international commerce is its idea that the economic growth will be most rapid when the movement of goods, services and capital are free from government regulation.

I argue in China the development of neo-liberalism overlaps with China’s opening up to accept global capitalism trends and neo-liberalism has developed away from a political ideology. Rather it has become a trend in economic policies. As a consequence, in the Chinese context, neo-liberalism is understood and defined as a set of ideas of how the

5 relationship between the state and its external environment, in particular the economic environment ought to be organised rather than a complete political ideology. Neo- liberalism in China affects the economic policies and has promoted the expansion of markets into new areas of the economy. One of these areas is the media sector. The Chinese media have increasingly been liberalised and subjected to global forces, based on the spread of marketisation over the past decade. This change is vital because without the freeing up of Chinese media market, format television will not exist in China.

In general China’s neo-liberalism is distinct from the western form. I argue neo- liberalism in China is selective depending on what the government believes is appropriate. Hewison and Robison (2006) states China’s market reform contains the two key pillars of IMF and World Bank’s Neo-liberal models, which is market liberalisation and privatisation. However the forces of neo-liberalism are distinct and mediated by the CCP (Hewison & Robison 2006). It is argued that the Chinese Communist Party does not allow a full and free market because free market competition will endanger the party’s dominant control of China’s economic financial resources which is to be used ultimately to preserve CCP’s political power (Hewison & Robison 2006). Thus, there is one principal factor influencing China’s neo-liberal development, which is the Chinese market remains in the control of the party and remains tightly connected with the Chinese government’s brand of market reform policies. Further Hewison and Robison (2006) argue the CCP never planned a complete transformation of the market. I argue today the CCP increasingly faces the conflict of preventing external factors that challenge its monopolisation on power from the need to allow market liberalisation for the development of the Chinese economy.

Liberalising Chinese Television

Television broadcasting in China began in the late 1950s. The first television station in China was Beijing Television which went on air on first of May 1958 (Hong 1998). It was broadcast twice a week for two to three hours per session (Hong 1998). The

6 development of Chinese television was first suspended in the 1960s when the Soviet Union withdrew their economic and technical aid (Hong 1998). The second suspension of China’s television development was between 1966 and 1976 during the . Thus , as it is now, did not really begin to develop until the late 1970s. It is then that the phenomenon of ‘broadcasting’ became the norm. On the first of May 1978 Beijing Television was renamed (CCTV), which was announced as China’s official network and is responsible for a national service (Hong 1998).

From the birth of the People’s Republic in 1949, communication technology has always been closely associated with the Party’s propaganda and was used as the Party’s ‘loyal eyes, ears and tongue’ (Hong 1998). During the closed period and early years, Chinese television primarily served as a party apparatus. The main aim of television was to spread propaganda and pass on party ideologies (Hong 1998). Traditionally only programs that promote the CCP and communism are regarded as healthy programs. Any ideology regarding the West was labelled as ‘dark’ which means that it was unhealthy and thus having negative impacts on the Chinese society (Hong 1998). Additionally, open debate on communist ideology was not permitted. Criticism of the party or any officials and policies was banned. All media institutions were state owned and fully financed by the government. Advertising was considered a capitalist development and incompatible with socialist ideals. Obviously in such an environment private media ownership was not endorsed nor was foreign ownership. As a result television programs in China were limited.

The turning point of China’s television came in 1978 when Deng Xiao Ping adopted the policies of reform (Hong 1998). The most well known of these policies was the ‘Open- door’ policy, which was approved and adopted in 1978. The aim of the reform was to transform China’s economy from a centrally planned to a limited market economy. This policy encouraged the opening up towards all countries even those with different social systems and the economy is to be restructured with the discipline of market competition and modernisation (Hong 1998). It is evident that China’s economic reform has been a

7 resounding success. As Hewison and Robison (2006) points out China’s official economy grew at an annual rate of 9.7 percent between 1978 and 1998. I argue Chinese television required innovation accordingly.

It can be argued that the liberalisation of China’s media market was unavoidable. After the Cultural Revolution, both the Chinese government and the public have changed their attitude toward the outside world and became more adaptable to a diverse range of ideologies. The Chinese government faced many difficulties in its economic reform agenda and party leaders realised that without relaxing the country’s decade-long ideological controls and allowing people to have a different lifestyle, reforms would not be achieved (Hong 1998). Therefore there was a reduction of scope in political and ideological interference in Chinese society. In everyday life the party tolerated a wider degree of individual choice in matters of clothing, hobbies, personal appearance, and religious practices (Hong 1998). As a consequence ‘healthy’ programs expanded to include any program that basically does not challenge the communist ideologies and the control of the CCP. The recent developments in Chinese television programs such as Super Girls suggest that ‘healthy’ programs have now come to embrace not just the programs that promotes party politics but also to some extent entertainment programs that are based on promoting a ‘lifestyle’ as opposed to ‘way of life’ (Xu 2007).

The Chinese public has also increasingly changed its attitude towards foreign ideologies due to the ‘invasion’ of foreign technology. Technology proliferation in China means that China’s social strata are increasingly affected by foreign products, services and ideologies. Developments in global communication technology made it very hard to separate the local public with the outside world. After the Cultural Revolution the Chinese public are no longer trying to block out all the new ideologies because they now encounter them frequently. Chinese people now are faced with the developments such as bars, video recorders and Karaoke (Xu 2007). I argue these developments in the Chinese society have synergistically combined with and contributed to the changes in Chinese television. In face of the variety of new forms of leisure, Chinese television is in danger of losing its audience. On top of other changes such as the adjustment from six workdays

8 to a five workday week structure means that people in China now have almost double the leisure time than before (Xu 2007). As a result there are increasing demands for more and better television programming. I argue with the softening on ideology and direct governmental control combined with the mounting audience demand, the further growth of the Chinese television industry is inevitable. Furthermore, this growth aligns well with the government’s will to expand. Hong (1998) pointed out in 1977 the budget for television was about 50 million Chinese Yuan and in 1979 government investment in the television industry increased to 128 million.

Another characteristic feature of the liberalisation of Chinese television is that liberalisation mainly occurs at the local level. CCTV the official national broadcasting service remains tightly controlled and financed by the state although it has become increasingly like western public broadcasting. I argue, despite the fact that CCTV has evolved to include many entertainment programs, the emphasis of ‘healthy’ content, with elite, high culture, values remains strong. CCTV’s primary role is still to pass on the messages of the government and to provide information for the pubic such as news. CCTV in general remains a party apparatus. On the local level, I argue television stations often function just like commercial television with a strong economic-orientation. They are the liberalisation and commercial arms of Chinese television. Thus it can be said that contemporary Chinese television is where there is the national agenda of control working hand in hand with the local financial objectives. The development of television at the national level and the local level hence differs in China due to the difference in agenda. Wasko states “The Chinese television industry is characterised by a unique form of state monopoly capitalism: commercialised operations organised into a hierarchical structure of administrative monopoly” (Zhao & Guo 2005, p.527), which results in a “unique system of state ‘private collaboration’” (Zhao & Guo 2005, p.528).

9 Commercialisation

The ‘Open door’ policy prompted the Chinese television industry to turn to advertising and encouraged the idea of ‘getting money from the market-place and not just the state. Hewison and Robison (2006) argue that in 1993 a Chinese characteristic form of market economy was developed to replace the mandatory planning and state ownership where market and public ownership will be the core features of China’s economy. Policies recognise private businesses and believe that they make valuable contribution to the growth of the economy. Zhao and Guo (2005) asserts that today, although Chinese television is still primarily state-owned however depending on the type of television program Chinese television have been marketised and partially privatised. Programs like current affairs production and entertainment programs are no longer financed only by the government. They have now diversified their revenue sources to include advertising and sponsorship. Hence it can be argue that in China media institutions at the local and provincial levels nowadays have commercialised their financial structures and have become a business enterprise more so than a government agency.

For instance the provincial satellite television station in Hunan has become one of the most successful commercial stations. It has proved itself to be very successful in meeting its financial objectives. Hunan’s signature television programs the ‘Citadel of Happiness’ (Kuai le da ben ying) and the more recent Super Girls have made large profits for the station. During the broadcasting of Super Girls the price for a five second advertisement cost 48,000 Yuan. A 15 second commercial cost 112,000 Yuan (Chinese Television Entertainment Report One 2005). Super Girls is also sponsored by many non- broadcasting businesses. For instance the presentation of the voting method in Super Girls is sponsored by OPPO. OPPO is a of digital products. It produces MP3 players, digital video cameras and so on. OPPO digital sponsored the show through providing prize donations for the lucky amongst the audience. Prizes include digital technologies such as MP3. OPPO’s sponsorship is a kind of product placement. The host of Super Girls constantly directs the audience to the large screen inside the stadium that displays the voting method and the current number of votes of each contestant that has an

10 ‘OPPO’ look. The display is designed with the logo of OPPO and the colour of its brand which makes the display of votes an advertisement of the OPPO brand. I argue by sponsoring, the advertisement of OPPO becomes part of the show.

Another sponsor of Super Girls is Mengniu Milk Group. In 2005 the Super Girl, or more specifically ‘Mongolian Cow Sour Yoghurt Super Voice Girls’ contest, reached its peak with 400 million viewers for the final on 27th of August 2005 (Marcom & Goldkorn 2005). According to Mengniu’s vice president Sun Xianhong, Mengniu spent 14 million Yuan to get Super Girls’ exclusive naming sponsorship rights, which includes 15 second of advertising per each episode and other promotional opportunities such as having the logos of Mengniu on Super Girls’ advertisement and on the microphone of judges (Marcom & Goldkorn 2005). From the perspective of Mengniu the vice president believed it was excellent value for money. Marcom & Goldkorn (2005) point out that the sponsorship in Super Girls has increased Mengniu’s brand awareness and raised sales of Mengniu yoghurt by 270 percent (Marcom & Goldkorn 2005).

In addition, I would like to point out that commercialisation is not only reflected by changes in television’s financial structure but also in the broader Chinese society. In China there has been a popularisation of the discursive construction of leisure and consumption since 1994 (Wang 2001). Chinese television is allowed to promote ‘lifestyle’ which I argue is reflected best in the consumption of cultural products such as music and entertainment television programs. Super Girls for instance presents an example where commercialisation, stardom (the creation of stars) and fandom (the consumption of stars) is celebrated and used as the central theme. Thus it is evident that commercialisation is now embedded in contemporary Chinese popular culture and in particular youth culture.

11 Decentralisation of Chinese Television Market

Lee (2000) argues commercialisation of the media industry has brought about fragmentation and diversification in China’s party-state monopoly of media structure due to liberalisation and privatisation. Originally Chinese media is centralised and hierarchical. Television in China is controlled mostly by two organisations. The Chinese Communist Party’s Propaganda Department and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT). Zhao and Guo (2005) points out the structure of the television industry in China originally can be described using the term ‘administrative monopoly’. All decisions were carried out through the party chain of command from the central department of propaganda to the local departments (Hong 1998). Local supervision comes from the provincial or municipal broadcasting administrative bureaus. However I argue that it is evident this system of tight control only applied theoretically and not in practice due to China’s size and population.

I argue apart from commercialism another reason for decentralisation is China’s physical size and large population. China as the third largest country in the world has the potential of one billion viewers which is the largest audience on the planet. In terms of the television industry, CCTV cannot meet the demand of all audiences in China; the creation of local television stations is required (Hewison & Robison 2006). Accordingly state power in China must be decentralised because it is a challenging task to govern a country with China’s physical size and population with just one level of authority. Hewison and Robison (2006) argue that decentralisation in China enabled sub-national governments to enjoy a large degree of autonomy from the centre due to their large numbers. It is increasingly the case that the local television station is working independently from the national government especially in term of their everyday operation.

The first step of decentralisation was in 1980 where the state council sent out “document No.107, declaring that broadcasters fell mainly under the leadership of their local governments” (Hong 1998, p.93) and from this date television in China no longer operated predominantly under the national government but mainly at various lower levels.

12 In 1983 there are four levels of the administrative system developed including the central, the regional and municipal and local. Hong points out from 1984 - 1994 the number of program-generating stations increased ten-fold (Hong 1998, p.94). In 1992 the four levels of television network contains a total of 676 stations, with one national broadcaster, 30 provincial stations, 295 municipal stations and 350 prefectrual stations (Chan 1996). The four levels of television administration suggest that in China, television is now delivered through multiple channels of free-to-air broadcasting, satellite and cable networks.

Out of these developments I argue the most significant development of decentralisation in Chinese television is where each provincial broadcasting administration established a general interest satellite channel. These channels have the potential of both national and international audience reach. In effect, they broadcast globally. The establishment of the provincial satellite stations also marks China’s entry into the competition for the pan- Asian television audience and global Chinese Diaspora. It also means that is now participating in the transnational broadcasting market. In term of China’s satellite development, the PRC launched its first experimental television satellite technology in 1984 (Hong 1998). Today China no longer just depends on imported television equipment from Japan and other western countries. In 1993 China launched ChinaSat5. This satellite “carries 22 transponders on different bands and its footprint cover all of China and some bordering countries” (Hong 1998, p.93). The launch of ChinaSat5 is significant in that it is a major step forward in the development of Chinese television stations on the global level.

Generally speaking it is evident that the boom in China’s broadcasting stations as well as cable and satellite channels have been maintained since the early 1990s. Chan (1996) points out that according to the 2006-2007 report on China’s satellite television industry, Chinese subscribers of direct satellite television will exceed 15 million by 2010. The large number of television stations has proved to satisfy audience needs for better programs and more choices. However on the other hand broadcasting stations are facing the questions of a shortage in programs and intense competition (Chan 1996). And with

13 technology development, Chinese television as a result has turned to western genres and formats for inspiration and importation (Chan 1996).

Competition

Competition in Chinese television industry used to be reduced and brought under control. “No two TV stations are allowed to compete head-on at the same level and with the same target group” (Chan 1996, p.134). As argued Chinese television stations now operate on four levels. Theoretically speaking at each level television stations should target a different audience group. Chan (1996) argue “the higher status the more heterogeneous is its target audience. For instance China central television (CCTV) aims for a national audience. In contrast the more local medium, cable television, serves a more homogeneous community group (Chan 1996). Practically speaking, however, this is not the case. For instance, although Hunan Satellite Television has a more diverse target audience with youth to middle age demographic groups providing the main focus yet it also potentially targets both national and international audiences. I argue with commercialisation and independent financial objectives the local stations are now competing for popularity to attract advertisers and thus seek primarily to increase their revenue. This development represents increased competition for CCTV on the national level.

It is also evident that CCTV is losing a significant national market share to the more than 30 strong provincial satellite channels (Bai 2006). Hunan Satellite Television comes first in line. Its push as reflected in the station logo ‘Happy China’. I argue the impact is that China’s television market is making entertainment the core of competition (Bai 2006). Its famous shows include ‘Citadel of Happiness’ and ‘Date with Rose’ (Meigui zhiyue) and now ‘Super Girls’ and ‘Super Boys’. “is among the first to push its entertainment programs into the market; it is the first television station to list its program production capacities on the stock market; and it pursues a bunch of other highly aggressive business strategies” (Bai 2006, p. 6). The success of Hunan Satellite

14 Television has triggered the push towards entertainment programs across the whole Chinese media industry. Consequently Chinese television has become a retailer of entertainment with popular contents (Bai 2006). And obviously entertainment programs are more fun to watch. Hence over the time entertainment programming obtained a higher status and was allocated more broadcasting hours than before in Chinese television (Hong 1998).

Chinese Television Programs

Importation of Foreign Programs

Originally most policies in China emphasised minimal importation. It was believed that too many imported programs would lead to too much foreign influence and dependency on other countries economically and technologically thus endangering national sovereignty. Secondly it is also believed that China’s own culture must be protected (Hong 1998). According to Chan (1996) regulations in China limited the import of foreign programs to no more than one third of the station’s total programming. However in practice local stations imported as much as they can afford as long as the programs are politically cleared. “Since 1984 several major regional stations have been authorised to import foreign programming on their own, which allowed more foreign television programming into China” (Hong 1998, p.94). By 1987, according to CCTV’s files, “the national television network had established contact or conducted exchange activates with more than 120 television companies or agencies in 84 countries” (Hong 1998, p.59). Hong (1998) points out that the importation of programs in Chinese television has been a huge economic gain for the local stations because often importation does not require them to pay money but rather to compensate for the exchange of programs and advertising time.

At first the most popular imported television programs are from Asia and specifically from locales that are similar in culture such as , Japan and . For

15 instance comics from Japan and Taiwanese dramas have always been Chinese students’ favourite programs. It should be noted here that the open-door policy in China encourages balanced importation not only from Asian countries but also western countries (Hong 1998). I argue it is evident that the western influence in Chinese television has increased over the time especially when local modification is allowed, thus minimising the language barrier, for instance the development of format television. The importation of format television from western nations reflects China’s compromise to western ideologies. As a consequence there is an increase in new players in China’s media sector such as independent production companies and large transnational media corporations (Bai 2006). In general it can be said that in the old media system television stations relied on in-house production or other television stations, later imports of programs from similar cultural nations and yet today to a great extent Chinese television relied on the new players for content or format provision (Bai 2006).

The importation of western formats according to Moran and Keane (2004) has significant impacts on Chinese television. Keane state “formats have undoubtedly changed the television environment in China. Television formats, particularly soft genres such as variety, games, and quiz shows, are prevalent among these television schedules – but such profusion is relatively recent” (Keane 2004, p.90). Moran and Keane further states that formats “can act as a Trojan Horse, bringing about change in genres and presentation conventions that have stood the test of time. This is particularly evident in countries with authoritarian regimes such as China where what is said in the media, and how it is said, remains heavily formalised according to socialist realist aesthetics and pedagogical conventions” (Moran & Keane 2004, p.200). It can be argued that format television allowed Chinese television producers to break away from its traditional genres and modes of address.

Another trend in China’s program development is that today, imported programs are no longer the first choice of viewers. It can be argued that the golden days of foreign television in China is over (Moran & Keane 2004). China’s local television programs are becoming more competitive. The locally produced yet globally formatted programs such

16 as Super Girls are at boom. In China, American for instance has very fewer viewers whereas the locally produced Super Girls has 400 million viewers (Marcom & Goldkorn 2005). The popularity of domestic produced format television is also reflected in the popularity of the show created stars such as the winner of 2005 Super Girls, . There is a sense of self-recognition in the localisation of global formats and at the same time the Chinese government encouraged domestic production. And for this reason Super Girls is significant because it was turned into a television event that gripped the entire nation.

Super Girls has undoubted added to the popularity of domestically produced popular programs and in turn to the success of Hunan Satellite Television station. In China Super Girls presents a new genre of television with a new form of audience engagement. This is likely to be the main reason why Super Girls was so popular in China. With the popularity of Super Girls it is evident that domestically produced entertainment programs now play a major role in the formation of contemporary Chinese popular youth culture. Furthermore, Super Girls reflects the changes and developments in the Chinese television industry caused by the global emergence of format television.

17 2. Format Television

Super Girls is a program that bases its structure on the Idol series. It is produced according to the logics of format television. The logic of formats according to Moran (1998) involves a package of knowledge that will be echoed in the production, financing, marketing and broadcasting of the television program. The knowledge aims at increasing the adaptability and profitability of the program to be produced in other markets. Moran (1998) argues format television is linked to the principle of serial program production. A television format is the “set of invariable elements in a program out of which the variable elements of an individual episode are produced” (Moran 1998, p.13). Van Manen quotes a television producer who offers a more colloquial description “the ‘crust’ is the same from week to week but the filling changes” (cited in Moran 1998, p.13). That is why format television programs like the Idol series is flexible in nature. The structure of the program is where it manifests itself as series of episodes. These episodes are usually similar in that they are from the same program yet sufficiently distinct to stand as different episodes (Moran 1998).

