Chinese Youths Watching U.S. TV: Critical Cultural Consumption and the Construction of Textual Authenticity

• In Event: 034 - Regular Session. Media Sociology: Mass Media and Popular Culture

Abstract

Cultural reception literature generally construes the perception of realism as thwarting an active, critical consumptive stance. This article complicates this dichotomous view by studying 81 interviews with Chinese college students about their engagement with American television dramas. Acknowledging US TV’s scripted nature, these educated audiences nevertheless consider it ‘real’. I argue that the relatively diverse subject matter and complex characterization on US TV make it appear spontaneous, open, and capable of capturing the messiness of life, thereby helping it achieve what I call textual authenticity among Chinese fans. The construction and celebration of US TV’s textual authenticity is part of Chinese youths’ reflection upon and critique of the largely insipid or propagandist Chinese television. Inspecting this strategic authentication of foreign media enriches the ‘active audience’ concept in a global context, particularly by bridging two processes that have been conventionally pitted against each other: perception of realism and critical viewership.

Author

• Yang Gao, Singapore Management University