Search Result

Srl

Item

ID: 142050

Making of an online celebrity: a critical analysis of Han Han’s blog / Strafella, Giorgio; Berg, Daria

Berg, Daria	Article
	0 Rating(s) & 0 Review(s)

Summary/Abstract

In the ‘society of the spectacle’, according to Guy Debord, ‘smug acceptance of what exists can also merge with purely spectacular rebellion’ and dissatisfaction itself becomes a commodity. Drawing on his reflections on celebrity and the spectacle, this article analyses the highly popular blog of novelist and racing car driver Han Han (born 1982). By doing so, it explores the relation between Han Han’s celebrity and his voice as a social critic. The analysis focuses on how Han Han’s blog thrives on the combination of his celebrity status and Everyman image; how it contrasts ‘anti-intellectualism’ in the tradition of Wang Shuo (born 1958) with elements of literati ideology including moderate loyal criticism and cultural nationalism; and how it negotiates the tension between commercial spectacle and the expression of sociopolitical concerns. The article also argues that unlike citizen journalism, Han Han’s blog relies on editorial commentary on hot topics and acts as a ‘safety valve’ blog. This article aims to contribute to understanding the rise in China’s cybersphere of a celebrity who merges the images of rebel, opinion leader and cultural entrepreneur.

Key Words

Internet ; Cultural Nationalism ; Political Satire ; Chinese Bloggers ; Anti-Intellectual

In Basket

Export

ID: 103988

New spectacle in China's mediasphere: a cultural reading of a web-based reality show from Shanghai / Berg, Daria

Berg, Daria	Journal Article
	0 Rating(s) & 0 Review(s)

Publication

2011.

Summary/Abstract

This study offers a cultural reading of the web-based reality show Soul Partners (2007) from Shanghai. Soul Partners serves as a case study to explore how 21st-century Chinese cultural discourse debates the transformation of urban society in China, providing insight into the Chinese cultural imagination, perceptions of the globalizing metropolis and the impact of consumer culture. This reading positions Soul Partners within the discursive context of Chinese popular, postmodern and post-socialist culture and in relation to the cultural import of the reality show genre into China's mediasphere. Analysis focuses on the quest for authenticity in the Chinese discourse on perceived reality and the way Soul Partners generates new urban dreams for China's Generation X. The analysis of Soul Partners sheds new light on the dynamics of transcultural appropriation in a globalizing China and the social and political implications.

Key Words

Media ; China ; Political implications ; Shanghai ; Web - Based Reality Show ; Chinese Cultural Imagination ;
Mediasphere

Links

'Full Text'

In Basket

Export