It is evident that part of this flexibility means the ‘crusts’ are increasingly ‘produced and sold internationally in the recently emerged global television market. Television, as an industry, has internationalised. I argue the emergence of global television formats underlines the need for new strategies and tactics for generating revenue in the television industry. As a result the global television industry has changed. Firstly the commitment and support for public broadcasting has declined internationally. The aim of broadcasting is no longer only associated with providing information and educating the public. Secondly advances in satellite and other digital transmission technologies create a multi- channel environment for television viewing. This second change has fragmented the audience into finer and more discrete groups, thereby unsettling television’s advertising based business model.

It is within the new context of global television that the commerce of format television makes sense. Hence format television has its own set of industrial implications. Format

18 television firstly is characterised by convergence in distribution, production and consumption. The practice of watching television becomes a multifaceted activity that takes place across multiple platforms. There is a divergence in audience consumption. Divergence in this case can be understood as an approach the television industry has adopted to address and generate new audiences and new types of experiences. It is one of the ways the contemporary television broadcaster frames and appropriates the convergence trends in our media environment. Secondly, in terms of financial advantages, format television is relatively cheap to produce. These programs also come pre-tested in other markets and are therefore relatively safe and reliable. Thirdly the international distribution of formats means that programs are increasingly aimed at catering to local audiences. Format television enjoys an enormous amount of possibility for success because it is very high in its adaptability. Thus the global market for television formats opens up a new area of commerce which is no longer based merely on the sale of pre- made programming. Instead, formats can be produced for local conditions with a fair degree of certainty over their success.

What is Format Television?

A format sale usually includes two elements. The first element is the bible. It is a set of information about the schedule, target audience, rating and audience demographics of the program to help program production in new territories. The bible is a manual that guides the production, marketing, promotion and distribution of the television program (Moran 2006). The second element is a consultancy service provided by the company owning the format. “The consultancy will generally take the form of a senior producer from the original production overseeing and advising the early production of the adaptation” (Moran 1998, p.14). There is systematic advice from the senior producers provided weekly or fortnightly (Moran 2006).

Major players in the format television industry include format production companies and television stations who are potential buyers of the formats. Three well known format

19 production companies include Endemol, the producer of Big Brother, Fremantle Media who is the co-owner and distributor of the Idol format and Celador International, the producer of ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’. All three company websites suggest that the programs they develop are delivered to embrace the use of multiple technology platforms such as telephone, broadcasting and online media. The programs they provide cover various genres from reality shows, game shows, talent search shows to soap operas. The particular genre this thesis is concerned with is reality formats, and more specifically, of the talent search genre. Moran (2006) points out with its property Fremantle Media has retained a significant presence in the area of reality formats.

• Reality Formats

It is evident that although production companies do produce fiction formats, non-fiction reality programs are seemingly more popular and attractive to produce. The roots of are planted throughout the history of television yet this genre has taken significant changes over the time. According to Bignell (2004) reality television are “programmes where the unscripted behaviour of ‘ordinary people’ is the focus of interest” (Bignell 2004, p.13). Reality television shows are mainly unscripted, and they typically document actual events of ordinary people rather than professional actors. The category reality television includes many kinds of programs for instance game show, talent search show, documentary and surveillance based program. According to Huff (2006) in the first few years of television history a ‘reality show’ was not referred to as ‘reality television’. It was categorised under terms such as quiz shows, variety shows and audience participation shows, some examples include ‘This is Your Life’ and ‘The Original Amateur Hour’. In the 1990s, reality television shows were popular because they were regarded as means to “revitalise a world of jaded television viewers by adding new sensations of immediacy and agency to the television viewing experience” (Ross & Nightingale 2003, p.2). Nowadays, especially for the producers, the popularity of reality television comes from its low-cost and predictable success.

20 Huff (2006) points out the term ‘reality television’ came into serious play in 2000 with the new fangled program called ‘Survivor’ produced by Mark Burnett of CBS (Huff 2006). Huff states “Virtually all of the programs that were created in the wake of Survivor’s success can draw a link to ‘Survivor’ for at the very least, inspiration, if not a total concept” (Huff 2006, p.19). The success of reality television means that there is a reduction in the number of other genres such as sitcoms and drama, which originally took up the prime time slots (Huff 2006). From 2003 to 2004, in the United States, reality television shows made up 13 percent of the majority of prime-time shows which has increased from four percent in 1999 (Huff 2006). Huff identified that “after Survivor producers began scouring programmes like singing competitions for reality show ideas such as ” (Huff 2006, p.19).

The characteristic of contemporary reality television can be generalised under a few trends. Firstly contemporary reality television does not claim to present truth rather they present live occurrence as entertainment. Recently, viewers and critics of reality television have become seemingly more comfortable with this misnomer and are not as focused on the issue of faithfully capturing and representing ‘reality’ (Huff 2006). What matters more is that the show stimulates real and live emotions from the audience. According to Huff (2006) reality television today intends to put people into a contrived environment without a script. In this sense reality television can be viewed as unwritten sitcoms; non-scripted yet formatted. Secondly, today reality television often uses elements from other kind of televisions. Contemporary reality shows includes a wide and hybridised range of different television genres where the concept of convergence is planted in its origin. For instance Super Girls contains many elements from a game show that highlights competition, unpredictability and live voting. Reality shows moreover are marketed as ‘all new’ – new concepts, new formats, and new experiences.

21 Talent Search Shows

Super Girls is a reality television format in the form of a talent search program. The first talent search show according to Huff (2006) is ‘The Original Amateur’ hosted by Ted Mark in 1948 which was created by the Dumont Television Network and moved to NBC in 1949 (Huff 2006). Huff notes that “the racy content gave advertisers the jitters” (Huff 2006, p.21). This show is “an early talent show spotlighting regular folks, which would ultimately serve as the roots for ‘American Idol’, ‘Popstars’, and all other talent shows that came decades later” (Huff 2006, p.16). Talent search shows have become essential viewing for many. Place and Roberts (2006) state “if we can’t revel in some heartless judge putting the boot into a helpless performer’s effort, we can at least rejoice in the fact that we too can have our own fifteen minutes of fame” (Place & Roberts 2006, p.162). In Australia since the inception of television history there have been talent search shows. Examples include the programs ‘Stairway’ and ‘Stars’. In Place and Roberts’ opinion a show developed in Australia 1965, the ‘Showcase’, is a prototype for the contemporary Idol format. The show allowed viewers to vote for their favourite acts by mail (Place & Roberts 2006). Another talent search show that is of interest to know is ‘Pot of Gold’ which, prior to Idol can be credited with developing the ‘nasty judge’ persona in this genre.

Since then the genre of talent shows has developed. Place and Roberts (2006) argue the new millennium generation of talent shows adopts the quality contestant concept from ‘Star Search’, the nasty judges from the ‘Pot of Gold’ and also the audience voting system from ‘Showcase’. At the same time most talent search shows follow the conventions of removing one or more contestant(s) per episode. What is different is that contemporary interactive and convergence technologies generate a richer experience for the audience. There is often a good deal of interaction between the contestants and judges as well as between the contestants and the audience. This cross platform and interactive nature, potentially draws a significant percentage of the audience to engage with the program through technologies other than the television set. Thus talent search shows are a complex interplay between marketing, promotion, technology and consumption.

22 Television Industry Change

The development of the global television industry is characterised by the growth of the international television format market. Moran (1998) points out that format television have meaning not because of what it is but because of what the program permits or facilitates (Moran 1998, p.18). Television format is “a technology of exchange in the television industry which has meaning not because of a principle but because of a function or effect” (Moran 1998, p.18). Moran (1998) argues that, especially in terms of the development of the television industry, to some extent the nation state has been surpassed as an agency of cultural management. Curran & Gurevitch (1996) points out currently the broadcasting industry have become increasingly associated with the market and private business objectives. As the public broadcasting sector declines, the pursuit of profit becomes the media industry’s main concern whereas originally media technologies such as the television were concerned with notions of the public good and the goals of providing citizens with current information. As a result national culture has become closely associated with the global consumer culture. According to Thomas “the phenomenon of globalisation represents both the antecedence and consequences of the spread of marketing and advertising practices” (Thomas 2006, p.197). He argues that there is a convergence in our urban lifestyle with the consumption patterns that are now enhanced by new communication technologies. So if domestic television assists in the fashioning of national culture out of the subcultures in the country then it can be said that the national culture is now shaped by the increasingly international consumer culture.

The second trend of global television industry is that new media technologies create a multi-channel environment where the production of television adopts the strategies of convergence. Convergence is both a trend of development within the format industry, and also according to Picard (2000), a strategy that “creates new economies of scope that permit the existing communication and distribution of content to be faster, more flexible, and more responsive to consumer demand” (Chan-olmsted & Kang 2003, p.5). Convergence here and throughout this thesis is understood in a broad sense as ‘a hybridisation processes’. This definition of convergence can be extended as a

23 phenomenon of how broadcasting services are produced, communicated, and distributed in today’s television market. Terry Flew (2005) argues convergence occurs on three levels. The first level of convergence is technology convergence, which facilitated the industry convergence, and the industry convergence more or less leads to the third level, that is policy convergence. Flew (2005) believes that convergence is a process rather than an established phenomenon.

Accordingly the third change in our television industry is that it has now combined with other related media industries. There is an increasingly blurred market boundary where the products and services are developed to meet the consumer needs through the bundling of existing functions of different media technologies. Television broadcasting is now hybridised with other technologies such as mobile phones and the Internet. Its revenue is no longer based on advertising only. Television in this case can also generate revenue based on other technologies such as SMS messaging. This is what Chan-olmsted and Kang (2003) proposed as competitive convergence where the tactic is to find new niche audiences by focusing on the sub-audiences comfortable with convergence within the medium’s already existing audience. Moreover with technical upgrades and multi- functionality, the role of the audience has become a converged role. For instance audiences now increasingly act as consumers, citizens, viewers, players and users, all at the same time.

Format Television

Thus, I want to argue that format television needs to be understood in the context of media convergence. The ‘convergent’ nature can be identified in both the program’s delivery platform and its format-based content. Television, of course was originally transmitted via the airwaves, which are a public resource that is limited in its capacity to carry broadcasting signals (Cunningham & Turner 2006). Today television programs are increasingly carried through digital communication networks. It is now also delivered simultaneously by more than one medium. Curran and Gurevitch (1996) point out with

24 convergence and digitisation comes media abundance. The multiplication in television channels providing multiple forms of services is an example of such abundance. The possibility of transmitting television through multiple platforms means that television is able to take form in a number of ways. Format television in this sense can be understood as the new genre of ‘packages’ for global sale. Format television promotes a production that is characterised by ‘convergence’ in the form of ‘divergence’.

As stated previously, convergence in this case can be understood as a form of divergence because, for the audience, the task at hand is multiple. It can be said that the audience is involved in a number of tasks, with more than one medium or technology simultaneously. Thus it can be argued that there is a sense of divergence, and yet the experiences are converged as one. One of the things that formats reveal is how the divergent processes understood as a synthesis act of ‘convergence’. For example most television programs now encourage the audience to participate not just by viewing but also by voting and commenting using SMS from their mobile phones. The audience experience is converged across the newly formed “networks” of television, comprised of national television networks with other technologies, industries and global format distributors.

Secondly, format television is regarded as programs that provide many economic advantages to the broadcasting companies, especially reality based formats. Reality formats are reasonably cheaper to produce for a few reasons. Firstly they allow producers to lower investment in things like hiring actors or well-known writers. Waisbord (2004, p.365) points out that for the American network, ABC, the reality format ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ cost $750,000 while ‘The Practice’ cost $1.2 million. In addition a format television is a product with predictable success. The producer of a television format has already identified elements that ‘work’ and that do not ‘work’. Format television in this sense provides a track record of what is a successful television program. Hence it is safer to produce. Moreover the alliance between the uses of multiple technologies involved in certain format television programs means that the broadcasters are able to make additional revenue other than the broadcasting channel like advertising, for instance they can now make money from SMS messages or other websites feature that

25 contain related information and publications about the program and the newfound celebrities (Waisbord 2004).

Thirdly, format television is also shaped by a glocal nature. The buy-and-sell of television formats is an exchange that takes place under a licensing agreement globally. The process is an exchange of a global protocol and the local adoption of it. According to Waisbord (2004) television in this case is more than just globalised, he believes the transformation of television formats are characterised by the dynamics of ‘glocalisation’. Formats are globalised in that many nations around the world watch the programs with the same structure. This structure is, however, localised. The localisation process involves inflecting the formats, which acts as a kind of global protocol for the making of the local version and eventually the localisation of the format generates its own locally specific nature. Thus Waisbord (2004) argues format television is simultaneously global and national, shaped by the globalisation of media economics and the pull of local and national cultures. The new structure of global television involves global formats and local productions integrated in complex ways where the local television industry and cultural taste is now connected with the global media industry.

Consequently the glocal nature mean format television has increasingly changed its ways of appeal by catering to local audiences. Format programs are often filled with national variations. The transfer and developments of format television is global yet the specific features of domestic production such as, language, religion, and cultural taste transforms the format into the ‘local’ (Moran 1998). It can be argued that ‘glocalisation’ is where the globalisation of our world and culture give rise to the diversification of local and individual cultural forms (Murphie & Potts 2003). Moran and Keane (2004) point out these kinds of locally produced programs are likely to attract more audiences than imported programs even if they are format based.

26 Logics of Global Format Television

Castells (2001) argues that we now live in a network society. Format television is a good example of how the television industry has expanded beyond the old terminology of ‘national television networks’ to operate in the global network society. A network society is “a society whose social structure is made of networks powered by microelectronics- based information and communication technologies” (Castells 2004, p.3). In Castells’ (2004) opinion ‘networks’ have benefited from the new technology environment by developing three major features. That is, firstly, flexibility. Networks can reconfigure according to changing environments. Secondly, scalability. Networks can expand or shrink in size with little disruption. And lastly survivability. Networks have no centre; they can operate in a wide range of configurations thus resist attacks on the network as a whole through the relative independence of their nodes. Seen in this light the cultural consequences of global television formats do not fit the model of traditional media imperialism, where the centre dominates or shapes and controls the culture of the periphery. As Terranova argues “resilience needs decentralisation, decentralisation brings localization and autonomy, localisation and autonomy produce differentiation and divergence” (Terranova 2004, p.57).

Accordingly ‘networks’ have now become the most efficient organisational form (Castells 2004). This change towards a network culture not only represents the shift in the basic television industry structure but also the structure of our current media environment in which ‘convergence’ was permitted to occur. I argue the global television formats reflect how our television industry is transformed by the network logic as demonstrated by its ‘glocal’ structure and the rise of networked television.

The ‘glocal’ structure pointed out by Waisbord (2004) establishes its base on the structure of a network. It can be said that what characterises the global format television is the contraposition of the logic of the global net and the affirmation of a multiplicity of local selves (Waisbord 2004). Rather than the rise of a homogeneous global culture, what we observe as the main common trend is the emergence of historical cultural diversity:

27 fragmentation rather than convergence. The media services now come in the form of a converged package yet are received as a diverged put-together package of discrete elements. And the global format television industry is a global network with local nodes and every node can be a starting point of another network. In this case I argue the understanding of traditional ‘networks’ has changed. The network we experience now “is an open-ended network of cultural meanings that can not only coexist, but also interact and modify each other on the basis of this exchange” (Castells 2004, p.40). There is a shift from ‘television network’ to ‘networked television’.

The networked television is based on a protocol of communication which allows communication across various cultures. The emphasis is on “the sharing of the value of communication” (Castells, 2004, p.40). It is a type of communication that is inflected with the increasingly global values of commercialisation, consumerism and neo- liberalism that also caters to the local audiences. In this sense the network logic is not merely about content but rather, it is mainly about process. Format television, for example, is shaped by a process that produces a similar experience in viewers anywhere around the world. I argue in the case of format television, the format is the ‘process’ transformed into a structure. The popularity of television formats is a sign of our submergence in the process of media globalisation. Hence television programs such as Super Girls are not best understood as the ‘content’ of a globalised culture, but rather as a protocol of processes that are localised. And the local production of Super Girls represents a unique way of putting together the different ingredients to best address the local culture. Firstly, to this researcher’s knowledge, Super Girls is not based on any licensed recreation of the Idol format. Thus it is not a format in this strict sense. It is related to the format, but remains independent from it. However, I also do not believe that it is useful to dismiss Super Girls as merely a clone of the Idol format.

According to Keane (Donald, Keane & Yin 2002) in the context of Chinese format television there is an increase in ‘copy-catting’ where the origin of the formats were not acknowledged and the Chinese viewers are generally unaware of this copyright issue. I argue although Super Girls does share commonalities with the western format of Idol, it

28 is not exactly a copy. After all, talent search shows do pre-exist the Idol format both in China and abroad. To dismiss Super Girls as a clone is to miss the important ways that it differs from the package of know-how sold as the format. For example, Super Girls is much more luxurious and serious in its production by comparison. And the outcome and political implications in the consumption of Super Girls are original and historical, at least in the Chinese context. The remainder of this thesis will attempt to account for why this is so.

29 3. The ‘Idol’

As discussed in the last chapter the spread of format television around the world is a product of this particular historical moment in the history of global television. As a medium, television sits alongside newer media forms such as the Internet and mobile telephony, which pose threats to its centralised nature and traditional advertising-based business models. Contemporary television is at risk of losing its audiences and thus must compete with the new and exciting forms of interactive media. Television needs to evolve, in order to survive and recapture its once proud status as a vibrant and innovative media form. It is in this context that format television makes sense, industrially and pragmatically. And although the situation involving television in the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) is slightly different to that of the more advanced capitalist Western countries, it should be no surprise that it would spread and become popular there too.

The program which best exemplifies the nature and possibility of format television in the PRC is the program known as ‘Super Girls’, which aired on Hunan Satellite Television from 2004 to 2006. In the west this program is often referred to as ‘Chinese Idol’, as it bears a striking resemblance to the Idol television format created by Simon Fuller and now co-owned and distributed by Fremantle Media. Although there are similarities, there are also many obvious differences. In this chapter I would like to argue that the relationship between ‘Super Girls’ and the Idol format can illustrate the broader processes of localisation and hybridisation that take place in the now global trade of television formats. To do this, I will first analyse the elements of the format which I argue account for its success internationally. I will do this by analysing two licensed versions of the format. First, American Idol from 2007 will be considered. Secondly, I will look at Philippine Idol from 2006.

Even through purely describing these programs and series it is apparent why the format has been and continues to be so successful. I want to argue that there are six common elements in these productions which allow one to glimpse part of the knowledge and rules that go into the Idol format. Thirdly, I would like to discuss and analyse the

30 particularities of the Super Girls program in terms of how they incorporate and localise these six elements within their own unique production. It is my contention that although ‘Super Girls’ is clearly based on the idol format, it should not be merely dismissed as a clone. There are important differences between this program and the format that can be inferred through analysing these shows. Lastly, and based on this analysis I would like to propose why Super Girls became such a mass phenomenon in the Peoples Republic of China.

The Idol Format

The concept for the Idol format is based on the UK program known as ‘Pop Idol’. Pop Idol is a reality singing competition program which aired from 2001 to 2003 on ITV in Great Britain. The format was created by Simon Fuller. In 2002, the final featuring a sing-off between Will Young and Gareth Gates was viewed by approximately 14 million viewers. According to Hunan Television, the show attracted 57 percent of all the 16 to 34 year old viewers. They also suggest that, on the night, within two hours there were nine million phone calls (Super Girls which Acupoint did It Hit 2005). Due to its popularity, Idol has been franchised to other countries around the globe. According to the Fremantle Media website the series has now been produced in over 40 territories. In USA, the Idol series is the number one series with an audience of 37 million viewers. The global number of votes for Idol television programs has now exceeded three billion (Fremantle Media).

