Mass Media and the Localization of Emotional Performance: The Case of China’s Next Top Model

• In Event: 288 - Section on Sociology of Emotions Paper Session. New Directions in the Sociology of Emotion

Abstract

Few studies have explored the relationship between globalization and emotional expression. One prominent means through which physical forms of emotional display circulate globally is through the mass media, and specifically through the reality television format trade. Whether local people can successfully perform global forms of emotional display depends, in part, on how local audiences receive their performances. Global forms might convey meanings that conflict with local public values or media regulators’ ideologies. Mass media producers play a key role in facilitating audience approval by managing the meanings of emotional displays through their directorial and editorial choices. I describe three strategies producers use to present such emotional displays so that their meanings align with local ideologies and cultural values, (1) define what caused the feelings that led to the emotional display as culturally appropriate, (2) frame the emotional display as not reflecting the performers’ true feelings, and (3) ensure that the performers’ feelings are resolved within the show’s narrative in an appropriate manner. Producers’ strategies are mechanisms through which global formats and local culture jointly shape mass mediated emotional performances.

Author

• Junhow Wei, University of Pennsylvania