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Audience Power in the Production of Talent-Show Stars: China as an Example
Li Cui
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5526/2015.05.007
Southwest University, China
In China, all types of stars coexist in the country’s star system: party stars, commercialized stars, and talent-show stars, which influence diverse type audience and have diverse implications. Based on Couldry’s framework (2000) of media power, through in-depth interviews with media professionals, this study compares the creation of party stars, commercial stars, and talent-show stars as represented by Li Yuchun. Data show that there was few audience power involved into the production of party stars and commercialized stars. Rather, there was media power involved into the production of party stars and commercialized stars. Meanwhile, this study argues that there was audience-power influence on Li Yuchun’s rise to stardom, and it provides some details about the manipulations of media institutions that were involved in the creation of this pop star. However, it is difficult to prove that audience power is the main influence on Li’s stardom. The implications of her stardom and this production process on China’s star system and China’s state power are also discussed in this study.
Talent show, stardom, audience power, media power, Chinese popular culture
Sociology Study, May 2015, Vol. 5, No. 5, 391-402
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