American Idol

The most well-known and successful of the Idol versions is American Idol. American Idol began in 2002 and is presently renewed through to 2009 on the Fox network (Huff 2006). The show continues to dominate the ratings in the USA. For the final of its first series with and Justin Guarini competing for the championship, there

31 were 22.8 million viewers (Huff 2006, p.123). Wei (2007) points out that according to the Nielsen statistics there are 37 million viewers that watched American Idol season six, episodes one and two. It can be argued that the ability of American Idol to continue holding large percentages of the American audience over the years is the most impressive aspect of the show. American Idol now has produced up to 202 episodes. It is broadcast in more than 100 nations although many have their own local versions (Huff 2006).

Executive producers of American Idol include Nigel Lythgoe, Ken Warwick and Simon Fuller who is, as stated above, the original creator of the format. Like all other versions of the Idol format the program seeks to discover the best young in the country, through a series of nationwide auditions. And the outcomes from the semi-final rounds onwards are determined by public voting using phone technologies only.

Philippine Idol

Philippine Idol is also co-produced by Simon Fuller. The show was aired from June 2006 to December 2006. It was originally broadcasted by the Associated Broadcasting Company. The Philippine Idol is primarily used here as a basis for comparison and inferring the format. However, the show is not without its own striking localised features. Firstly in terms of the program structure Philippine Idol has an extra round which is called the wildcard round. The wildcard round provides another chance for contestants who did not make it into the final 12 to be selected by the judges. Secondly, weekly themes in Philippine Idol reflect the show’s emphasis on local culture. On 30th September 2006 the theme was original music from the Philippines and on the 21st October the week’s theme was Filipino rock. Thirdly each week there is often a guest judge who has some expertise relating to the theme of the week. It is also noticed that judges in Philippine Idol are generally nice to the contestants. Although there are comments which are sharp in pointing out the lack of professionalism however they are typically voiced in a sympathetic tone. Lastly, the language spoken on the program is a mixture of Tagalog and English.

32

• The Program Flow of the Idol Show

Here I would like to generalise the program flow of the Idol show. In compiling this I have analysed five episodes of American Idol 2007 and four episodes from Philippine Idol 2006. The main analysis is based on the final stage of the competition, although the audition phase was also included. I find that both programs conform to the same basic structure with the same on-air roles.

Both American Idol and Philippine Idol broadcast two episodes per week. And these episodes start with a common title sequence design based on the Idol branding that acknowledges the directors and producers of each show. The first episode, which is the performance night, runs about one hour and 20 minutes. It can be generalised that the performance night for both American Idol and Philippine Idol are composed of three main elements; the contestants, the judges and the host. The program starts with an opening song related to the theme of the week performed by all the contestants on stage together. Then each contestant self-reflects about the current week in terms of what they have done and how they feel about the songs they are going to sing. Finally, each of the contestants performs on stage. The backstage human interest stories on the contestants allow the show to present each contestant’s personality. The contestants are also discussed by their voice coaches and this is one of the ways the audience learns about the technical merit of their singing. After each contestant performs, the judges make their comments. This is followed by the voting methods displayed at the bottom of the screen as the host reminds the audience how to vote for the contestant just performed. After the performance of all the contestants the host ends the show by reminding the audiences to vote. In addition there are other minor elements included in the program. Both American Idol and Philippine Idol for instance broadcast the reaction of the fans in the audience; however the main connection between the program and the fans is established through the show’s invitation to vote.

33 The second episode of each week is the ‘results night’ where the outcome of the voting is given. It is typically half the length of the ‘performance night’ broadcasts. This episode includes the host recapping the performance of each contestant and revealing if he or she is safe and can continue further into the competition. The safe contestants move to the couch area and eventually there will be two contestants left on the stage. These two contestants are known as the ‘bottom two’. Then the host will announce the eliminated contestant and the screen displays highlights revealing his or her ‘Idol journey’ before the contestant sings one last time to end the show. The ‘Idol journey’ serves to reflect on contestant’s personality and also promote the competition as something that is harsh and real. It highlights the emotional aspect of the competition and also helps to create a documentary style within the program in order to recap the experience of the contestants participating in the Idol contest. The method of leaving the bottom two on the stage before the elimination of one of them is announced creates a highly dramatic ‘game show’ like style creating suspense for the audience, who have already most likely decided who should stay or go.

The results night in American Idol also includes commercials which feature the contestants and guest performances. These elements help to enhance the viewing experience of the results of the show each week, and act as bookends on a multi-day experience of the program which includes on audience voting period, with updates and additional content provided by media other than television such as mobile phones and the World Wide Web.

Basic Ingredients of Idol

• The Idol Contest

American Idol as a singing contest involves a series of auditions and competitions. The audition starts at the regional level, and usually takes place in New York, , California, , Illinois, Dallas, Texas, Miami, Florida, , Georgia, Seattle and

34 Washington. Contestants who pass the audition will go to Hollywood for the next round, which is named the ‘Hollywood Week’. Hollywood Week consists of competition based on both group and individual performances. Based on their performances the judge will decide who enters the semi-finals. The semi-finals consist of 24 contestants, 12 male contestants and 12 female contestants. Each contestant sings a song of their choice and, each week, the male and female contestants with the lowest number of votes is required to leave the program. Only 12 contestants will enter the finals, which make up the last 11 weeks of the program. Competition from the finals onwards includes a weekly theme; contestants are required to sing songs related to the given theme. And once the contestants get in the top three, they are required to sing three songs, one of their own choices, one judges’ choice and one chosen by a record company. Eventually, the choice of song developed to be based on both the contestant and judges choosing one randomly from a bowl. The Philippine Idol follows a similar structure, except that it has an additional round where one of the contestants eliminated from the early rounds gets another chance to progress to the final.

• The Idol Broadcast

As a broadcast, the Idol format is a mixture of reality television genres. The executive producer of American Idol Ken Warwick refers to these kinds of programs as ‘vareality’ (Huff 2006). Huff states they are “a mix of variety and reality” (Huff 2006, p.123). Thus the Idol show can be viewed as a number of television genres hybridised as one. It includes elements from genres such as the game show and the reality documentary program.

Another major ingredient in the broadcasting of the Idol format is the host of the program. The host plays an important role in mediating between the other elements of the show. During the program the host appears everywhere; with the judges, in the audience, and sometimes on the stage. In the case of American Idol the host, Ryan Seacrest, is casual and his role establishes American Idol firmly as an entertainment program that is not so

35 serious. In Philippine Idol, however the host is Ryan Agoncillo, and he seems to conduct the role primarily from the stage. Although the role Ryan Agoncillo adopted in comparison to Ryan Seacrest is more formal, it is still primarily casual in approach. Philippine Idol represents the presence of a global format on Philippine television, at the same time; it also takes on the role of guardian of Philippine culture. So despite the fact that the hosts’ roles are similar in structure and style this may account for the more serious tone of Ryan Agoncillo.

Later into the competition both American Idol and Philippine Idol present programs where all the songs performed are related to a single theme. In American Idol themes include disco, big band music and billboard one hit. And the themes in Philippine Idol include original Pilipino music, soul and R&B, metro-pop song festival, Filipino rock, dance music and movie themes. The use of themes in both Idol shows is musical-oriented. They are related to the type of songs will be performed by contestants that week.

• The Idol Judges

The judges also play an important role. Typically they represent the opinion of the music industry. In American Idol there are three judges involved. They are , Paula Abdul and . Paula Abdul represents the nice ‘nurturing female’ judge and Simon Cowell is well-known for his harsh comments. Simon’s mean role is especially evident during the audition episodes, where there are often outright rejections. One example is where in during the audition 2007 American Idol episode eight, Simon suggests one of the contestants should juggle rather than sing. Huff (2006) believes “harsh judges are like putting the reality back to reality, you are terrible and you are told” (Huff 2006, p.123).

The judge’s comments in American Idol and Philippine Idol are often based on personal opinion and are not so formal. For instance in Philippine Idol episode 14 where a judge responds to a contestant with ‘you look good, but tonight I was not too happy with your

36 performance but I still hope to see you next week’. In American Idol the judges also say things like ‘your have a good voice’ and ‘I liked your performance tonight’. All these comments reflect the judges’ personal choices. In both American Idol and Philippine Idol there are also comments on professional singing techniques. In Philippine Idol episode 14 the judge replied to the contestant named Jeli that ‘your notes are going on at many different places’. From these comments it is evident that the judges in Idol acts as technical evaluators of the singing merits of contestants, but in the case of Philippine Idol they also act as gate keepers to Filipino culture. For instance one of the Philippine Idol judges say in episode 18 something like ‘you sing in real Philippine fashion’. In addition conflicts in judge’s opinion are expressed explicitly during the Idol programs. Based on the kind of comments given by judges in American Idol and Philippine Idol, it can be said that the judges adopt a fairly casual role, especially in American Idol. This is also reflected in the judge’s behaviour. Both the verbal comments and the nonverbal behaviour of the judges, such as their seated posture, are very relaxed and casual.

Moreover the power of the judges in the Idol series is limited. After the semi-finals, in both American Idol and Philippine Idol, it is the audience voting that decides who is to stay and who is to be eliminated. Judges serve only as advisors. The judges on Philippine Idol frequently express their lack of power. For instance they often say, ‘I think you will stay’, or ‘I hope you still be here’. These expressions come up in many episodes and express the judges’ lack of power relative to the power of the audience.

• The Idol Contestants

Another common element found in American Idol and Philippine Idol, especially in the early rounds, is the really ‘bad performers’. The selling point behind this part of the format is the harsh comments from the judges and the humour in watching really bad performances. At the audition stage the outright rejections and stories about individual contestants are promoted and celebrated, for instance stories such as the single mother contestant. Later into the competition the bad performers are gone, and then it is the

37 intense competition and the interactive nature of the show that hooks the audience. The contestants are presented and dressed as celebrities with well designed wardrobe and stylised looks.

I argue with all the media exposure, the Idol series do frequently create celebrity pop stars. Will Young who is the first season winner of Pop Idol has become very well-known. He sold two million records with his first release in Britain (Huff 2006). Likewise, the first season, 2002, American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson has gone on to release three albums and has become a Grammy award winner in the US. Even the really bad contestant in American , William Hung, also turned to an unexpected recording career (Huff 2006) though the appeal of this output was entirely based on the humour of his really bad singing.

• The Idol Fans

Another significant element of the Idol format is fan embracement. Firstly the final result of the Idol competition is decided by the public. Thus an essential part of the competition process of the Idol series is ‘voting’. In American Idol the process of voting starts at the round of semi-finials, from the point where the host says “now it’s up to you America”. And voting for both American Idol and Philippine Idol at the finals starts at the end of the performance night. Audience members cannot vote while the contestants are performing. The voting makes the show highly interactive. In America, voting depends very much on the use of phone technologies. Telephone is the only way audience members can cast their vote. Fans can vote by calling the toll-free numbers or SMS. This same voting structure applies in Philippine Idol.

Both American Idol and Philippine Idol are also programs that embrace its audience through a convergent use of media technologies. The format of the program is produced with the use of additional media forms and is distributed through multiple platforms. The broadcast program represents a bridge that links to these other platforms. During the

38 show the host constantly encourages the viewer to participate using the Internet and their mobile phones. For example the host frequently announce the voting methods and the website where the audience can download part of the show or the music commercials acted by the contestants.

The official website of American Idol is http://myidol.americanidol.com/ and for Philippine Idol the official website is http://www.philippineidol.com/. Both websites include elements such as various downloads of the show, backstage scenes, news, gossips and photos of contestants. In addition there are also a large number of unofficial websites developed by the fans which includes thing such as blogs and debates about the show and its contestants. The website not only provides another channel for audience participation but also provides a space where the fans can critically voice their opinion and express their hysteria through other fan related activities such as purchasing program related products. Thus additionally websites for both American Idol and Philippine Idol are promotions of the Idol brand. They promote the show through providing information about the contestants and program related products such as albums. Both websites are also designed with the same blue colour and the same style with logos and symbols of Fremantle Media as well as the broadcasting stations’ trademarks. Of course the website also contains advertisements for the sponsor companies, such as AT&T in the case of American Idol.

• The Idol Brand

Another very important element of the Idol format is branding and sponsorship. Firstly American Idol was sponsored by many corporations. They are Coca Cola who have its trademark printed on the cups used by the judge, Clairol Hair Care, Old Navy who manufactures clothing and the Ford motor company who sponsor the draw prizes by providing free ‘Mustang’ automobiles (Huff 2006). The voting process of the show is made possible by Cingular wireless, viewers who cast votes with Cingular are benefited by lower billing costs.

39

Secondly, the brand of American Idol and Philippine Idol is created through promotion of the contestants who participate in things like performances, guest appearances on other television shows and advertisements. The brand of the show is celebrated through the media coverage of its contestants not only on the broadcast program but also on websites and news programs. It is evident that American Idol after the first series becomes a brand that includes branded products, games, and downloads. In the case of Philippine Idol, contestants have also released an album.

Super Girls

In this section I will examine how the six elements of the Idol format relate to the program Super Girls. It is evident that Super Girls has a strong connection to the Idol format. There are many similarities between the structure and content of Super Girls and the Idol show, however there are also many differences. Here I will identify these differences and discuss their significance in the Chinese context.

Formats are licensed and distributed globally and the three programs I have analysed represents different localisation processes of this global flow of programming that are highly dependent on these distinct national cultures. Philippine Idol presents what Waisbord (2004) argued is the globalisation of media economics and the pull of local and national cultures. As a licensee to the format, Philippine Idol naturally inherits the globally popular values taken-for-granted by the format, and thus faces the challenges of maintaining the locally specific culture. Hence I argue that Philippine Idol presents a fairly strict version of the Idol format inflected for local conditions.

On the contrary, Super Girls, without the burden of being a licensed version of the Idol format, presents something ‘new’ and ‘Chinese’ based on the celebration of bottom-up culture. This means in Super Girls the distinction of the ‘global’ and the ‘national’ is not as prominent as it is in Philippine Idol. The show normalises the western values by

40 including and presenting them as part of the contemporary ‘Chinese’ popular culture. For instance singing in English, French and Cantonese, as well as contestants dressed in cowboy suits singing ‘country-western’ songs can now all be classified under contemporary Chinese youth culture. In this way the traditional criticism of the ‘dark’ West is minimised and Super Girls establishes itself as something that is simply ‘new’ and ‘innovative’. I argue it is also in this way that Super Girls reduces the possible criticisms from conservative cultural defenders. The program has also paid respect to the traditional Chinese culture by keeping traditional norms of production in the show, for instance the celebration of the show’s grandness and luxurious broadcasting quality.

• The Program Flow of Super Girls

Super Girls is broadcast once a week. The show combines the two episodes of the performance night and results night from the Idol format into one. It is noticed that the episodes of Super Girls follow a general structure but the sequence of events differs greatly from episode to episode. As a result I was unable to provide a common structure for the show but only to provide a general outline based on the resurrection nights, the semi-finals and the final episodes of eight contestants eliminated down to six, the round with six contestants down to five and from five contestants to four as well as the finale. Main analysis again is based on the finals.

It is noticed that Super Girls also starts with a theme but often in the form of pre-recorded video clips. For instance the theme for the episode of eight contestants cut down to six is ‘harmony’ and six contestants to five is ‘super mission’. These theme clips directly link the audience to the stadium stage where all the contestants perform an opening song together to start the show. The opening sequence is followed by the host announcing the game rule of the particular episode. In episode eight to six the host also explains why the ‘harmony’ theme was adopted. I argue the host in Super Girls is a more important element than it is in the Idol. Not only has the show allocated more time for hosts to read out game rules but they also adopt a larger role in creating atmosphere and celebrating

41 the values of the show to the public. For instance Wang Han and Li Xiang promote the concept of fan involvement by saying ‘I am a fan of the show too’ in finals, episode six to five. Moreover the host also increases the drama of the show by creating suspension when announcing the results just like in the Idol series.

After the host announces the game rules and general structure of the episode the competition begins. It is noticed that the way these competition rounds unfold in Super Girls differs from episode to episode but they do follow a similar general structure where after each performance the judges will comment on the contestant’s performance. There may be up to three competition rounds in any particular show, such as the eight contestants cut down to six episode. The common feature is that starting from the second round of competition, before the performances, the contestants often self-reflect on their experience of participating in the show. The self reflection in Super Girls takes up a large amount of time. It not only reflects the contestant’s personality but also celebrates the diversity across all their backgrounds. There is an open celebration of the contestant’s personal identity. In addition the self reflection pieces are highly emotional, contestants frequently cry and this, I argue increases the audience’s identification with contestants and the program.

Another commonality across all Super Girls episodes is that, after all the competition rounds, two contestants would perform head-to-head, in ‘PK’ competition. Often one of these contestants will be the judge’s least preferred, and the other contestant is the one with the lowest number of audience votes. Before announcing the result there are the guest performers and the show ends with an update on the voting methods and results. Moreover it is noticed within the program that the voting methods and results are broadcast many times and even just in between the performances, hosts constantly remind the audience to vote. The voting is an element that is played up in Super Girls as comparison to Idol where it is taken-for-granted and occurs only after all the performances have been completed.

42 • The Super Girls Contest

Super Girls promotes itself as a contest established for ‘ordinary’ Chinese girls to fulfil their singing dreams and be heard on television. The notion of competition is hybridised with the ‘search of your dream’ and the traditional Chinese value of ‘hardwork’. Hence Super Girls invites every girl with a singing dream to participate, and with mass involvement, the contest becomes an event across whole China.

It is evident that the structure of the Super Girls contest is much more complicated than American Idol. The audition of Super Girls takes place in five areas of China. , Chengdu, , Hangzhou and Shengyang. The judges choose the best to move on to local competitions which can be considered the equivalent of the Hollywood week in American Idol. These local competitions have five episodes where it starts from 50 contestants eliminated down to 10, 20 to 10, ten to seven and seven to five. Then the local finals involve eliminating from five contestants down to three. These finals also decide who comes first, second and third. Following the local competitions, it is the national competition with the first two episodes called the ‘resurrection night’. The ‘resurrection night’ is roughly the equivalent of the Wildcard Round in Philippine Idol.

The resurrection nights involves 35 top-ten contestants from the regional competitions that did not progress into the national final. Five of them will be resurrected and eligible to enter the resurrection semi-final. The semi-final includes the five resurrected contestants competing with the five contestants who came third at the local competitions. Out of them, the winning five contestants then will compete with the five contestants who came second at the local competition. And the five winners moves on to the finals to compete against the champion of each region. The final of the Super Girls contest also has five episodes. The episodes involve eliminations from ten contestants down to eight, then from eight contestants to six, six contestants to five, and then five contestants down to four. And the finale consists of the top four contestants competing for the championship.

43 In general the structure of auditions and competition in the Idol format is much simpler than Super Girls. For American Idol there are only four rounds of contest, from the auditions to Hollywood week then the semi-finals and finals, whereas Super Girls has the auditions, the local competition, the ‘resurrection nights, the ‘getting in top ten’ which is the semi-final and then the finals. It can be said that each local competitions of Super Girls can be viewed as one series of ‘American Idol’ and Super Girls is made up of a few series of ‘American Idol’. Furthermore each episode of the American Idol follows a structure. Every episode is similar in game rules and how the show unfolds. Time wise each episode of American Idol is also comparable although the performance nights are getting shorter due to the fewer number of performers as the competition progresses, yet with the result night it is about thirty minutes. Super Girls is quite different from episode to episode, requiring the host to read out game rules in every episode. The program also varies greatly, from two hours to four hours. I argue this complication and the large number of episodes involved in Super Girls is one of the ways the show sets up its ‘event-ness’ and ‘grandness’. Super Girls takes precedence over the normal programming schedule. Television adapts to it, rather than Super Girls having to conform to the television schedule. Thus it seems that Super Girls is not afraid to ‘milk’ the program for everything its worth and risk overexposing the concept of the show to audiences. Whereas the commercial television in the USA is very competitive and the tightness of the program schedule is very carefully managed as reflected in the Idol series.

