Stardom Production Of Mass Media And Audience Consumption In Contemporary China

In the present media society, mass media is an integral part of daily life of the modern society and the most important carrier of the modern culture, and also it is an important cultural form of the modern culture. Culture, communication and media symbioses and prospers together, and depends on each other, so it is difficult to distinguish each other, resulting in the dominant form of the modern culture-the media culture. It dominates the socialization process of individual and the domain of the daily life, and has a far-reaching impact on the politics, economics and culture of the modern society.The stardom is one of the significant representations of the present media culture. In the media culture, stars are the necessary products of the market-operating media. On the one hand, stars are produced by the mass media which shape the images of stars. Departing from the mass media, there can be no star. On the other hand, stars are indispensable elements of marketing production of the mass media. It can be said that the huge media system in the modern society is a tremendous machine of the stardom production, and the media culture is the big stage of the production and consumption of stardom.According to the theoretical guidance and analytical frame of Cultural Studies, this paper bases on the historical context and the realistic context of contemporary China, and critically studies the stardom production and consumption of contemporary Chinese mass media.The stardom phenomenon of the contemporary Chinese mass media has its specific historical background and practical context. With regard to the historical origins, the commercialization of Chinese modern film had given birth to the vigorous development of China's first batch of stars, and produced a relatively mature star system. After 1949 the institutional stardom production and consumption was forced to interrupt in the pan-Political Context, but the reforming and opening-up policy and the development of market economy cleared up pan-politicization, making long-term suppression of the public's desire for entertainment spew out and the stardom production and consumption resuscitate and flourish, which is the important manifestation of the dramatic expansion of Popular Culture. From the emergence to the interruption, and to the recovery and prosperity, the change track on the one hand indicates that the market-operating media is the habitat of stars, on the other hand also shows that the current Chinese stardom production and consumption occurred under the background of the end of a long-term pan-political society and the collapse of public political beliefs. Furthermore, the real social context is the ongoing social transformation, which goes with complex factors such as globalization. The characteristics of Chinese social transformation in present stage, such as comprehensive, transitional and gradual, cause media culture of the contemporary China to be a cultural space with contradictions, variation and conflict, which makes stars also have a complex cultural means.In this paper, the research about the contemporary Chinese stars follows a frame: "the stardom production of mass media - star text - the consumption and interpretation of stars". Firstly, the stardom production has three systems, which are entertainment, star system, as well as government regulation. In the system arrangement, we can see the operation of the various power relations and its influence on stardom production, and we can map the complex operation of the power system, which includes many power elements, such as government, corporation, cultural elites, media practitioners, audiences and even stardom. These elements are in collusion with each other, and at the same time struggle with each other. Some power practice is visible, but more is not visible, all of which impact on stardom production. Secondly, we analyze the semiotic significance of the media text of stars, and consider that the stardom is not only an economic phenomenon, but also a cultural phenomenon, thus stardom production is a kind of production with symbolic significance. The enormous charm of star image to the public lies in the intertextuality among diverse media texts and significance of symbols. These media texts about stardom construct these star images, and at the same time reflect the social diverse discourses.Ultimately, the media texts about stardom are consumed and interpreted by the public, who even actively produce new texts and means of stars. Stardom consumption by the public has many situations, covering attachment, consultation, also resistance, but whatever the situation, the public is no longer a passive audience, but become an active producer and consumer. Stardom consumption is an important path of identity.The stardom production and consumption of the contemporary Chinese media is a struggle about significance, and the whole star culture is conflicting area among the various interest groups, and is the field of fighting each other between social control and personal resistance. In star culture, the main social groups and ideologies are contesting for the right of control, and through the initiative stardom consumption and interpretation, individual experience and participate in the struggle. In conclusion, the stardom production and consumption of mass media in the context of present China has extremely complex and diverse cultural significance. The stardom can provide the control means for ideology, as well as provide the public the strategy and resource of resistance, therefore stardom has become the field writing by pluralistic discourse.