Are You a Good Chinese Musician? The Ritual Transmission of Social Norms in a Chinese Reality Music Talent Show Miaowen Zhou Master’s Thesis in East Asian Culture and History (EAST4591 - 60 Credits) Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Spring 2015 © Miaowen Zhou 2015 Are You a Good Chinese Musician? The Ritual Transmission of Social Norms of a Chinese Reality Music Talent Show http://www.duo.uio.no/ Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo II Abstract The sensational success of a Chinese reality music talent show, Super Girls’ Voice (SGV), in 2005 not only crowned many unknown Chinese girls/women with the hail of celebrity overnight, but also caused hot debates on many subjects including whether the show triggered cultural, even political democracy in China. 10 years have passed and China is in another heyday of reality music talent shows. However, the picture differs from before. For instance, not everybody can take part in it anymore. And the state television China Central Television (CCTV) joined the competition for market share. It actually became a competitive player of “reality” by claiming to find the best original and creative Chinese musicians whose voices CCTV previously avoided or oppressed. In this thesis, I will examine one CCTV show, The Song of China (SOC), in order to examine what the norms of good Chinese music and musicians are in the context of reality music talent shows. My work will hopefully give you some insights into the characteristics and the wider social and political influences of such reality music talent shows in the post-SGV era. I carried out a content analysis with support of theories such as media ritual, ritualization and social norms on SOC’s first season. Media rituals and ritualization became powerful tools to unfold: how SOC appeared to stand in for the credible place of presenting and evaluating real, original and creative music and musicians; how SOC repetitively reproduced the distinction between media (CCTV) and ordinary people (musicians) and naturalized the power of the media (CCTV); how the Chinese musicians and audience of the program can be governed through the program. Furthermore, through the rituals and ritualization, norms of good Chinese music/musicians were transmitted. In short, good Chinese music should be creative in a way that combines Chinese elements with western music style; and good Chinese musicians/people should possess many particular virtues, they respect authority, and consider themselves as the successors of the Chinese cultural heritage and as contributors to the globalization of China’s popular culture. These norms, in return, reinforced the power of CCTV. Through the prism of SOC, we can see how recent Chinese reality music shows, instead of empowering common people, has become a new place where the authorities, CCTV, and the state leave their marks. III IV Acknowledgment First of all I would like to thank my supervisor, associate professor Cuiming Pang, from the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages at the University of Oslo. She was always kind, patient and helpful. From the moment of forming the research questions to finally deciding on the title, she offered me many insightful suggestions on academic writing. Though she left me alone to freely brew the ideas in my head, she was also there when I needed some push to actually put the thoughts onto paper. Thanks for reading and understanding my writings, and I’m very grateful to have had you backing me up during the past 2 years! I also want to thank professor Vladimir Tikhonov who has listened to my ideas about music, read several of my papers on music and pop culture, and kindly advised me with interesting insights on different occasions. Finally, many thanks to my family and friends who supported me during the writing of this thesis. I’d like to especially thank André who has always cared about music and pop culture in general, cared and listened to my thoughts, encouraged me to write, and cheered me up when I needed it. Miaowen Zhou May 2015 V VI Table of Contents ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGMENT......................................................................................................................................................... V TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................................................................................... VII LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES...................................................................................................................................... IX CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1: THESIS STATEMENT........................................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2: THESIS OUTLINE............................................................................................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND.............................................................................................................................................. 5 2.1: REALITY MUSIC TALENT SHOWS IN CHINA.......................................................................................................... 5 2.2: POLITICAL ECONOMY BEHIND REALITY POP MUSIC SHOWS IN CHINA..................................................... 7 2.3: YUANCHUANG AND STATE POLITICS......................................................................................................................... 11 2.4: POP MUSIC AND CCTV................................................................................................................................................. 13 CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................................. 17 CHAPTER 4: THEORY AND METHODS......................................................................................................................... 23 4.1: MEDIA RITUAL.............................................................................................................................................................. 23 4.2: RITUAL TRANSMISSION OF SOCIAL NORMS........................................................................................................ 30 4.3: MEDIA RITUAL, SOCIAL NORM AND THE SONG OF CHINA............................................................................ 33 4.4: METHOD OF VISUAL ANALYSIS............................................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 5: THE INTRODUCTION OF THE CONTESTANTS............................................................................... 40 5.1: WALKING INTO THE BUILDING................................................................................................................................ 40 5.2: PORTRAIT OF THE CONTESTANTS............................................................................................................................ 42 5.3: THE PRESENCE OF THE PARENTS BACKSTAGE...................................................................................................... 49 CHAPTER 6: BLIND AUDITION...................................................................................................................................... 52 6.1: THE RPRESENCE OF AND COMMET ON PARENT-CHILD RELASHIPS.............................................................. 54 6.2: COMMENTING ON THE BLIND AUDITION............................................................................................................. 56 6.3: VOICE-OVER................................................................................................................................................................... 63 6.4: SOUNDS OF ORIGINALITY.......................................................................................................................................... 69 VII CHAPTER 7: SEMI-FINAL................................................................................................................................................ 75 7.1: CULTIVATION AND REHEARSAL SCENES............................................................................................................... 76 7.2: TEAMING UP AND NAMING THE STUDENTS....................................................................................................... 82 7.3: THE PRESENCE OF PARENTS..................................................................................................................................... 87 7.4: COMMENING ON THE PERFORMANCES................................................................................................................. 91 7.5: STARS OF ORIGINALITY.............................................................................................................................................. 95 CHAPTER 8: FINAL.......................................................................................................................................................... 101 8.1 INTRODUCTORY VIDEOS OF THE CONTESTANTS.............................................................................................