While the general audition and competition structure of Super Girls may have many similarities to Idol, however the show introduced a self-created PK competition. PK means ‘player kill’ and is borrowed from online games. In Super Girls, contest PK’s start as early as the local competitions. It involves one on one sing off between two contestants. And the audience will choose who will stay in the competition by voting. Depending on the number of contestants left in the particular episode, the number of PK competition varies. I argue the incorporation of this one on one competition from gaming culture is incorporated in Super Girls as part of the youth culture and is associated with values such as courage. More importantly, it amplifies the number of opportunities the audience has to vote and participate in the show. Thus, even though a particular program may go on for

44 more than four hours there are many smaller competitions within the overall competition which require the audience in order to determine a winner. Obviously, this also greatly magnifies the potential revenue generated through telecommunications and other related charges the audience incurs through voting during the show.

• The Super Girls as Broadcasting

The broadcasting of Super Girls is one element that generally follows the traditional logic of television. Firstly the hosts of Super Girls 2006 are Wang Han and Li Xiang. They usually appear on the stage. Although every now and then there is interaction between the host and the stadium audience, the host of Super Girls has their place on the stage. Their role is characterised by guiding the television audience through the program. The hosts take this role seriously as if they were hosting a grand performance and frequently distance themselves from the audience’s role. It can be argued that the host of Super Girls is very much a representation of the ‘broadcaster’. This is where the broadcasting of Super Girls confirms to the traditional high and serious ‘healthy’ television conventions. As a result the broadcasting of Super Girls is characterised by grandness and seriousness.

Secondly, Super Girls greatly emphasizes the visual experience of the show. As stated previously, the finals of Super Girls are preceded by the presentation of the weekly theme. These themes are presented to the audience in the form of video clips or animations broadcast at the start of the program. These pre-recorded clips or designed animations are compatible to the design of the stadium. So that the videos at the start of the show directly lead the audience from the experience of watching a television performance into the competition located at a stadium. In Super Girls, themes are merely a tool that helps to build up the viewing experience of the audience thus adding to the grandness of the program. In addition these themes do not always have a musical-orientation like in Idol. Instead the themes in Super Girls include both traditional Chinese values and values from popular culture. Themes in Super Girls can be anything. They include the asserted essences of Chinese society with concepts like ‘harmony’, to ideas such as ‘individual

45 courage’ as well as popular and well-known Chinese movies which I argue is where mainstream popular culture is built-in.

The broadcasting of Super Girls thus I argue has a dual nature where on one side it emphasises ‘healthy’ programming and on the other side it builds in the mainstream popular culture. While Idol inherits the popular commercial television program status from the format, Super Girls had established itself, during its years of broadcast, as a show that is ‘healthy’ and at the same time popular. Super Girls is a performance of stars hybridised with a talent quest singing contest. Thus the way Super Girls is designed, its stages, costumes, and structure all communicate its grand nature. I argue it is in this hybridisation method of production that Super Girls presents itself as something ‘new’ and ‘innovative’. It is interesting to know that in the face of the large number of ‘copycat’ programs in China, it is evident that Hunan Satellite Television in 2007 through the program known as Super Boys introduced a surveillance-based element where the top 13 contestants lived together in an enclosed environment and were recorded and broadcasted. And again this is ‘new’ in Chinese television and represents the even further hybridisation of reality-based television formats such as Big Brother and Idol.

One commonality of broadcasting in Super Girls and the Idol format is that they are both programs with mixed genres. However in Super Girls the hybridisation in program genre is not viewed as something that is imported in itself, but rather because they are tied to the program’s status as a national event. Super Girls presents itself as a serious event that records the life experience of the girls; the story of them achieving their dreams and becoming a star. Thus the show incorporates a documentary-like style. Because Super Girls presents itself as a national event through its highly dramatic competition elements, the show also includes the game show elements such as the build up of suspense over uncertain outcomes as well as cruel and harsh eliminations. And of course Super Girls shares the same genre with Idol in that it is a talent search shows where non-actor participants are placed in a competing situation. Thus Super Girls represents what Terranova calls ‘reality games’. She states “reality games can be seen as cellular automata that operate by capturing a segment of the audience within a space that is both

46 closed (a house, a competition) and open (subjected to the whims of ratings and popular votes)” (Terranova 2004, p.127).

• The Super Girls Judges

The role adopted by the judges in Super Girls also has two sides. Firstly they celebrate this culture of ‘freedom of speech’ where mean and harsh comments are broadcast during the show which is ‘new’ in the context of mainland Chinese television. Secondly they do not act as defenders of the local culture as in Philippine Idol, because the Super Girls has established itself as a ‘Chinese’ production. The judges in Super Girls are gate keepers of the traditional culture and obviously make sure the winner is a good singer by adopting the role of ‘teachers’ and ‘professionals’.

In Super Girls there are more than three judges and, during the finale, there were five. The judges of Super Girls are well known backstage music producers, writers and singers like Hei Nan, , Song Ke, Zhu Hua and Ke Yiming. Ke Yiming is well-known for her harsh comments directed at contestants. For instance during the auditions she said “I made so much money from that song... how can you sing it like this? I don’t want to say anymore, you can go out from that door” (Super Voice Girl 2005 Misses Out on 2005). Another harsh judge is Hei Nan, he is a bit more indirect but also adopts the mean ‘Simon Cowell’ approach. He once said to a contestant during the audition “you really sing badly, but the song is quite well written, out on your right, you can talk to my music production company. Hope you can write better songs” (Super Voice Girl 2005 Misses Out on Shanghai 2005). The ‘mean judge’ approach represents a clash with traditional Chinese values because it challenges need to ‘save face’. In China Ke Yiming and Hei Nan’s comments brought about many controversies over the show. A search of Ke Yiming’s name on Sin Lang website gives up to 1.7 million hits about news of her harshness. There is also an ‘abandon the judges’ position that was signed by millions of eliminated contestants. It may be due to this controversy that Ke Yiming changed her attitude when the competition moved on to the finals. Other judges have also adopted a

47 nicer and encouraging role from this point in the series. From this point, most of the judges’ comments in Super Girls are concerned primarily with technical skills in singing and generally do not express personal dislike from the judge.

The judges of Super Girls also reflect their serious and professional role through comments that point out where the song is out of tune or if the lyric was right. Due to the importance of judges in Super Girls they have more power than judges in the Idol. In Super Girls the power to determine who the winner is, is shared equally between the judges and the audience. This is reflected in the Chinese context where judges have the power to disqualify a contestant until the final episode. As a consequence the Super Girls contest is more credible than . And that is why judges in Super Girls do not express conflicting opinions explicitly. Also they are always presented in a well mannered sitting position. The comments from judges in Super Girls also relate to the future performing career of the contestants. For instance the judge often point out how the performer should behave if they were a real star and whether they have yet achieved the standard required for stardom. For instance, during the final Song Ke said to that ‘I am no longer concerned with the competition but I am thinking for your record company.’

• The Super Girls Contestants

In the Super Girls contest there are also good and bad contestants. Regardless of whether the contestant is good or bad the emphasis is placed on ‘individuality’. During the auditions bad contestants do make the broadcast edition of the program. This is especially significant in Chinese television because Chinese television is meant to be ‘healthy’ and of high standard, hence the presentation of ordinary people has not traditionally taken place. Thus the really bad performances are new to Chinese viewers. Along with this comes the value that is also promoted in American Idol which is the ‘ordinariness’ that can be found in both the contestants and the audience. Contestants are presented as people just like ‘you’. It can be argued that one of the reasons why the audience gets so involved in these shows is because these programs makes celebrities from ordinary

48 people, the contestants to some extent are representations of the general audience themselves. Also, the really bad contestants have added to the show’s emphasis on ordinariness and stress the fact that this show belongs to the general public. But in the Super Girls this ordinariness is especially promoted to reflect individuality and reinforce the idea that nowadays you do not need to conform to the traditional values, such as ‘beauty’.

However, later into the show quite the reverse occurs and the contestants are transformed to be dressed and styled to be like a genuine star. I argue this is where the show begins to establish the seriousness and credibility of the competition. It is evident that both the Idol and Super Girls involves the idea of finding an ‘idol’ from ordinary people in our everyday life. However in the Super Girls context the winners do not only win themselves a singing career but due to the program’s celebration of grandness and seriousness the winner are viewed as genuine stars that are talented.

• The Super Girl Fans

The fan interaction of Super Girls is significant in that it presents a new mode of address from the broadcasters. In the case of American Idol this mode of address may be taken for granted, but in China it is a fundamental change. In both American and Philippine Idol, fan involvement is encouraged and not celebrated in the production of the program whereas in Super Girls passionate fans are celebrated. And because the new mode of address depends very much on the fans interaction, Super Girls plays up the audience’s role by frequently broadcasting fans during the program. In Super Girls after every commercial break and when a particular contestant leaves the show, the program will broadcast crying and screaming fans. I argue this is also a technique by which Super Girls reinforces the grandness of the show and presents itself as a program that the whole nation is involved with thereby encouraging the same type of hysterical response from other audience members.

49 It can be argued, as reflected in Super Girls, that there is a rise of fan culture and within the show this is connected to the program’s establishment as a Chinese ‘event’ where everyone is invited to participate actively. It is evident that Super Girls is very successful in doing this. There are many self-generated fan activities that reflects the fan’s hysteria for the contestants. One of them is where fans of each contestant form groups and name themselves with the name of the contestant. In addition the fan groups have also produced their own uniforms, which include T-shirts with the picture of their idol. Another Super Girls’ fan activity is marching in streets during the final night.

Another fundamental audience interactivity that is ‘new’ in China is the voting. Super Girls has adopted a similar ‘voting’ process to Idol, and I argue this has significant impacts in China. It is evident that voting is a very important element in the show. Throughout the program, hosts constantly remind the audiences to vote and the voting methods always appear on the bottom of the screen. This fact is somewhat ironic given the lack of ability Chinese citizens possess to influence the outcome of over the election of political leaders and officials. I argue this is one reason why the voting process of Super Girls starts as early as the local competitions and not, as in Idol, at the semi-final stage of the competition. In Super Girls audience members are also invited to vote during the broadcasting of the show. As soon as the host announces that it is time, the votes for PK contestants are erased to zero, and the process of voting begins again. In this sense the voting in Super Girls is more immediate than in Idol, and this adds to the feeling of simultaneous involvement and live participation in the fans.

In Super Girls the numbers of votes the finalist gain are very high, hence the voting reflects the hysteria in fans’ willingness to participate. The success of this aspect of the program also expresses Chinese viewers’ increasing demand for freedom of choice. In China this demand for freedom of choice is also reflected in the public’s attacks on ‘black back stage’ (Hei Mu) controversies, which criticise the program over the belief that the winner is determined by the authorities or the commercial sponsors and producer of the show. Super Girls in order to resist this attack presents itself as fair and just by having the voting results certified (Gong Zheng). Gong Zheng means that the result is checked and

50 justified by the government authority before announcing to public. I argue this presents a sign where the traditional power of the authority is still valued greatly. While the West is questioning the corruption of the voting in terms of what kind of things are being voted on, and the transformation of citizens into consumers (Nightingale 2006), in China the emphasis is place on the existence of an actual voting process. I argue this is due to the fact that China has never had a voting system. As a result the new mode of address Super Girls uses to embrace its audience, and generate additional revenue for the program, has established a new realm of identity politics. It is here where the audience now identify themselves as a political subject that has the moral right to give their opinion and make a choice.

It is also evident that the voting in Super Girls is highly commercialised. Voting is designed to fit into a special section of the show that is commercial based. In Super Girls the voting is sponsored by the commercial company OPPO digital. Thus the voting method and the updates of the current number of votes each contestant has are characterised by an ‘OPPO’ look, which is constantly displayed by the program. Instead of classifying this feature as excessive commercialisation, or as a revenue generation strategy borrowed from the West, it should be viewed as a change in China’s television industry. This reflects the financial agenda of provincial television stations and the amount of freedom they now enjoy in the creation of television programs.

Additionally, as in the case of Idol, the new mode of address in Super Girls is also characterised by the multi-platform nature that is facilitated by global advances in media technologies. Super Girls is distributed simultaneously across television broadcasting, on Jingyin website and the show can be downloaded. The broadcasting of Super Girls like American Idol serves as a bridge to other platforms, and the hosts of Super Girls constantly direct the audience to other platforms by saying things like ‘you can check out more details on the Super Girls website’ and ‘please remember to vote for your favourite contestant and keep her on the Super Girls’ stage’. Secondly, the audience of Super Girls can cast their vote using phone technology in the form of SMS or voice calls or vote using the Internet through an instant messaging tool called QQ. You can also express

51 your will to participate as one of the thirty one common voters via SMS so if you are lucky enough you can vote live at the stadium.

I argue this multiplatform character comes naturally with China’s technology developments. The use of phone technology and Internet is not foreign to Chinese audiences. It is part of the youth culture and thus the use of technologies other than television becomes natural and reflects the incorporation of mainstream popular culture in Super Girls. The especially visible one is the fans participation on website forums. Super Girls’ official webpage is http://www.hunantv.com/huodong/2006supergirls/. The use of Internet now allows the Chinese audiences to publicly debate about the show and its contestants. The website includes the show’s broadcasting timetable, audience’s messages, media debates, as well as articles that challenges the local criticisms. In the Chinese context freedom of choice and speech was not part of the traditional television culture. This breakthrough of Super Girls reinforces the significant changes in the mode of address in Chinese television and the change in the audience’s self-identity.

• The Super Girls Brand

Super Girls is one of the first television programs that openly celebrates its commercialisation. The voting process of Super Girls is sponsored by OPPO digital and Super Girls is presented to the audience by Hunan Satellite Television with the support of commercial corporations. It is sponsored by Mengniu Sour Milk and is supported by Tianyu media Limited. Today TianYu media still owns the Super Girls’ brand. The brand of Super Girls is promoted in things such as the creation of T-shirts, dolls and other related products, plus the promotion of contestants just like in American Idol. After the competition, contestants who came top ten are involved in a Super Girls’ national concert. Contestants also appear in advertisements of for instance Mengniu Sour Milk and are involved in other talk shows that are broadcast on Hunan Satellite Television. This mass coverage has added to the show’s event-ness and mass appeal. The branding in Super Girls is not simply a brand that promotes the show but due to its grandness and mass

52 involvement it is also a brand that has become a promotion and celebration of fan interaction as well as a new way of television production. As stated such development should be viewed within the development of Chinese television industry. And commercialisation is not an imported value but is part of the Chinese television.

The incorporation of commercialisation is reflected ubiquitously in Super Girls, for instance on the Super Girls’ website and its logo. The Super Girls’ website is a channel where the program is advertised. The website promotes the Super Girls brand the same way as in the Idol series where show related products are advertised and various download such as ring tone are provided. The website also promotes and includes the Hunan Satellite Television symbol. Moreover the colour and design of the website I noticed also has an OPPO look with the colour pink which is similar to the display of voting methods and results. In terms of the logos, the branding logo of American Idol and Philippine Idol suggest they are a franchisee of the Idol format whereas Super Girls suggests the concept of being ‘super’ which I argue ties in to the idea of ‘ordinary empowerment’. To a certain extent the Super Girls logo has the meaning that proposes something new and has not happened before in Chinese television history. Both the contestant and the audience are ‘super’ in the sense that they are achieving something new and this is the reason why the show is an event and therefore grand in nature. For instance there is a wing-like symbol which reinforces the concept of ‘super’ and conveys the courage and dream-come true personal characteristics of the contestants. The design of the Super Girls logo is also more complicated. It contains the words ‘Super Girls’ and Hunan Satellite Television’s slogan ‘Happy China’. It also reflects commercialisation by including Mengniu’s logo at the top and uses the signature colour of OPPO is pink.

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American Idol Logo Philippine Idol Logo http://myidol.americanidol.com/ http://www.philippineidol.com/

Super Girls Logo Pop Idol Logo http://www.hunantv.com/huodong/2006supergirls/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_Idol

In general due to the program’s event-ness and its ‘new’ and ‘innovative’ nature, Super Girls has developed to become a phenomenon in Chinese television. I argue that the program has significant cultural impact in the values it promotes and the way in which it engages its fans and the general audience. These themes will be developed and explored further in the subsequent chapters.

54 4. Greater China

One of the significant aspects of Super Girls is the way it connects the Chinese Diaspora around the globe with the culture of the homeland (mainland China). In many ways, it was this connection between the television programs ability to create a sense of being up- to-date with the popular culture on the mainland that leads to my interest in writing this thesis.

As a part of the Chinese Diaspora, living in Australia, Super Girls was one television show where I felt a strong connection with the homeland. The connection is generated through the sharing of a common popular culture and the simultaneous participation in the show made possible via satellite broadcasting. As a result I was able to consume Super Girls the same way as my friends back in the mainland. Through the Internet I was able to participate in discussions about who was our favourite contestant and vote for them as well. In this way I was able to become part of the mainland community. As one of them I realise that the way Super Girls involves us presents a new mode of address where our ideas are constituted back into the show, thus creating a new ground for identity formation. This occurrence leads me to think about my own identity. The difference between the knowledge I learned in a Western nation about what Chinese-ness is, and what I experience Chinese-ness as now, as a result of television programs like Super Girls. I am now an Australian citizen and at the same time I have cultural citizenship in ‘Cultural China’.

Tu (2005) proposed in 1991 that there are three symbolic universes involved in producing knowledge about Cultural China. The first universe is composed of societies that are predominantly populated by cultural and ethnic Chinese such as mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. The second universe refers to the Chinese communities that have dispersed around the world. And the third universe includes people who try to understand China intellectually and bring the concept of China to their own linguistic communities, for instance, individual scholars, teachers and journalists in the West (Tu 2005). To some extent I argue ‘Cultural China’ is an imagined community connected by

55 a common stake in ‘Chinese-ness’ and, as Tu points out, all people, as part of the three universes, participate in negotiating ‘Cultural China’.

Reflecting on this at a personal level, my identity and participation in these debates spans across the three symbolic universes. I was born in Shanghai in 1983. My family migrated to Australia when I was 12. Thus, like many other Chinese people living overseas my family and I use the media, especially satellite television services, to maintain a link with our homeland. This idea of mainland China as homeland is largely symbolic for me. I do not strongly identify with the Peoples Republic of China as a nation, at least not as much as I do with being ‘Australian’. However, in Australia I am always aware of being Chinese. And here lies, to my mind, the real significance of television programs such as Super Girls. Super Girls crystallizes a shifting of power amongst the three symbolic universes of Cultural China in terms of their ability to articulate Chinese-ness. For the first time, in my lifetime, a television program from the mainland has captured the attention of the traditionally more powerful centres of Chinese-ness in places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, as well as the Chinese Diaspora dispersed throughout the West; not to mention the attention it has received in the West proper.

Since Tu’s analysis, the Peoples’ Republic of China has now moved on. From Mao and the Cultural Revolution to the ‘High Culture Fever’ (Wang 1996) days of the ‘Open Door Policy’ and Deng Xiaoping, to the fallout of the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1989, the mainland has conventionally receded from playing the central role of Cultural China. Now, with liberalisation of the media, even though they remain state-controlled, the mainland is beginning to play a larger role in the imagined community of Cultural China. To paraphrase Benedict Anderson (1983), the forces of capitalism have once again conspired with a technology of communication, in this case satellite television, to create the conditions for the mainland to reclaim its cultural force in defining Chinese-ness.

