American Television and Chinese Audiences in Global Beijing Yang GAO Singapore Management University, [email protected] DOI
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Singapore Management University Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Research Collection School of Social Sciences School of Social Sciences 11-2016 Inventing the ‘authentic’ self: American television and Chinese audiences in global Beijing Yang GAO Singapore Management University, [email protected] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443716635870 Follow this and additional works at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research Part of the Asian Studies Commons, Broadcast and Video Studies Commons, and the Sociology of Culture Commons Citation GAO, Yang.(2016). Inventing the ‘authentic’ self: American television and Chinese audiences in global Beijing. Media, Culture and Society, 38(8), 1201-1217. Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1918 This Journal Article is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Social Sciences at Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Research Collection School of Social Sciences by an authorized administrator of Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University. For more information, please email [email protected]. Media, Culture & Society Inventing the “Authentic” Self: American Televisi on and Chinese Audiences in Global Beijing Journal:MCS Media Culture for and Society Review Manuscript ID MCS-2015-322.R1 Manuscript Type: Original Article cross-cultural media consumption, identity, reflexivity, China, television, Keyword: authenticity, modernity, youth This article examines the ways educated urban Chinese youths engage American television fiction as part of their identity work. Drawing on theories of modern reflexive identity, and based on 29 interviews with US TV fans among university students in Beijing, I found these youths are drawn to this television primarily because they perceive the American way of life portrayed on it as more ‘authentic’. This perception of authenticity must be examined within the socio-cultural milieu these students inhabit. Abstract: Specifically, torn between China’s ingrained collectivist culture and its recent neoliberal emphasis on the individual self, my respondents glean from US TV messages about how to live a spontaneous, nonconforming, and fulfilled life while remaining properly Chinese. By inspecting the ways these youths employ foreign symbolic materials to interrogate their own identity and life, this article demonstrates how transnational media consumption informs lived experiences for a historically unique and important Chinese demographic. http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mcs Page 1 of 31 Media, Culture & Society 1 2 3 Inventing the ‘authentic’ self: 4 5 6 American television and Chinese audiences in global Beijing 7 8 9 10 11 Introduction 12 13 14 American television fiction (hereafter US TV) has become a pop culture staple for educated 15 16 urban Chinese youths – the nation’s first cosmopolitan generation and first generation of only 17 18 19 children under the one-childMCS policy. Although for almos Reviewt none of those shows have been broadcast 20 21 on Chinese television, fans nonetheless have free access to a wide collection of series through the 22 23 24 Internet thanks to the subtitling and uploading volunteered by some of the more avid and 25 26 technologically savvy devotees. Considering language and cultural barriers, this gravitation 27 28 toward US TV is puzzling, even more so given the fast growth of domestically produced Chinese 29 30 31 TV drama (Keane, 2012). In addition, since US TV is not officially imported to China and has 32 33 been consumed by Chinese viewers largely through pirate streaming, macro models of economic 34 35 dependency and cultural invasion fall short in explaining its popularity. Why, then, are Chinese 36 37 38 fans drawn to US TV? And how should we understand this attraction within the Chinese 39 40 context? 41 42 Given ample journalistic attention to the Chinese enthusiasm for US TV (e.g., French, 2006; 43 44 45 Langfitt, 2013, 2014; Sydell, 2008), and the surge of academic research on cross-cultural media 46 47 consumption in other national contexts (Ang, 1985; Havens, 2000; Iwabuchi, 2002; Kim, 2005; 48 49 50 Liebes and Katz, 1990), the lack of scholarly inquiry into the popularity of US TV in China is 51 52 surprising. Yet as I will show in this article, the Chinese engagement with US TV is a telling 53 54 case with which to study the ways audiences selectively and strategically extract meanings from 55 56 57 58 59 60 1 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mcs Media, Culture & Society Page 2 of 31 1 2 3 foreign content, the role of social contexts in shaping cross-cultural media reception, and, more 4 5 6 generally, the interweaving of global media and local everyday lives. 