China’s TV Talent Shows Referring To Discourse Theory

With the revival of the TV talent show industry in2010,"The Voice of China", a music critical show launched by Zhejiang Satellite TV, has turned to be a huge hit which raised much attention and controversy. It is called the second zenith of talent shows following "Super Girl" of Hunan Satellite TV. The theme of "The Voice of China" is dream, in the intention of offering an opportunity to the participants of realizing their dreams. Adopting the creative "blind audition", the show made a miracle of audience ratings which reached4%on average, and a great commercial success as well.Referring to the theory of "discourse and power" by Michel Foucault, master of Postmodernism, this thesis analyzes the power relations of parties attending the show. Dream, as a repeatedly used term, will be well reflected on. In the literature review, relevant theories of discourses and power and the recent situation of China’s TV talent shows are to be introduced in a thorough way, as well as the popular television phenomenon themed by "dream". The first chapter is about "the Voice of China" itself. An overview of the show will be presented in two aspects, namely the pattern and the participants of show including the candidates, the celebrity tutors and the host. The second chapter matters most in the whole thesis. According to Foucault, discourse and power are in a mutual constraint. The division of discourse power between the producers, the tutors and the candidates is discussed to figure out how the power balance is working in the show. In addition, views of Marxism will be combined dialectically to demonstrate the reasons why the discourse power is out of balance most of the time.Dream, as an encouraging emotion of human being, should be respected. It is the strong motive to drive individuals forward. However, it has been abused and twisted in the talent shows nowadays and is losing the sacredness. The third chapter focuses on the construction of "dream" by the show, and criticizes the abuse of this discourse. Anyway, one’s dream can’t be relied on and realized by a highly commercial TV show, no matter how sophisticated it is.