To illustrate this, again at a personal level, my connection with the mainland is now facilitated by a sense of ‘synchronicity’. Chua’s (2006) analysis of the consumption of Chinese newspapers by Chinese communities outside China points to how these

56 communities rely on media in order to inhabit the ‘same’ space and time as the community at ‘home’. This is “a synchronicity that is essential to engendering a sense of identity derived from a presumption of being inhabitants of the ‘same’ reading community” (Chua 2006, p.80-81). An even stronger sense of connection emerges in the consumption of Super Girls. In watching Super Girls I inhabit the same televisual space as all other Chinese audiences. I discuss the show with my mainland friends live as the show is broadcasting and we exchange ideas and sometimes debate the credibility of the contestants and the votes for them. In this sense I am participating in the fan group of ‘Super Girls’ and connecting with my friends back in China. I feel as if I am there at the place where the event happens instead of being somewhere else. As a result by becoming part of the same television community the geographic boundaries are removed. It is also in this sense I argue Super Girls becomes a real ‘trans-national’ program.

I would argue that satellite television creates a stronger sense of simultaneity than the media of old, such as the newspaper. With newspapers, for example, there is always a time gap. To the diasporic reader newspapers tend to create a sense of displacement and fetish for the homeland due to this lack of simultaneity. However, my own experience of watching Super Girls is a bit different in that new media technology such as the Internet and satellite television creates the possibility of simultaneous reception where the global audience can watch the program ‘live’. The advance in satellite technology means that the global audience can watch the same television show at the same time anywhere they are. In my case there is no time gap or delay in watching the show from Australia. I argue that unlike the case of newspapers, the transnational sense of connection engendered by satellite television is even more immediate and pressing. Satellite television addresses the entire Diaspora the same way as they address the locals thereby giving voice to a unified transnational Chinese community. I argue it is in this sense that the consumption of Super Girls connects viewers anywhere around the world by creating an imagined community.

In addition, in watching Super Girls the Diaspora is connected by a common popular culture led by the mainland. It can be said that Super Girls presents evidence that the mainland is re-entering the stakes of becoming the centre of Pan-Asian popular culture.

57 In terms of mainland stars, the most signature contestant of Super Girls, Li Yuchun, has today recaptured my attention. The star quality of Li Yuchun has also captured the attention of the traditional centre of Chinese-ness by appropriating and increasing the popularity of songs such as ‘There is Only You in My Heart and Not Him’, originally performed by a Taiwanese singer named Huang Xiaohu. Neo-liberalism and the increasing marketisation of Chinese television have meant that I now find entertainment programs produced in the mainland more attractive than the ones from Hong Kong. Traditionally my friends, family and I have largely consumed programs from Hong Kong and Taiwan. Now we are increasingly watching programs from the mainland. We also refer to programs like Super Girls to find out what the fashion trends are like in China. This is where programs such as Super Girls now have more power to influence the life and culture of the Chinese people.

By tradition, with China being relatively closed, places such as Hong Kong and Taiwan rather than the largest Chinese community of mainland have made a greater contribution to knowledge produced about China. Lee and Huang (2002) point out that originally Hong Kong and Taiwan are considered to be the key cultural producers of ‘Cultural China’. Lee states “various genres of popular culture from politically peripheral Hong Kong and Taiwan seem to have set the agenda for mainland China, especially among the youthful urban audience” (Lee 2000, p.5). Thus Lee (2000) argues there is a twist in Chinese popular culture where the centre is periphery and the periphery is the centre. One important reason for this is that Hong Kong and Taiwan media have long been motivated by commercial interests. The media content produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan was more glitzy, and seen as having higher production values. This however, has now changed. With the mainland increasingly opening up, it is evident that the People’s Republic of China is gradually regaining the centre position in ‘Cultural China’. As an outsider, studying about China in the West, I am more and more referring to the Chinese- ness reflected on the mainland as the official Chinese culture. It is also evident that in the West there is a growing awareness of mainland’s changing importance.

58 I believe while Hong Kong and Taiwan’s Chinese-ness is developing in the expected ways, the PRC is changing. One of the major changes in Chinese television is that the provincial satellite television stations to some extent are allowed, at least in the economic sense, to set their own agenda which are often commercially-based. These provincial broadcasters now adopt a synthesis approach where popular local culture assimilates elements from the periphery universes to form its own mainstream culture. It is an example of how the “global is symptomatically assimilated into a regionally manipulated ‘cultural Chinese-ness’ (Lee & Huang 2002, p.110). In this thesis I have tried to demonstrate how such a process of cultural hybridisation emerges in how the localisation of global television formats can give rise to hybrid television programs that generate culturally important phenomena such as the Super Girls television series. I argue as a result of global cultural interaction and increasing proximity, eventually the mainland has become more culturally self-conscious (Lee 2004), and is trying to participate and place its stamp on the construction of a broader Chinese identity.

Here I would like to point out that while there are trends of development that suggests mainland has increased its influence on the Chinese Diaspora however its power to influence the periphery universe such as Hong Kong and Taiwan at this stage remains small. For instance Taiwan local singers such as Zhou Jielun remain popular in both the mainland and places such as Hong Kong. Super Girls although very popular is not broadcast in Taiwan. The locally produced mainland television programs are more popular within the Chinese Diaspora located in western nations than in the other inhabitants of Tu’s first symbolic universe of Cultural China, namely the Chinese communities such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore.

Moreover Super Girls is most significant in demonstrating a trend where the mainland television recaptures the viewers’ attention by becoming more entertaining in ways of allowing the mainstream bottom-up popular cultures to be incorporated in television program production. And as the Chinese popular culture especially youth culture are more than ever modified by the cultures of other Asian regions and the West due to the spread of commercialism and globalisation, it can be argued that the newly developed

59 mainland programs now celebrates an ‘ordinary culture’ that is increasingly ‘hybridised’ in nature.

I argue that Super Girls is momentous in reflecting the shift of Chinese television towards dazhong hua. Dazhong hua literally means popularisation. In China the television culture used to be shaped by a top-down driven need for ‘healthy programming’, where the broadcaster’s role is to educate and regulate, and the role of the audience is to accept. Consequently we have always had our own ways of bypassing the top-down television. The television for us has traditionally meant karaoke and gaming monitor in how we have appropriated the medium. The way Super Girls embraces the audience provides a signal where the Chinese satellite broadcasters are now increasingly aimed at entertaining the viewer. Our misappropriation of the medium has now become part of the official viewing practices. Watching television now has officially become multimodal and multitask in nature. Not only do I watch Super Girls but at the same time I SMS, and chat with my friends on the computer during commercial breaks. I also no longer feel that I must accept the content. The online discussion forums allow me to express my disagreement. This new form of interactivity promoted by Super Girls gives the show a newness which makes it more attractive to me.

In this sense I argue television viewing in mainland China now demonstrates a new mode of address featuring audience empowerment. The bottom-up cultures that are influenced by values from global commercial cultures are now being embraced by the traditional top-down culture. Thus I argue Super Girls is an example where the traditional television culture is hybridised with the mainstream popular youth culture. In general, it can be argued that ordinary culture in the Chinese context is characterised by traditional counter cultures that celebrate ideologies such as competition, individuality and freedom of choice. These ideas today break down the traditional gender roles, reintroduce notions of meritocracy and promote self-esteem in the Chinese society. I argue that although it is true that many elements of Super Girls present challenges to traditional Chinese values, their partial acceptance is better thought of as a convergence with the local traditions. As reflected by the show’s popularity, this kind of television program has found its place in

60 the Chinese market, including the global Chinese communities. This trend is the popularisation (Dazhong hua) of Chinese television. Popularisation mutually reinforces the rise of dazhong wenhua. And dazhong wenhua in China according to Michael Keane (Keane 2002) refers to the commercial consumer culture and public culture. In this sense I refer to them as ‘ordinary culture’. I argue popularisation of Chinese television is made possible through changing television culture towards an ‘ordinary culture’.

These above changes in Chinese television have facilitated mass involvement in mainland Chinese television culture. The new mode of address makes possible that the fans’ participation is now an official and entertaining part of the television experience. Secondly the celebration of ordinariness in Super Girls made the show easy to relate to. As a result, Super Girls becomes a grand Chinese event where audiences regardless of their geographic location feel a mandate to participate. In my consumption of Super Girls I have genuinely felt this moral obligation to give my opinion about who deserves to be the winner. And I need to watch it because everyone else does. For especially the young, to miss out, is to not participate in an important historical moment in the embracement of Chinese identity. Our culture, for the first time, after many years of repression, is now being represented on state-owned television in the Peoples Republic of China.

With the changing role of the mainland in ‘Cultural China’, Shambaugh (1995) point out there is this rise of a ‘Greater China’ phenomenon. I argue Super Girls in this sense reflects the mainland provincial (commercial) television stations’ increasing power to sell its ‘modified’ locally produced television program to the world. This is where I argue China is also greater in an economic sense. Over the years, as mainland China opens up, it has increased its power in creating a transnational economy and will eventually take its place as a leader in the Asian region in the exchange of cultural products. However, I would like to mention that while most of the development represents steps towards the opening up and liberalisation in Chinese media yet recent policies on format television also presents a withdraw of the Chinese government, that suggests the government’s will to hold tight its control of the mass media. Thus it can be said that Chinese television remains in the hands of the government and is a ‘controlled commodification’.

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The State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) of China on the twentieth September 2007 declared many restrictions on the issue of managing broadcasting talent search programs. The policy bans talent shows from being broadcasted in prime time from 7:30 -10:30 at night after the first of October 2007. The policy also placed many constraints on the production of talent shows so that it is more ‘healthy’. The reason for such a move according to the SARFT is the ‘vulgar’ and ‘low taste’ reflected in reality television shows and the fact that there are too many of these programs popping up in on television in China according to Jin Wenxiong, a SARFT official (Lin 2007). The constraints as listed in the policy include restrictions such as the following.

• Voting is now only allowed for the studio audience and not the ‘whole nation’. • Hosts should avoid flattering the contestants • The judges should be professional judges only • The way contestant’s dress should be mature and ‘accord with the aesthetics of the great mass’ • Personal reflections of the contestants and hosts should be minimised

I argue this policy suggests that the Chinese government fears the power of commercialism as the programming of entertainment programs gets progressively more controversial. And with the success in programs such as Super Girls, the local especially provincial television stations are becoming increasingly independent from the government funding because they are now generating most of their revenues from the convergence technologies such as SMS and high amount of advertising revenues. This policy allows the Chinese government to intervene under the pretences of paternalism and protecting individuals, who make relatively modest annual incomes, from falling victim to the evils of commercialism.

62 5. Super Girls, Super Star

In China, programs like Super Girls symbolise a breath of fresh air. It promotes many values which are new to Chinese television and is welcomed by the local audiences. Super Girls adopts the western-oriented television genres that emphasise competition, which, despite the clash with traditional Chinese values, also marks a breakthrough that upgrades the entertainment value of Chinese television. I argue the localisation of format television in China takes the form of hybridity, where the locally produced shows incorporates the western genre that gave rise to new values and forms of Chinese local production. Super Girls is an example of a television show that is based on a global format however is very distinct in itself.

The development of Super Girls is significant for a few reasons. Firstly, Super Girls categorizes itself as an entertainment program. Its format based nature and production has this connotation of commercialisation and the opening up of Chinese media market, which fits in with China’s current media policy agenda to liberalise the industry (Xu 2007). Secondly, from the start, Super Girls distanced itself from serious political culture. It represents a shift away from authority towards mainstream popular culture. Super Girls made it clear that it is a people’s show; it is everyone’s show. The show was embraced in China’s popular youth culture and, in the words of the Chinese press; it represents the ‘common people culture’ (Super Girls Explaining Common People Culture 2005). Super Girls is one of the first television programs that promote ‘Ordinary Power’. And lastly Super Girls signifies to the West the results of the liberalisation process in the Chinese media environment. In the eyes of western culture, Super Girls represents democracy which may be the thin edge of the wedge that breaks China’s tradition.

On the broader context, in the analysis of global format television, I argue Super Girls’ competitive process of creating a ‘winner’ becomes a key site where the Idol format is localised and negotiated. Thus the star creation aspect of Super Girls is important in reflecting how the show and its format resonate with traditional Chinese culture. It is evident that the winner of the Super Girls contest becomes a ‘star’. I argue that the

63 show’s assertion of creating a star is literally true in that the winner becomes the signature ‘celebrity’ of the television channel, in this case ‘Hunan Satellite Television’. The creation of this kind of ‘television star’ takes on special implications and significance. The significance is that this kind of ‘television star’ is created by ‘people’, through a process of voting, yet it is situated in autocratic China where the culture is often shaped by close supervision and tight control of what the citizens can say.

The value of Competition in Super Girls

As stated Super Girls represents a breakthrough for Chinese television in that it is based on a hybrid genre of television. Super Girls is a convergence of the local popular taste and traditional values with the western genre of comedy (humour), pop music, transparent competition and reality television that promotes the creation of real emotions. I would like to examine a few elements of Super Girls that reflect the adaptation of western television genres in contemporary Chinese television. I argue the most noticeable nature of Super Girls is the notion of competition. For instance Super Girls relies on many aspects of the dramatic elements of competition, such as unknown outcome, cliff- hanger suspension before commercial breaks, and its game show like features in order to hook its audience. The hosts constantly create suspension to who has the least votes, for instance by speaking very slowly when announcing the result, in true game show style. Another example is in each episode of Super girls the rules of competition vary considerably, requiring the host to read the rules at the start of each episode and between each round. All this continuously reinforces to the audience that Super Girls is a competition-based program.

In the context of Chinese television, the value of competition was not promoted. Originally it can only be identified in beauty contests and in some game based programs such as the ‘Citadel of Happiness’. Yet with Super Girls, the audience is presented with a new form of television that is competition based. Like elsewhere, this kind of program is also reality based and highly entertaining. The success of Super Girls suggests the need

64 for ‘reality’, ‘interactivity’ and pure entertainment programs in the Chinese media market. I argue the rise of Super Girls and format television caused many changes in Chinese television. This new hybrid genre of television contrasts with the traditional Chinese media fare and historical ideologies.

Talent search shows like Super Girls are competitive due to their unique structure and nature. For example the format of Super Girls includes many elements of audience voting and is highly interactive. In terms of the genre, Super Girls marks a shift away from the traditional political undertones toward light commercial orientated entertainment. Traditionally in the Chinese context even entertainment shows such as beauty contests and pop musical awards all included a political undertone, such as espousing ideas like patriotism, or party politics by having an authorised communist party leader or government official as a guest speaker. Yet the new era talent search programs, Super Girls breaks this bond to ‘authority’ by orienting the program around the commercially driven popular youth culture, which includes celebrating values such as transparent competition, individuality, ordinary power, and stardom. I argue these values in popular culture create its own stereotype and tyranny of principles.

Further I would like to point out that talent search shows are based on the genre of reality television (Zhenren xiu). And in China, reality television is a new genre itself. According to Chinese Television Entertainment Report One (2005) in China reality television developed through two stages. The first stage is between 2000 and 2004. The second stage is from 2005 to now. During the first stage, reality television was introduced to China and began to evolve. The first show that gave Chinese viewer the taste of reality is a show called the ‘Shengcun Da Tiaozhan’ or ‘Living Challenge’, broadcasted by Television. The ‘Living Challenge’ plays the role of introducing a new type of television in the Chinese market. Since then other reality television show such as ‘Lucky 52’, ‘Happy Dictionary’, and ‘Gold Apple’ were all introduced to the Chinese viewers (The Chinese Entertainment Report One 2005). In 2005 reality program developed further. In particular, reality shows which emphasise competition, in the form of talent search programs that invites the participation of the whole nation. Some of these

65 programs include ‘Add Oil, Good Boy’ (Jia You Hao Nan Er) by and ‘Lai Ca My Style My Show’ (Lai Ca Wo Xing Wo Xiu) by Dongfang Satellite Television and of course ‘Super Girls’ (Chao Ji Nu Sheng) by Hunan Satellite Television. Out of these shows, Super Girls is the most successful and well known.

It is evident that the program Super Girls was so popular and successful that it became a phenomenon in Chinese television. Almost all television stations from China Central Television (CCTV) to provincial and local stations were affected. If Super Girls is the Chinese localisation of the ‘Idol’ format then it is now used as a blueprint by most Chinese television stations including CCTV to produce their own reality competition- based talent search programs. It can be argued that Super Girls drives the fever of talent search shows in Chinese television. Moreover it is also evident that during 2005 Chinese audience’s knowledge and participation in these shows increased enormously. For instance, the number of contestants enrolled in the 2005 Super Girls jumped to over a 150,000 from only 50,000 in 2004 (Marcom & Goldkorn 2005).

An example of a show which uses Super Girls as a blueprint is ‘People in the Dream of the Red Mansion’ (Hong Lou Meng Zhong Ren) by Beijing Satellite Television. This show is about choosing actors to participate in the ‘Dream of the Red Mansion’ drama series. The show is distinct in that it is more ‘high’ culture oriented, which means the show is characterised by educational, classical and professional cultures. The theme of the show is based on the novel ‘Dream of the Red Mansion’ that is a well known literature in China. It can be argued that this show demonstrates the typical ‘public broadcasting’ ethos of ‘high culture’ on the part of CCTV hybridised with the competitive talent search genre. Another recently broadcasted talent search show is ‘Famous Teacher and Best Student’ (Min Shi Gao Tu) broadcasted on Jiangsu Satellite Television. This show has two sections. The first section is where a famous star chooses a contestant to be their student. And the second section is when, once all students are selected, the teacher and student become a team and competes against other teams.

66 Because the development of large numbers of television programs that uses Super Girls as blueprint there are many discourses on Super Girls which argues in China there is an emergence of the Hunan television phenomenon (Chinese Entertainment Report One 2005). It is believed that with the increase in number of entertainment programs on Chinese television, the local provincial television stations are becoming similar to Hunan Satellite Television in nature. Hunan Satellite Television is a television channel well- known for its entertainment-orientation (Donald et al. 2002). Originally the show ‘Citadel of Happiness’ made it a champion in China television but after the photocopies of the similar shows in other channels for instance CCTV, the viewer rating for Hunan Satellite Television went down. In 2003, the station changed its investment tactic, making entertainment property the core of competition; they changed all over, pushing out the call for ‘Happy China’ (Bai 2006). ‘Super Girls which Acupoint did It Hit’ (2005) point out only in 2003, Hunan Satellite Television’s advertisement went up twice. In 2004 the station introduced Super Girls and made the channel hot again. Super Girls has now become a channel recognising sign of Hunan Satellite Television.

New Values

The notion of competition contradicts China’s traditional ideal of harmony. In a communist society like China the emphasis is placed on a harmonious society. Competition was not encouraged due to the potential of conflict. Even if competition is involved, it was played down and friendship between contestants was often played up. Super Girls challenges this historical approach. The producer of Super Girls no longer denies the competitive nature of the show, although friendship is emphasised at the same time. In celebrating the competitive nature of the show, ideas such as transparency, equality and fairness are all developed and promoted. This is not to say that I argue equality does not exist in China however it is evident that in the history of Chinese television, transparency, equality and fairness were not promoted. This is, as argued before, largely due to the fact that television in China for decades served the society as a political ideological apparatus. Programs were presented to the viewer with certain

67 political objectives in mind. Television was tightly controlled by the government and the idea of free programming was not encouraged.

Another new value promoted by Super Girls is ‘diversity’. In the show diversity is reflected in the individuality of contestants. Each contestant is presented as an individual. This emphasis on individuality not only contains a sense of not conforming to tradition but also promotes multiplicity in the Chinese society. Through the pre-recorded video clips that reveal contestants’ hometowns, family members and friends, Super Girls promote diversity by presenting contestants as people coming from different family and social backgrounds. This open celebration of diversity within the nation is new in Chinese television. I also believe that within the promotion of diversity there is also a search for commonality. The commonality that unites this diversity is the nation of People’s Republic of China. By celebrating diversity, Super Girls is also emphasising the commonality between the contestants and the audience dispersed across the nation, as well as the world. This characteristic of promoting diversity and commonality at the same time is very distinct in China.