7 8 As part of a larger research on the Chinese consumption of US TV, this article is based on 29 9 10 11 one-on-one interviews with university students in Beijing who regularly watch US shows. In 12 13 accordance with existing reception research, I find that my respondents approach American 14 15 programming in a deeply reflexive manner – demonstrated by their tendency to switch between 16 17 18 commenting on television and talking about themselves. Moreover, these youths do not pursue 19 MCS for Review 20 American programming as a primer on Western consumerism, nor do they indulge in it simply to 21 22 escape. Rather, throughout my interviews, the Chinese expression zhenshi , which translates 23 24 25 literally into ‘true’ or ‘real’, keeps coming up and eventually tops the list of offered reasons for 26 27 favoring US TV. This embrace of American television as ‘real’ turns out to have little to do with 28 29 verisimilitude, or the perceived accuracy of TV representation. Instead, zhenshi is typically 30 31 32 invoked as the respondents describe a particular personhood embodied by their favorite 33 34 characters. Specifically, this persona is marked by spontaneity , nonconformity , and self- 35 36 37 realization . In the English-speaking world, these three traits have been associated with a state 38 39 of being regularly labeled as ‘authentic’ in the popular as well as intellectual discourse (Potter, 40 41 2010; Taylor, 1992; Trilling, 1972; Vannini and Williams, 2009). 42 43 44 I adopt the notion of authenticity with an awareness of its complex and controversial nature, 45 46 and I want to clarify and emphasize that this study is not about authenticity per se. That is, my 47 48 goal is not to answer questions about what authenticity is or how notions of authenticity might 49 50 51 reinforce power and status. Instead, I treat authenticity as an inductively developed construct, 52 53 one idealized and pursued in this case by Chinese youths as they simultaneously contemplate 54 55 foreign symbolic materials and navigate China’s rapid social change. Put otherwise, I approach 56 57 58 59 60 2 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mcs Page 3 of 31 Media, Culture & Society 1 2 3 authenticity from a social constructionist perspective (Vannini and Williams, 2009), which 4 5 6 requires scrutinizing the respondents’ authenticity narratives within the socio-cultural 7 8 environment they inhabit. As I will show in this paper, while overuse may have debased the term 9 10 11 authenticity in the West – so much so that anything so called now appears not authentic – the 12 13 idea seems to be gaining traction among China’s aspiring youths who are on the lookout for 14 15 values beyond state-sanctioned ideology, school credential, and monetary wealth. 16 17 18 In what follows, I first discuss theories of modern reflexivity and its implications on identity 19 MCS for Review 20 formation. Drawing on existing cross-cultural media reception research, I then discuss both 21 22 global media’s ever greater power in informing identity – especially youth identity – around the 23 24 25 world and the essential role of local contexts in shaping the ways foreign content is interpreted 26 27 and incorporated into local everyday lives. After introducing my study population and methods, I 28 29 analyze the Chinese consumption of US TV using the conceptual tools of reflexive identity, 30 31 32 contextualized meaning making, and authenticity. I conclude by summarizing my main findings 33 34 and discussing the implications of the study. 35 36 37 38 39 Modern reflexivity – the self as a symbolic project 40 41 42 As a dominant trope in theories about detraditionalization, reflexivity permeates all levels of 43 44 45 modern life. At the individual level, reflexivity refers to the continuous monitoring of one’s own 46 47 conduct and its context (Giddens, 1990); it is a practice of ‘self-analysis’ and ‘self-confrontation’ 48 49 50 (Beck, 1994: 5) that helps people ‘keep in touch with the grounds of everyday life’ (Kim, 2008: 51 52 8). As identities and their obligations and connections have become progressively less prescribed 53 54 and fixed in modern or modernizing societies, reflexivity has come to the forefront of everyday 55 56 57 life (Beck, 1994; Giddens, 1991; Thompson, 1995). People now constantly confront themselves 58 59 60 3 http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mcs Media, Culture & Society Page 4 of 31 1 2 3 with questions like ‘What to do? How to act? Who to be?’ (Giddens, 1991: 70). In short, 4 5 6 modernity has made reflexivity not only practical but also imperative. Meanwhile, the self, no 7 8 longer to be taken for granted, has become the most viable object of modern reflexivity – a 9 10 11 project that people have to constantly work on. 12 13 In addition to being reflexive and processual, modern identity is quintessentially symbolic and 14 15 increasingly globally oriented, thanks to the now omnipresent transnational media.