In addition Super Girls promotes ‘the power of the ordinary’. I argue the theme of current talent search programs in China is ‘Ordinary Power’, which is achieved through the manufacture of celebrities, and celebrity power. Hopkins (2002) looked at the show Popstars. Hopkins (2002) believes that the show offers every ordinary individual that wants to be a celebrity a chance to get an audition and a chance to be famous in an instant. Hopkins places the analysis of celebrity power in the context of ‘Girl power’. And states “over the past ten years, a girl power revolution has occurred in global popular culture” (Hopkins 2002, p.11). I argue in the case of Super Girls, instead of the rise of ‘Girl Power’ there is a rise of ‘Ordinary Power’. It is noticed that the ordinary culture, mainly the commercial-driven popular youth culture from the bottom-up is what is creating new principles in Chinese television. Such change represents an overturn to the top-down culture by the ‘people’.

68 In Chinese literature this rise of ordinary power is referred to as the empowerment of ‘Dazhong Wenhua’ (Li 2005) or ‘Pingming Wenhua’ (Xiao 2006). The first phrase literally means ‘common people culture’ and the second means ‘ordinary people culture’. These two terms are used every time in writings relating to contemporary Chinese entertainment programs. For instance most discourses of Super Girls argue there is a reflection of ‘common people power’ and power of ‘ordinary people culture’. For the purpose of this thesis, the phrase ‘Ordinary Power’ is adopted in referring to the rise of common and ordinary people culture in television shows. It can be argued that the producers of Super Girls use a fresh strategy of ordinary empowerment to stimulate consumption. The new generation of television programs in China is where the theme of the show has an emphasis on celebrating images, inspirations and the style of ‘what everyone wants’ and ‘what everyone can be’. And I argue ordinary empowerment in Super Girls is also reflected in the power now Super Girls’ audience persist where their decision now determines the outcome of the show.

Moreover Super Girls also creates new principles and values of celebrity and stardom. It is believed that the kind of power contestants of talent search programs gain, as a celebrity comes from fame. Their power is based on how popular they can sell themselves as a desirable cultural commodity (Hopkins 2002). Thus it can be argued that this kind of television produced celebrity is a proven ‘commodity’, in the literal and figurative sense of that word. Li Yuchun, 2005 winner of Super Girls, for instance is someone who Hunan Satellite Television can sell. Her popularity and celebrity power is proven by her success on the show as demonstrated through the high number of votes she gained during the competition. In addition Super Girls’ sponsors will invest in the winners and promise them album deals and roles in television series. Hence I argue what is distinct about this kind of television created star in the Chinese context is that Super Girls creates ‘genuine stars’. The contestants do not gain themselves only 15 minutes of fame but they gain themselves a singing career and are regarded as celebrities who are talented.

69 In Rojek’s opinion (2004) celebrities created by shows like Super Girls and Idols is a form of commodity and not true authentic stars. Instead, he classes them as celetoids. Celetoids are celebrities that ‘rise up’ from the ranks of ordinary people to capture the spotlight and resultant fame. Often, these celebrities are involved in the downfall or transgressions of ‘real’ or traditional celebrities manufactured by the creation talent industries. However, Idol winners also share this quality of emerging form the ranks of the everyday. I argue the celebrities created by Super Girls are distinct in that they are genuine stars who took the road of been celetoid first and then through their courage and hard work become a genuine star. This status is created in the show’s competition process. The competition process embedded in Super Girls helps to make the star credible firstly through the celebration of audience self-creation. Super Girls often sells its winner as ‘super stars chosen by people’. Originality comes from the people’s self creation. Super Girls is a self created show and ‘super girls’ are self created stars. Secondly, their credibility comes from the celebration of cruel competition. The contestants are presented as individuals who are ordinary but also with individual styles. They are girls persevered so many difficulties in the competition that they now have authenticity as a star. I argue the star creation process embedded in Super Girls gives the audience a sense of ‘originality’ and a proud ‘individuality’ from the people which are built on the celebration of constants as ‘super girls’.

The assertion that Super Girls creates ‘real stars’ is an important way the Idol format is localised in China. In the west, format television shows such as Pop Idol, although meeting the taste of popular culture, are viewed as commercially driven, cheaply produced and are generally devalued forms of programming. However, in China, Super Girls does not suffer from this stigma. There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, Super Girls is not a licensed version of the Idol format, although it is often considered to be the ‘Chinese Idol’, yet the show is not bound to the Idol production company Fremantle Media. Secondly, although Super Girls, as argued, most certainly contains many elements from the ‘Idol’ bible, it is not produced wholly according to the format. Thirdly, this kind of ‘popular’ television in the context of mainland China has a totally different connotation to that in the West. They are not viewed as ‘trashy’ programs that are

70 dumped on people by commercial companies. In China to be a ‘commodity’ is, ironically, a form of success that resonates with the people.

Thus I argue ‘popular’ television programs represent fresh air in the formerly statist non- commercial China. Commercialisation in China does not have this low status as in the West, in fact the development of commercialism in China is closely intertwined with the popular youth culture, thus Super Girls in China is regarded as a highly creative and talented show. It can be said that the celebrity creation process of Super Girls reflects a process of ordinary identity formation and general forms of social interaction that embodies style, attitude and conversational flows of a celebrity culture (Rojek 2004). And unlike in the West a democratically voted winner is not considered to be less authentic, but in fact this adds to the winner’s credit. Consequently, the winners of Super Girls were not viewed as musically inferior or inauthentic. In fact Super Girls reflects a guarantee that the winner is what people want. She is a talented ‘star’ chosen by the people as opposed to the traditionally predetermined state controlled culture. Hence ‘Super Girls’ both the program and the winner created by the show is regarded as fresh, new, trendy, young and most importantly authentic in comparison to the traditional.

As a result I argue the kind of ‘star’ Super Girls creates has a dual nature. As the recap about Super Girls at the end of the 2006 Super Girls’ final episode states, the winner of Super Girls is both popular and talented. The show’s promotion of talent and popularity is reflected in the structure of the Super Girls program. The competition process of Super Girls emphasises both democracy and meritocracy. Democracy is reflected by the show’s voting feature and meritocracy is reflected by the appearance and comments of the professional judges. Firstly Super Girls as a process of competition is ‘democratic’. For example the special ‘31 common people’ voters are one element of the competition process that reflects democracy. The ‘common people’ voters represent Chinese society in general. They are members from a variety of education and social backgrounds. This tells the audience that the winner will be a star who is democratically voted by the whole society regardless of the audience’s diverse backgrounds. This is also where this kind of

71 star moves away from the traditionally manufactured star because they are made by the ‘people’.

As stated this competition process is not only democratic but also based on merit. The winner thus is not just famous because they are well-known but they are stars who possess singing talents. The structure of Super Girls, unlike the Idol format, judges plays an important role all the way through to the end of the show and have the power to disqualify contestants. The expert judges not only acts to protect the traditional musical culture in China but also act as the gate keeper of good singers, thus moving the show away from ‘trash’ programs. The producer of Super Girls tries to reflect this idea that although the show is democratic and results are decided by popular vote, it is also a show that should be valued and taken seriously because contestants are selected based on merit. Hence the ‘star’ created by the show should be taken seriously as well.

The Judges and Competition

One important aspect of Super Girls that reflects the seriousness of the competition is the shows’ judges. After each performance, the host directs the viewer’s attention to the judges for comments on the contestant. Super Girls does not break significantly with the format’s typical type of judges. There are ‘mean’ judges and also nurturing and encouraging ones. In 2005 the most distinct nature among the judges was Ke Yiming. Although being female, she and Hei Nan represent Simon Cowell, the prototype of the format’s ‘mean judge’ from American idol. However Ke Yiming changed her comment style to be encouraging when the series moved into the stage shows. The mean judge character enacted by Ke Yiming presents a challenge to China’s traditional value of saving ‘face’. One of the traditional values of Chinese culture is the importance of ‘face’. The harsh comments by Ke Yiming and her open criticism of contestants were new in China’s television history and were considered not giving face to the contestants. Large amounts of criticism were directed at Ke Yiming and this may have led producers of Super Girls to allow the judges to adopt a more encouraging role. From this point, harsh

72 comments were minimised. Judges mostly commented on the technical side of the singing and the overall performances of the contestants by articulating the standard for a professional singer.

This encouraging characteristic of the 2006 Super Girls judges meant that the series was very different to the ‘Idol’ format, in that unlike American Idol the characteristics of each judge were not very distinct. In Super Girls 2006 there were no difference between the characteristics of the judges, although the judges may be different in their professional background, Wang Xiaoling is professional in writing songs, Wu Qixian is professional in singing, however the nature of their comments are similar. It is interesting to note that this encouraging characteristic was changed again in 2007. The format of Super Boys 2007 adopts the ‘Idol’ format of judges, by reintroducing a mean judge, a nice female judge along with other professional judges.

Figure one: Ke Yiming, the mean judge in 2005 and not present in 2006 http://ent.cnxiantao.com/cntv/2007-8/20/0782009253827546409.shtml

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Figure two: Judges for the final of 2006, Song Ke, Hai Quan and Chun Xiao http://www.51xw.com/20060902/xw_425022.htm

I argue what is most characteristic about the judges’ comments in Super Girls is their emphasis on the contestants’ singing techniques. The judges constantly reinforce the idea that Super Girls is a singing competition based on merit by suggesting to the contestant where they could improve their singing techniques in order to become a real ‘star’. For instance Zhu Hua said to a contestant during the resurrection night that ‘the taste and feel of the song you have conveyed through your performance is good but, looking into the technical details, the lyrics and when you change your breath, the song felt broken’. This reinforces the idea Super Girls is a singing competition. And the standard required to win the competition is that of a professional singer. The judges valuing the contestant’s profession and singing credibility makes the winner more professional and credible, hence suitable to start the career of a star instead of merely a celebrity. I argue this is the reason why the competition process of Super Girls allows the judges enough power to disqualify a contestant deep into the series. The judges and the audience were each given ‘half’ say over who would leave the contest, as opposed to the audience deciding alone.

74 Moreover Wu Qixian during the resurrection night, episode one, before he announces which contestants was eliminated, said that ‘competition is cruel, I really don’t want to announce this but I have to’. Super Girls is new in this sense of openly admitting the show is a competition and to some extent celebrates this cruel element of competition, which is very rare in Chinese television. In addition, each time the judges make a decision as to who performed better, the host asks them to provide a reason. This highlights another value of competition that is fairness. Fairness is conveyed to the audiences by the judges giving reasons for their decision. I argue the constant reinforcement of the competition aspect of the genre adds to the contestants’ credibility because it is associated with the values of hardworking and courage in face of harsh competition.

PK

Another element of the Super Girls that is different from the straight format is the PK competitions, where contestants ‘sing off’ against one another to avoid elimination. The word ‘player kill’ or the acronym ‘PK’, as it is used in the show, comes from Internet gaming culture and means one on one competition or challenge. The PK element of the show is another local enhancement of the format which again foregrounds the value of competition. By introducing PK competitions into the structure of the show there are many connotations that become embedded in the program. These connotations include the idea of incorporating Internet-based youth culture in Super Girls, as well as the acceptance of these cultures in China’s television culture as opposed to only promoting high culture or the politically driven culture.

The acronym PK also suggests to the audience that Super Girls has adopted the interactivity of the Internet. These interactive elements of the show include allowing audience feedback through methods such as SMS, but also the complete range of fan interactivity and discussion about the show that takes place via Internet forums and websites, not all of which are officially sponsored by the show. Moreover it can be

75 argued that the word PK has now gained itself this association with challenge and courage in the language of Chinese popular youth culture. The word ‘PK’ now is used in many social contexts where the situation involves one up against another. The Super Girls embraces not just popular culture but rather is firmly entrenched in popular youth culture. The ideas of challenge, of Internet usage, of competition as well as popular singing and taste combined means that the ‘culture of the people’ now is the culture of ‘Super Girls’. Based on the mass hysteria surrounding the reception of the show, one can argue that, by extension, the ‘culture of the people’ is now openly celebrated as the culture of the PRC.

Super Girls

According to Turner (2004) a celebrity can be understood as a person who is celebrated by the scale and effectiveness of their media visibility. Contemporary media visibility is shaped by convergence. Turner points out in today’s convergent media environment where cross-media and cross-platform content and promotion has become the norm, network and cable television has proved their ability to produce celebrity from ‘nothing’ (Turner 2004). For instance with the program Super Girls, it is evident that the enormous media coverage of the show and its contestants has the ability to make ordinary individuals celebrities. The celebrity status of Super Girls is both achieved where they show their singing talents in the competition process and is also attributed where they receive large concentrated representation as noteworthy or exceptional by the mass media (Rojek 2004).

Thus one of the characteristic of Super Girls is ‘fame’. Turner (2004) quotes David Giles in believing that fame is a consequence of the way individuals are celebrated by the media. Fame is a ‘process’ where celebrities become “well-known for their well- knownness” (Boorstin 1971). In the case of Super Girls, the contestants become well- known not only because they are turned into celebrities by media presentation but also because the popularity of the program gives them enormous media exposure. Therefore

76 Super Girls can be viewed not only as a competition process but also a process of creating fame. It is a process of the contestants becoming well-known. In this sense I argue modern celebrity especially television created celebrity shares a common nature where they can be viewed as a product of media representation. Rojek (2004) refers to this kind of star as a celetoid. Rojek (2004) believe the construction of celetoid is often designed to embody stereotypes and prejudices in popular culture. Therefore it can be said that the kind of celebrity Super Girls creates are part of the ‘image elite’ where power comes from mass mediated, stylised image identities (Hopkins 2002). The stylist and makeup artists work to build a public perception of individual contestant’s unique personality so that the contestants stand out and at the same time tap into the mass or mainstream popular culture.

Super Girls as Super Stars

As stated before Super Girls not only creates celebrities but the winners move on to be ‘super stars’. I argue in Super Girls the ordinary individuals start off as ‘celetoids’ who walk into the spot light during the audition for just a few seconds, then the contestants compete to be selected on the basis of their singing talents; eventually they become ‘stars’ where the standards for singing talents increase as the competition intense. Hence it can be said that the winner of Super Girls is at the same time celetoid and a super star. Once they leave the program, they leave with the validated credentials as a star. The difference between a star and a celebrity is that stars are talented and has the power of influencing the representation of people in society (Dyer 1998). Dyer (1998) believes “stars have a privileged position in the definition of social roles and types, and this must have real consequences in terms of how people believe they can and should behave” (Dyer 1998, p.8). And for Turner (2004), celebrity is also a genre of representation and a discursive effect. They are a ‘commodity’ and also cultural formation that has social functions. Super Girls in this sense should be viewed as super stars that have significant impacts on the society.

77 It is evident that the celebrity aspect of Super Girls presents symptom of Chinese social and cultural change. In the sense that the contestants as celebrities reflect an ontological shift in mainstream public culture (Turner 2004). This shift in Chinese popular youth culture I argue is characterised by the change from state controlled top-down culture to the acceptance of the commercially-driven popular ‘common people’ culture from the bottom-up. And Super Girls’ contestants become icons that symbolise the mainstream culture in the Chinese society. I argue these characteristics of the contestants are shared by the broadcasting station that produced the show. Li Yuchun, the winner of 2005 Super Girls has become an iconic figure of Super Girls, Hunan Satellite Television and popular youth culture. Hunan Satellite Television, in celebrating and constantly emphasising Li Yuchun’s characteristics of being non-traditional, popular and innovative is at the same time reflecting the values of the television station as well as the characteristic of the Super Girls show. Thus I argue Li Yuchun’s characteristics represent the qualities of Hunan Satellite Television and, also the other way around Hunan Satellite Television’s qualities is also virtues of the contestants. As a brand, Hunan Satellite Television has done a remarkable job marking their station and programs synonymous with popular youth culture.

In addition, even the judges of talent search programs, like Super Girls, also become stars. The show gives them a chance to show off their profession and remind the audience about their existence. This, in turn increases the prestige of the show. In this way, the judges re-enter the popular mainstream culture.

78 Figure three: Li Yuchun winner of 2005 Super Girls http://www.3s3s.cn/qc/qcwh/newinfo.php?id=3354

Figure five: winner of 2006 Super Girls http://shangwenjie.ahart.cn/n55c23.aspx

79 Super Girls as Representation of Popular Youth Culture

Super Girls reflects and adds to values of current Chinese popular youth culture and the development of Chinese television towards a commercial entertainment orientation. Some examples include freedom of choice and democracy, Girl power and individuality, as well as hard work and the courage to search your own dream. In China it can be argued that due to decades of political control in the media industry Super Girls represents a longing for common popular culture, the need to feel free (to choose) and the government’s acceptance in the audiences being free (allowed to choose) in society. In Hopkins’ (2002) opinion the global popular culture has absorbed and appropriated the counter culture – what was once radical is now mainstream (Hopkins 2002). The same applies to Chinese popular culture. In China today, what characterises popular youth culture is ideas based on freedom, entertainment and just being “happy”, which is conveyed in the brand of Hunan Satellite Television with the station slogan ‘Happy China’. This is about displacing freedom onto the plane of commodity consumption. For example popular youth entertainment culture that are used to be considered low class entertainment such as the karaoke culture where normal individuals sing their favourite pop songs for self-entertainment is now incorporated and is made part of the television culture by Super Girls. The description of Super Girls as a karaoke ceremony symbolises a combination of this everyday entertainment culture and the high culture of a ceremony.

Freedom and Democracy

Another key counter value to the top-down culture is freedom of choice. The winner of Super Girls is chosen by the ‘people’. Although China is a communist country, it is evident from the popularity of Super Girls that the audience wants to have the power to choose. This is reflected in the gossip attacks on the program ‘Hei Mu’ which means literally ‘black backstage’. ‘Black’ refers to the suggestion of corruption and the insinuation that the authorities have manipulated the result. Many believe that the result of Super Girls although presented as democratically determined by audience voting, was

80 in fact the result of ‘black backstage’ interference, that is pre-determined by the sponsor and creator of the show. This gossip was a very popular view on both the official show website and the fan created websites. In fact such attacks come up in every discussion of the seemingly democratic television programs in China. I argue this gossip expresses a longing for transparency and opening up of democracy in other political domains. Although the demand for ‘democracy’ in China is not allowed in terms of government elections; it is to some extent allowed by the imported western commercial culture in the form of voting for your favourite singing contestant. Rojek (2004) suggests the ‘freedom of choice’ allowed in the purchase process distracts from the lack of ‘true’ ‘freedom’ and displaces it onto commercial/capitalist consumption. This is especially evident in the Chinese context where the election of government is not permitted. However I argue this occurrence rather reflects the growth of commercialisation and strong market forces in China.

Despite the gossip and outlook of commercially-based freedom of choice, Super Girls still presents itself as a ‘democratic’ show. The recap in the final episode of Super Girls 2006 states, ‘it is evident that this show is a talent search program of the ordinary people and it is the ‘people’s choice’, which is a selling point of the show. The contestant with the most votes becomes the winner. This simple fact conveys the message that the audience are in charge of the result and it is the popular culture that rules the Super Girls’ stage. The people’s choice now is valued equally with the traditional controlled culture. For instance, the boyish looking Li Yuchun. Her appearance and style all work against the traditional notions of femininity yet she is the most popular ‘super girl’ amongst the people. This is democracy. Li Yuchun wins because she is liked by people, the traditionally powerful values and ideologies have no say. I argue that the acceptance of the ‘unusual’ reflects freedom of choice for contemporary Chinese consumers and television audiences.

81 Girl Power and Individuality

Li Yuchun as mentioned before promotes a sense of individuality. The show Super Girls constantly promotes this idea of showing yourself, and the value of ‘you are who you are’. This individuality can be understood in the sense of a commonality in individuality. Li Yuchun is ordinary; she is a girl from ‘next door’, she is characterised by natural everyday behaviour, real and down to earth characteristics at the same time she is special in that she has singing talents and arguable personal traits. Li Yuchun can be viewed as a symbol of the common people, an ordinary girl who using her individuality to win over people’s acceptance and make her dreams of stardom come true. It can be said that today, individual uniqueness and talent is a highly valued trait in Chinese society. One of the most prominent individual traits of Li Yuchun is her boyish style. This characteristic is played up by the program and resulted in criticism from the media for blurring the boundaries between femininity and masculinity. Much of the description and news about Li Yuchun is about her androgynous appearance. Li Yuchun’s characteristics mark a significant change in the traditional female stars presented by CCTV and Hong Kong television stars that is in diminutive and typically pretty.

As a result, there is an emergence of the discussion of the ‘Zhong Xing’ character in young Chinese females intertwined with the promotion of individuality. ‘Zhong Xing’ literally means ‘middle characteristic’ and in this case it refers to the blur between female and male traits in contemporary Chinese girls. This is due to the reason that in China the traditional expectation of women is to be beautiful but not necessarily talented. Talent has been regarded as a masculine characteristic. ‘Don’t Under Estimate the Meaning of Super Girls’ (2005) points out this trend of ‘Zhong Xing’ is a trend in Chinese popular youth culture. I argue although ‘Zhong Xing’ may be the word used to refer to the blurring between the expectation of boys and girls however, in fact, what really characterises the youth character is being ‘cool’, ‘unique’ and ‘individualistic’. And what Super Girls emphasises is this ordinary individual quality plus the talent to be able to sing popular songs.

82 Thus it can be argued that Super Girls and the celebrities it produces represent an intertwining of individualism with gender. I argue there is in fact a combination of individualism and the gender issue. The standard of being a female star is now combined with the issue of being yourself instead of conforming to the traditional idea that emphasises perfection of a female star’s appearance and beauty. Habitually a talent search show that involves all female contestants in China, such as the most well known, imported program, Miss Hong Kong, are based on the concept of beauty. Other talents, such as singing and dancing, are merely complementary. In the case of Super Girls the contestants do not have to be beautiful, the only requirement is that the contestants are over 18 and as stated by the advertising logo of the show that ‘you like singing and are not afraid to show yourself’. Super Girls makes it clear that it is not a beauty contest but a search for a talented singer amongst ordinary girls. And beauty is not part of ‘ordinary’ culture, yet ‘singing popular songs’ is. Therefore being ordinary, (just like the audience) is valued more highly than beauty. So I argue the kind of female star created by Super Girls is a person who is controversial yet highly significant because of the mixture of issues around gender, youth, individuality and the open embracement of ordinary power. All of these factors combine to create a unique celebrity status in the context of Chinese television stars.

Hopkins (2002) places the concept of individuality combined with gender role in the context of the rise of Girl Power. She believes that “Popstars are preaching that girlhood is ‘cool’ and the girl power gospel is reaching out to girls and young women around the world. Girl power is built on dreams of celebrity and self-advancement” (Hopkins 2002, p.11). Hopkins points out that contemporary media portray the possibilities of girls as being infinite. The stereotype and principle created here is that girls are individuals who are powerful and can do anything. I would like to point out that although the rise of ‘Girl Power’ also exist in the Chinese context however due to the ‘top down’ tradition in Chinese television, what is more apparent is the rise of ‘Ordinary Power’. The issue of ‘Girl Power’ was to some extent overlooked in the Chinese context. I argue in the case of Super Girls, despite the fact that all contestants are female, the principle created by the show is that ordinary individuals are powerful and have unlimited potential. This is

83 reflected in how the talents such as singing and not beauty are more credited in the program. The criticism of ‘Zhong Xing’ character in Chinese female youth culture is assimilated by the issue of the rise of Dazhong wenhua that is more prominent. Thus I argue in the case of Super Girls the rise of ‘Ordinary Power’ goes hand in hand with the rise of ‘Girl Power’.

Hardworking and Courage

Another popular value celebrated in Super Girls is the idea of hard work and courage. This is similar to American Idol, where in 2004 William Hung who is a really bad singer becomes a symbol of courage. The audience of Super Girls is told that ‘you can also be like the stars, as long as you have the courage’. The Super Girls promotes this idea of ‘challenging yourself’. The host for instance says ‘are you ready to challenge yourself?’ Contestants are presented as girls who have the courage to search for their dreams. Li Yuchun thus for example is promoted as a hard working dreamer, brave enough to follow her dream. Contestants are characterised by the idea that ‘I know I am ordinary but I take my self seriously’. They perform seriously, and the audiences vote seriously. This value was reinforced in the final episode of Super Girls 2006 when the host said ‘the super girls face defeat, but the more defeat they face the more courage they gain’.

84 6. Super Girls and Fan Interaction

The Super Girls phenomenon not only reflects new ways of television production but also new forms of audience interaction. As discussed in the chapter on format television, the onset of the ‘network society’ has radically changed the television industry and today it addresses the public in many different ways. Syvertsen (2004) believes this new multidimensional nature of the television audience is not easily summarised using one definite concept or ideal type. A viewer is often primarily understood as part of an aggregate audience, as accumulated numbers to attract advertising. They can also be understood as a consumer who buys products and reacts to the advertisements directly. Moreover the viewers are also sometimes players who participate in program related activities such as Internet downloading or SMS voting (Beyer et al. 2007). Super Girls presents an audience involvement that hybridises all the above roles and thus creates a unique experience for its audience in the context of Chinese television. The kind of audience engagement presented in Super Girls may be familiar, or even old hat, in western nations, yet in China it represents a new mode of address and new type of agency for the television viewer. The fan interactivity allowed by Super Girls creates a new identity for Chinese television audiences and this accounts in many ways for the mass hysteria surrounding the program. Therefore it can be argued that more than just producing overzealous fans, this new type of audience experience gives voice to a form of identity politics in the broader Chinese society.

The most significant change for Chinese television audience is that the provincial satellite channels, like Hunan Satellite Television, are now offering an alternative to the traditional fare characterised by a ‘controlled’ and narrow way of addressing the audience. As a result of traditional mode of address Chinese audiences has developed many ways of bypassing the official television to make ‘television’ more entertaining. The current mode of address means that the official television culture has now broadened its forms of engagement to include the ‘misappropriations’ and consumption practices of Chinese television audiences identified by Zhong (2003). Super Girls reflects how the audience’s methods of consumption and practices are now becoming part of the mainstream Chinese

85 television industry. As a result, television viewing begins to blur with fan involvement. There are new types of agency as well as new forms of participation opened up for the Chinese audience.

Super Girls Involvement

It can be argued that convergence television and new interactive media technologies has led to a form of audience consumption which is characterised by a ‘multitask’ nature. Fans of Super Girls, for example, engage with the content simultaneously across multiple platforms, for example, by watching the television show at the same time accessing the program website and sending a SMS text messages about the show. While this may not yet be the experience of the majority of viewers, recent studies have shown that it is the experience of certain groups of viewers, mostly the dedicated fans (Roscoe 2004). Television broadcasters in order to achieve this convergent way of embracing the audience has arranged television to be delivered via new technology arrangements (Allen & Hill 2004).

Multiplatform interactivity across broadcasting, phone and Internet technologies is one way that Super Girls has created mass involvement with the show. In the reverse, the grandness and high production values of the program have also contributed to the acceptance of the multiplatform culture of involvement in television viewing. It is also evident that each platform presents a bridge to the other thus the content becomes adaptable to multiple technologies which create an overall experience of Super Girls that is shaped by and embraced within the audience’s everyday ordinary culture. The program suggests to the Chinese audience that television is no longer only about top-down directed values and programming, but instead is emanating directly from the newly forming bottom-up cultures.

86 The Broadcasting Channel of Super Girls

The Super Girls television broadcast is characterised by a dual nature. On one hand it is a program based on ordinary culture and audience self-expression. The show is similar to many other television formats in that it starts with a concept that is relatively inexpensive to produce. For instance, in the beginning, there is no rule governing who can participate, there is ridicule by the judges, auditions take place in shabby studios and this is further emphasised by a rough editing of scenes. All of this contributes to the show creating a sense of ordinary culture that it promotes and emanates from. On the other hand, further into the competition, the voting becomes more ‘serious’. Super Girls becomes more of a grand performance, the production of the show becomes more luxurious and expensive. This seriousness is further reflected in the carefully set up stadium, the lavish stage performances and the sincerity of the judges. I argue the dual nature of Super Girls demonstrates to the audience that the program has its roots in the ordinary everyday culture of the people. It also demonstrates that this culture is, and can be taken as serious and important.

The broadcasting of Super Girls, although innovative, still creates a space where normal broadcasting rules apply. The audience can simply sit to watch and enjoy the show. However it also has a more fundamental role to provide a bridge that leads the audience to use other related technologies in the way it consumes the show. This bridge takes the form of a continuous message emphasising that Super Girls is an ‘event’, and you must participate in this program. The decision about who wins the competition is transformed into a moral question – who deserves it the most? And this time, the audience is told, it is not, by implication, the authorities who determine the matter, but rather it is ‘you’ who decides.

Throughout the show, the host of Super Girls constantly reminds the audience to vote for their favourite participant and places the duty of creating a real star in the hands of the audience. For example, the host makes statements such as ‘it is you who are making the decision’ and ‘if you like her, then vote for her and keep her on the stage!’. In addition,

87 each time the host introduces a contestant and the name of the song is displayed on the screen along with the voting details for this particular contestant. This additional televisual space, outside of the space of performance, serves as a bridge between the voter and the stage, to be accessed by phone technology. At the bottom of the screen there is also a scroll bar presenting details of SMS messages received. I argue these enhanced elements incorporated in the broadcasting of the show function as invitations and ‘demands’ for the audience to participate. They bridge the space between each technology platform of the program. In this case the particular act of ‘voting’ bridges the space of the televisual performance and the space of audience reception.

Phone Technology

While the broadcasting of Super Girls presents the participation of the audience as a mandate, mainly through creating a moral obligation to vote, phone technology provides the audience a platform where they can easily carry out their rights to determine the outcome of the show. It may well be due to the large population of mainland China, but the number of votes for each contestant of Super Girls is very high by comparison to other versions of Idol abroad. The high number of votes not only reflects the popularity of the show but also the incorporation of the SMS culture in television viewing. Marcom & Goldkorn (2005) points out the top three singers in Super Girls 2005 Chengdu region received a total of 307,071 message votes. The cost of voting in China is from 0.5 to 3 Yuan.

The phone feature in the case of Super Girls is a tool that helps the fans to express their opinion and be heard on television, which traditionally was impossible to do. The phone platform, symbolically adds the voice of the audience into the show and makes them part of the broadcast. The SMS messages frequently express personal emotions. For instance “I love Hu Ling because she is beautiful and cute” and “I like Shang Wenjie because she is from the city I live in”. All these messages reflect the ‘crazyness’ and passion of the fans. They reflect a common hysteria of fans over the show and thus enhance the show’s

88 connection to the ordinary culture. Naturally, the messages Hunan Satellite Television selects to present or read out during the broadcast are all positive. In this sense, the show, although based in popular culture, still aligns with the traditional broadcasting model of ‘healthy’ programming. However, the technological bridges also lead the fans to more discursive and openly critical spaces such as websites and Internet message boards.

Internet Technology

Fans also participate in Super Girls through Internet technologies. The Internet not only adds to the reach of the show by incorporating the global Chinese Diaspora but also helps in connecting the program to everyday life on the mainland by serving as a space to discuss the show. During the series, many controversies have raged online about the show. Fans have debated topics such as the vulgarity of the program, allegation of ‘black scene’ corrupt manipulation of the outcome of the programs and there has even been a petition signed by over 10,000 fans to abandon the ‘cruel judge’ aspect of the show (Some Refute about Super Girls 2005). These stories generated discussion across the whole nation and turn the program into a ritualised form of moral discussion. Another element the Internet adds to the Super Girls’ program is that WebPages and forums provide fans with a critical space where they can publicly debate the merits of the contestants and the show. The website is a place where news, discussions and gossip are generated and circulated. For instance on websites audiences say things like “I don’t really like Su Yixin (contestant) because she can only dance and can’t sing” and “Tan Weiwei is always doing something behind the screen to make other contestants look bad”. Today the experience of freely expressing personal opinion about the show over discussion forums has become an official part of the reception practices. The Internet provides the audience a space where critical opinions are expressed instead of just the positive ones given voice by the broadcast version of the show. In this sense the Internet provides a public sphere that counters the official voices of the show and deepens the program’s connection to the bottom-up culture expressed in Super Girls.

89 The Internet also allows fans from anywhere around the globe to participate in the show just like the local mainland viewers. Firstly the broadcasting of Super Girls is carried out live over websites such as Jing Ying Web. And secondly, as reflected in the broadcasting of ‘voting methods’, that fans can go to www.12530.com to download Super Girls related phone products. And through Internet technologies such as QQ, which is an instant messaging service popular amongst Chinese communities, fans can add ‘123456’ as a contact and cast votes for their favourite contestant. I argue Internet technology thus gives rise to an imagined community who are connected by the same interest in the show and Chinese culture but are no longer bounded by the geographic limitations of broadcasting. This is another way that the global fan is celebrated in Super Girls. Additionally another key element of online culture is Peer-to-Peer sharing. The Internet provides a place where media such as photos, sounds and videos are shared and exchanged.

Another bridge that connects the broadcasting culture to the Internet culture in Super Girls is the ‘PK’ competition. As mentioned PK is part of the online culture and is used in everyday social context, in situation of one up against another. There is a mutual influence of the television show and the audiences where the program reflects contemporary culture, at the same time the notions promoted in the show also help to build values in the society. In this case the ideas of challenge, of Internet usage, of competition as well as popular singing and taste combined, mean that the culture of ‘Super Girls’ is a hip, up-to-date, ‘culture of the people’.

New Mode of Address

In the West, the discourse of Super Girls focuses on the issue of audience interactivity, especially with regards to voting, and delights in the irony of the television format’s seeming incompatibility with a country that is politically autocratic. For instance the article ‘A Television Show Challenges the Authorities’ (2005) raised the question of whether ‘Super Girls’ presents a force of democracy. I argue instead of being seen as an

90 ironic form of democracy, Super Girls presents a testament of the Chinese society opening up. Macartney (2005) points out that the Chinese Daily asked “How come an imitation of a democratic system ends up selecting the singer who has the least ability to carry a tune?” (Referring to Li Yuchun). That, of course, is democracy (Macartney 2005). Li Yuchun’s success is rather a representation of the acceptance of ‘ordinary culture’ in Chinese television as argued in the Star chapter.

In matters of lifestyle and entertainment, at least, the Chinese public is increasingly becoming like the public in the West. The Chinese public is increasingly able to express their views in ways fostered by new media technologies (Shirk 2007). Thus, I argue rather than being seen as a threat to autocratic rule or the spreading of democratisation, Super Girls is just one symptom of a broader set of changes involving the spread of commercialism in China that is increasingly allowing the Chinese public the ‘freedom of choice’ in the domain of consumption.

Of course, new media technologies are also a significant force in this opening up of public expression. Super Girls, for example, has a multi-platform nature. With the spread of the Internet, the mobile phone, and increasingly the ability to access the Internet via mobile, these new tools can be used as supplementary platforms of television. And the use of the supplementary platform has in turn become part of the practice of viewing television. In Super Girls, there is this converged involvement, where the audience can participate across multiple technologies. Firstly, the audience interacts with the program through the broadcasting channel where they watch the program as a television show. Secondly, audiences use phone technologies such as SMS and voice calls to have their say in the outcome of the show. And lastly, audiences interact with each other and with the program through Internet based technologies such as the official program website and other interactivities such as Peer-to-Peer file sharing. This cross-platform consumption further enables the audience to act both as a reader and a writer. There is a creative editorial practice of bringing existing material together by individual will. Hartley states this is “both the art form of the age and a method for representing meanings sourced to consumers” (Hartley 2004, p.11).

91

Secondly Super Girls is addressing its audiences as both consumers and fans. In the West the discussion of fan consumption practices is often portrayed in negative terms. For instance the voting that takes place on western versions of the Idol format is often considered as a depoliticisation of our society and connected with low levels of voter participation in formal politics (Hills 2002). It is argued that citizens are turned into consumers who now express opinions and use their ‘freedom of choice’ through the consumption of popular goods and culture instead of making real political choices. I argue in the context of Super Girls, the show’s seriousness and grandness suggest that voting in Super Girls is not simply transferring the people’s will and need of democratic freedom onto the popular realm, but rather marks the official emergence of identity based politics. As the hysteria of fan behaviours that used to be considered as obsessed thus irrational and out of control, which I will refer to in this case as queer now becomes part of the norm of program interactivity, the emerging fan culture is not only based on the acceptance of consumption culture but the choices fans make constitute a new identity for the audience (Hills 2002).

Chinese Audiences

• The Embrace of Alternative Technologies (Misappropriation of Television)

Chinese television audiences have always expressed dissatisfaction to the pedagogic programs through alternative ways of using television. As Yong Zhong (2003) pointed out in the article ‘In Search of Loyal Audiences – What Did I Find? An ethnographic study of Chinese television audiences’, there are many alternative uses of television which have allowed the Chinese to bypass the top down ‘healthy’ programs. Zhong (2003) suggests television is frequently used as a visual aid for karaoke, a screen for VCD, a game platform and a computer monitor. Thus Zhong (2003) argues Chinese audiences have always demonstrated the aptitude to embrace alternative technologies in the use of television. In the production of Super Girls, the logic is that the local broadcasting

92 channel is trying to regain the broadcasting status of television by mastering the audience’s DIY consumption practices through ways of incorporating them in television viewing. Zhong (2003) points out in general the liberation of Chinese television is “not one of meiotic democracy but rather is a clever accomplishment achieved through misappropriation of television for alternative purpose and for reception of alternative signals” (Zhong 2003, p.245-246).

• Eric Ma’s research on Television Consumption in the Pearl River Delta areas of Guangzhou

Another characteristic of Chinese television audiences is that, where possible, they are used to self-importing television programs. The case study of Eric Ma on television in Pearl River Delta areas of Guangzhou suggests that audiences in these areas watch both Hong Kong television and Guangzhou television. Ma (2002) suggests that the mediascape of Hong Kong and China’s coastal regions is shaped by integration. His research points out that these viewers frequently prefer Hong Kong television because the programs are more entertaining than the ‘healthy’ and ‘educational’ programming of the local stations. In the case of some viewers, these programs represent a more progressive future, matching their own personal aspirations in terms of lifestyle and ability to attain the cultural capital to ‘stay ahead’. Here there is a dynamic of hybridisation of the ‘popular’ provided by Hong Kong television and the ‘healthy’ provided by Guangzhou television. The cultural hybridity combines the more constrictive state controlled culture with the self-choice of the more appealing commercial and modern culture available via Hong Kong. Based on this research I argue it is safe to conclude that programs such as Super Girls represent a shift in contemporary Chinese television to allow programs which provide greater pluralism and meet the audience’s demand.

Fung and Ma (2002) points out that hybridisation of Hong Kong programming provides mainland Chinese media with a new discursive context in which market capitalism is the character. I argue with increased contact with the outside world, mainland television now has also created a culture of consumption that tries to stimulate personal desires and

93 choices of the viewer. Further hybridisation in television programs also creates a realm for identity constitution and negotiation. It can be argued that Hong Kong television is as much affected by western cultures. The hybridisation of Hong Kong television programs on the mainland program means that mainland viewers can now increasingly be partially identified as a global consumer. Xu (2007) argues consumption of the western media culture gives the audience a sense of connection with the ‘advanced’ part of the world thus creating a sense of overcoming the limitations of their own location. In the Chinese context viewers are learning the new form of television to adopt new status and express their dissatisfaction with their own environment and yearn for greater personal freedom.

CCTV has tried to introduce more variety in their programming. For instance, Zheng da zhongyi and Arts Kaleidoscope (Zongyi da guan) are both entertaining in nature however these shows are still based on the ideals of ‘healthy’ programming which resulted in Chinese audiences turning to imported formats which often consist of primarily apolitical entertainment, based around social issues, youth lifestyle, and popular music. Super Girls I argue is one of these innovative programs yet is produced locally. The production of this kind of program is where the satellite provincial channels are suggesting to the world that mainland Chinese television is now fairly open and free.

The Super Girls Phenomena as part of the Television System

Ordinary Culture

In China, programs like Super Girls showcase the popular youth culture by creating mass involvement in it, thus making it, at least implicitly, socially acceptable. Chinese popular culture which is now shaped by a trend of ‘ordinary culture’ has become part of the television culture. One example is Super Girls’ incorporation of the karaoke culture. Karaoke is a mainstream part of weekend entertainment in Asia. Originally it emanates from Japan. It is an activity that brings people together in a room where they can choose the song they like to be displayed on the television screen with lyrics, and sing through a

94 microphone. Zhong (2003) argues “karaoke singing celebrated democratic participation by bringing together a diversity of participants; people of both sexes, of all ages, of all social, cultural, and educational upbringing. It served a diversity of purposes, including entertaining the self, expressing the self, bringing the family together, and socialising” (Zhong 2003, p.238). He points out in China, karaoke provides a forum for self- expression, the television screen as an accessory to karaoke is where the program is selected by the singer rather than centrally disseminated signals. Karaoke subjugates the television set to a subordinate role as a line prompter and musical instrument (Zhong 2003).

‘Super Girls which Acupoint did It Hit’ (2005) from ‘Number One Economics’ suggests Super Girls is a show where “a group of untrained girls and a group of mostly backstage music creators come together to generate a common people, karaoke television ceremony”. It is evident that Super Girls have incorporated many characteristics of the Karaoke culture. Firstly the show also promotes a sense of diversity within its participants. Both the contestants and fans are presented as people who come from diverse backgrounds. Secondly the show also promotes an individual-orientation as reflected in things like self-expression. The contestants sing their favourite songs and the audience self-determines the winner. The program in this sense is not a centrally disseminated program but audiences’ choices and voices are expressed through the competition and voting processes. In addition the broadcasting channel in Super Girls sometimes adopts the subordinate role where it is a place where the decisions of the general public are released. Thus, broadcasting is not the whole experience of Super Girls, but just part of it. Therefore I argue Super Girls provides an example where an ordinary social activity, from everyday popular culture, becomes part of official Chinese television.

Rise of Fans

The Super Girls phenomenon is also significant for the way it cultivates a fan culture. Marcom and Goldkorn (2005) points out Super Girls has attracted more than 150,000

95 young female participants, while more than 20 million people watched the program each week, comprising more than ten percent of all television viewers during the program’s time slot. More than 100 newspapers have written extensive stories about Super Girls; Google returns more than a million results for a search on the program’s Chinese name (Marcom & Goldkorn 2005).

The concept of fans is rendered in Chinese as Fensi. There are many self-created fan activities. One of them is fan group naming. In Super Girls, the fan group of each semi- finalist even at the regional competition have their own fan group names. For example the fan group of Li Yuchun is Yu Mi meaning ‘corn’ and the fan group of Zhang Liangying (the contestant who came third in 2005) is Liang Fen meaning ‘jelly bean’. The naming of fan groups provides audiences a way of identifying with the contestants. Fans also identify themselves with the star by intimating them or wearing T-shirts with the star’s picture and logo. During the finals, fans also march in the street for their stars.

However, these fan-generated activities are perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Super Girls phenomenon. Macartney (2005) argues that in China, officials are concerned about the vulgarity and democratic pretension of the show, arguing that the show lacks social responsibility because some of the fans have become unruly. Thus the show gets labelled as unhealthy programming. The discourse of healthy and unhealthy programming is a means by which the government attempts to assert control over the activities of fans and the production of the television program. In the recent decision of the SARFT to ban external voting on the show, the text of the policy directive refers directly, in paternalistic terms, to the fans inability to control their spending on such fan- related consumption activities (SARFT 2007). Such beliefs are easy to perpetuate because the traditional conception of fans been obsessed and irrational. Super Girls attempted to embrace its audience and in fact encourage this level of involvement and commitment to the show from the fans. The program attempts to turn television viewers into fans as this is now more profitable than merely providing ‘passive’ viewers to advertisers. Hence the ‘queerness’ of fans has now become an essential part of the newer convergent revenue streams for normal television production. Fans in this case should be

96 viewed as active producers and users. Lewis states “media fans are consumers who also produce, readers who also write, and spectators who also participate” (Lewis 1992, p.208). Fans are not in isolation; fan reception is always shaped by the input of other fans (Lewis 1992).

It can be argued that Super Girls addresses its fans differently from other programs by introducing the interactivities that allows fans to express their personal views and hysteria over the show. This is similar to Hills (2002, p.120) who argues that a “fan’s knowledge and interest has being harnessed by the industry itself”. Super Girls encourages audiences to consume the program beyond the merely private act of viewing. Fans are encouraged to consume the texts and react to the program with their own creative and interpretive practices. Thus the practice of Super Girls’ fans should be viewed as a form of loyal creative consumption where they participate actively over multiple platforms. In such case the consumption of text is marked by a type of textual ‘poaching’ (de Certeau 1984 cited in Lewis 1992). Lewis (1992) suggest that fandom is “a ‘scavenger’ culture built from poached fragments of many different media products, woven together into a coherent whole through the meanings that fans bring to those fragments and the uses they make of them, rather than by meanings generated from the primary texts” (Lewis1992, p. 232). Super Girls allows the audience to draw materials from multiple platforms and interact with them simultaneously which generates a convergent way of embracing the viewer.

Diaspora Involvement

Another significant aspect of Super Girls fan embracement is that it is a sign of China’s competitive emergence into Asian and global commercial culture. The commercialisation of Chinese television has put forward a new business model of approach to the global television market. Nowadays cable and satellite services are the engine of China’s modern media system. Lee and Huang states these technologies helped the development of commercialisation in Chinese television thus assisting in the formation of mainland

97 consumerism (Lee & Huang 2002). The changing audience engagement in Super Girls reflects the financial incentives that drive provincial broadcasters such as Hunan Satellite Television to develop new ways of reaching a bigger and more diverse audience. Super Girls presents an example where the provincial television channels have been more successful in adopting commercial-oriented production methodologies aimed at gaining sponsorship and higher advertising prices. On a large scale Super Girls represents China’s intention to regain its central role in the creation of Chinese culture and in connecting the Chinese Diaspora around the globe, reflecting a kind of cultural pilgrimage.

It is evident from the program that Super Girls attempts to embrace the global Chinese Diaspora. Harding (1993) points out that many overseas Chinese often have deep historical roots and maintain a high degree of cultural proximity and nostalgia for the mainland. For example, Chinese who live in America often see themselves as Chinese Americans and not American Chinese. Super Girls attempts to represent and tap into this global fan network based in the Chinese Diaspora. This is reflected in things like the pre- recorded video clips that display fans from around the globe. For instance at the final of 2006 Super Girls, the show presented recorded video clips by fans of Liu Liyang (who came third in 2006 Super Girls) from France, Singapore, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The host states ‘although the videos are unclear and not well edited they reflect real support from the overseas fans’. In its 2005 program, one special episode is where all contestants sing songs that convey the concept of ‘return home’. Li Yuchun sings the song Guxiang de yun meaning the ‘Cloud of Home Town’. Super Girls supports the Chinese Diaspora’s will of returning to China, if not physically at least then mentally.

By embracing the Chinese Diaspora, Chinese television is inviting the exchange of culture between the local and the global, which in turn facilitates the emergence of a transnational imagined community based on Chinese identity. I argue through the celebration of common culture across the global Chinese audiences, shows like Super Girls create a sense of global Chinese cultural community. From the global fans’ point of view, today their consumption of the show can also make a contribution to mainland

98 Chinese popular culture. In this sense I argue that Super Girls marks a convergence between the local and global cultures of a Greater China.

Identity Politics

Super Girls does not completely meet the definition of a media event put forward by Dayan and Katz (1994). The Program screens only on Hunan Satellite Television. It does not monopolise the television dial and it is not a staged event, planned by organisations outside of the media. However, Super Girls has been so successful in engaging the audience it became, what I would like to call, a television event. This event like nature, combined with the mass involvement achieved via other platforms such as the World Wide Web, Internet discussion forums and SMS has added to the show’s event-ness. This event-ness, in turn, makes the show highly dramatic thereby cultivating ritualistic mass involvement in the program.

It is this mass involvement with the program that is highly significant in the Chinese context. As stated previously, the way Super Girls addresses its audience and the agency it grants them is particularly significant in the Chinese context. This is especially true with regards to the voting process. The pseudo-democratic mass voting on popular television programs represents a contradiction with the political structure of autocratic China. However, rather than it simply being a deferment of the Chinese people’s desire for democracy onto a depoliticised popular culture context, it is in fact, highly political. It is highly political in the way that it opens up the politics of fan consumption and the realm of identity politics generally. For instance the diversity promoted among the 31 common people voter who symbolically represents a vast range of identity types among the general audience. The 31 common people voter also symbolically marks individual choice and freedom of choice on behalf of the audience.

Holmes argues this new form of interactivity and the embracement of voting has an “increased level of self-reflexivity through which the audience is invoked, beckoned, and

99 addressed” (Holmes 2004, p.164). In the context of the mainland voting represents an innovation and enhancement in television that allows the audience greater amount of freedom of choice than they have ever enjoyed before. There is a shift from the government allocating an identity to the viewer to now the audience creating and choosing what they would like to identify themselves with, by having the freedom to voice their opinion on what was previously a highly controlled television service. The kind of audience participation encouraged by Super Girls provides a good example of the way fans exchange the top-down directed values with their own values through their consumption and participation in the program. Thus it can be argued that in mainland the current development of fan cultures reflects a fundamental change in television viewing and a significant change in the relationship between broadcaster and audience. In Hartley’s opinion (1999) the integration of broadcasting and interactive media is where there is an integration of audience-hood with authorship and consumption with participation. The Super Girls fans for example can now identify themselves as the spiritual owners and creators of the show. This means that “times are shifting from editorial foundations to one characterized by more ‘privatized and personal choices” (Hartley 1999, p.36).

As argued, from a western perspective, freedom of choice in consumption is often contrasted to true democratic participation. In the case of Idol, this kind of ‘voting’ turns the citizens away from serious politics and distracts them by shifting their attention to consumption. In the Chinese context the fan culture embedded in Super Girls has allowed the Chinese population to do things the political structure has forbidden the audience to do. There are two views on this issue. The first view believes that the marketisation of media industry is a depoliticisation of the society. That it is a pacifying force in lieu of a lack of true political participation. I argue China presents a particular case where Chinese citizens never enjoyed having rights in serious political areas such as state elections in the first place, thus the dynamic of corruption and distraction from serious public affairs is difficult to argue. Instead, the fan consumption of Super Girls represents the empowerment of the audience and a channelling of democratic expression. Fans are empowered in the sense that they now have the ability to resist and challenge the

100 hegemonic and dominant pressures through their own contribution to Super Girls and the way they react to the show. Hills (2002), likewise, celebrates the depoliticisation of society by arguing the experience of fans is inherently contradictory. Fans are both ‘commodity-completists’ and at the same time they frequently express their anti- commercial beliefs through their choice of consumption (Hills 2002). He quotes Adorno’s dialectic of value, where he considers fans to be simultaneously inside and outside the processes of commodification, where there is a constant negotiation between the fan’s personal ‘use-value’ and their popular commercial values.

Super Girls it can be said creates a viewing public that celebrates a new form of citizenship that is based on sharing the culture of the ordinary individual and the diversity in identity which is now shaping Chinese popular youth culture. As argued in the chapter on the star quality of the contestants, Super Girls celebrates the embracement of ordinary culture which values the personal choice of each individual above all. The audience contribution promoted by the show marks embracement of contemporary popular youth culture in China’s television culture. With its celebration of ordinariness, or what Hartley calls ‘suburbanality’, the extension of cultural and semiotic resources is transformed into a politics of everyday life and identity (Hartley 2004, p.24). Such a change I argue reflects the importance of the politics of identity formation. It can be argued that contemporary warfare is a battle of identity on behalf of the audiences (Hartley 2004). This is where citizenship evolves from a political domain to a cultural domain (Hartley 2004). It seems the television producers’ obligation to the State, has shifted towards developing the audiences ‘self-determination of individuality’ (Hartley 2004). This, of course, is an extending of citizenship from event of political voting, social welfare and employment to cultural (identity) rights which is what Hartley calls ‘DIY citizenship’.

John Hartley believes television audiences are addressed foremost as ‘citizens’, as members of a democratic society. He believes today’s ‘television audience’ is the successor of the previous. “Television is used, both in its original ‘mass’ broadcast form and now in its emergent subscriber-choice form, to teach two new forms of citizenship” (Hartley 1999, pp.154-155). Hartley refers to them as ‘cultural’ and ‘do-it-yourself’ or

101 DIY citizenship. Cultural citizenship is concerned with issues of citizenship formation in terms of a common culture community and DIY citizenship is where the individual uses their freedom of choice and rights of self-determination. I argue the fans of Super Girls reflect a merger of both cultural citizenship and DIY citizenship. In the case of the Chinese Diaspora, they are part of the Chinese citizens in that they now share the same culture as the mainland audiences based on the ability to participate in things like watching the same television show. In terms of the mainland audience it is more significant that they now enjoy more freedom than ever in their consumption of media and self-determination in matters of identity.

And this new identity is based on a synthesis of values, cultures and ideologies composed by the audiences on a global plane. The proportion of each ingredient is decided by the active fans. In this way Super Girls reflects a change in Chinese society where according to Keane (2001) the “Chinese society presents a synthesis of value structures and belief systems increasingly drawn from a global semiosphere. The ‘hundred schools of thought’ that now contend with state ideology include traditional social practices, creative responses to institutionalised power structures, imported management practices, new forms of spiritualism, and indigenous and imported forms of popular culture” (Keane 2001, p.15). And to the West this change also suggests China’s changing role in the formation of ‘Cultural China’ with the mainland regaining the centre. However, it is worth noting that this status quo is merely a ‘thin edge of the wedge’ determined by the PRC’s willingness in liberalising and continuing in the opening up of Chinese media.

102 7. Conclusion

This thesis has looked at the adaptation of Western television formats in the Peoples’ Republic of China. Recently, in China, the CCP’s willingness to adopt neo-liberalist approach to economic policies in specific industries has opened up the Chinese media through increased commercialisation and decentralisation. Despite China’s unique political structure, the liberalisation process has transformed the Chinese television industry so that it now very closely resembles the advanced media sectors of many Western nations. For example, there is a strong national ‘public’ broadcasting sector represented by CCTV and the larger provincial satellite television stations are beginning to function more and more like the commercial sector in the West. Both remain under fairly tight control of the government and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. However the Chinese government has allowed a reasonable degree of freedom for the provincial satellite television stations to run independently and adopt their own commercial agenda.

In China one of the most well-known satellite television stations is Hunan Satellite Television. In 2004 Hunan Television produced a program called Super Girls which completed its run in 2006. This program shares many commonalities with the Idol show co-produced and distributed by Fremantle Media. The Idol show is generally a singing contest that aims to find the best young singer in the country through series of auditions and competitions. In this thesis I have identified six basic elements of the Idol show that are reflected in American Idol and discussed the localisation of these elements in the Philippines and China. Based on my analysis I argue that Philippine Idol is quite self consciously a Philippine version of the western Idol format. In the case of Super Girls, however, although the show is closely related to the Idol format it remains independent from it as the show establishes itself as having a natural Chinese origin, which embraces the local bottom-up culture and other values such as Chinese cosmopolitanism, rather than an imported format from the West infiltrating China to spread commercial and global values.

103 Super Girls became a television event in China and the impact and outcomes of the show are an important historical moment in Chinese society. Super Girls signifies China’s opening up to the outside world. The message of Super Girls, I argue, is being received in both the West and in Chinese communities dispersed throughout the globe. The result of this message is twofold. Firstly, through its liberalisation programs China has gained greater access to global trade forums and agreements such as the World Trade Organisation, and to some extent, Super Girls soothes the Western mindset that things are changing as a result. Secondly, Super Girls also signifies the potential for the PRC to re- assert itself, culturally, within the Asian region as well as in the global construction of Chinese-ness. It is evident that with the advance in media technology such as cable and satellite, China’s locally produced programs like Super Girls now has the potential to reach a global audience thus embracing the Chinese Diaspora, giving voice to a transnational yet culturally related imagined community. This change in the mainland’s place in Cultural China is related to the potential emergence of a ‘Greater China’, with the mainland existing alongside and cooperating with the traditional Chinese capitalist powerhouses of Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. China with its developmental policies has over the years created a stronger synergistic transnational economy and I argue it will eventually become a leader in the Asian region.

In addition to signifying the changes discussed above, Super Girls has also provided a stage for negotiating the cultural consequences of economic liberalisation within the country. Super Girls represents the localisation of many Western values such as consumerism, competitive individualism, and freedom of choice that traditionally runs counter to China’s conventional culture. Super Girls celebrates an ordinary culture that comes from the ‘people’. Secondly, Super Girls creates a kind of star that emerges from the people to be celebrated for their talent and ability to win a popular competition. In the West, this sort of celebrity is often greeted with scepticism, as inauthentic, or as lacking true talent. In the Chinese context, however, winners are seen not as manufactured commodities but as self-evidently popular as opposed to officially endorsed. Their identity and the values they implicitly celebrate are strikingly fresh and new.

104 In addition the popularisation of Chinese television is also facilitated by the incorporation of the traditional misappropriations of Chinese audiences. In this regard, Super Girls officially represents a new mode of address and new types of agencies for Chinese viewers. Firstly, there is the emergence of fan culture where audiences are encouraged to actively engage with the program and their voices are incorporated into the official broadcasting. Secondly, with new interactive media technologies, audiences increasingly engage with the content across multiple platforms. Online culture and telephone culture has all become part of the official viewing practice. Thirdly, with mass media coverage and the celebration of mass involvement, Super Girls becomes a Chinese event and participation becomes mandate for all Chinese viewers regardless of their geographic location. Failure to participate is to be left out of an important historical moment in Chinese history. I have argued that this new mode of address of Chinese television is significant because it has provided viewers the power to make a choice through voting. As a result this new mode of address has opened up a realm of identity politics where Chinese citizenship now reflects Hartley’s (1999) DIY citizenship.

In conclusion, even though Super Girls indicates the commercialisation and liberalisation in Chinese television and reflects Chinese governments’ permission to allow the rise of ordinary power and hybridisation of the bottom-up values in Chinese television, however Chinese television remains in the hands of the government and is still a ‘controlled commodification’. There is also indication of the Chinese governments’ intention to withdraw such programming and tighten their control of the medium. The new policy on the control of talent search programs declared by SARFT on the 20th of September 2007 indicates that Chinese government fears the unfettered spread of the values of commercialism in entertainment programs. This policy seeks to restrict the fans’ abilities to engage with the program by restricting voting to the studio audience as well as removing the programs of this type from the key evening broadcasting hours. As such, these programs remain a key site of cultural negotiations in China, with the government having to regulate programming because the provincial television stations become harder to regulate as they grow to be more independent from government funding.

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