A Study About The Image Of Men And Women In The CCTV Spring Festival Gala’s Short Sketches (1983-2012)

This is a study mainly examines the image of men and women in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala’sShort Sketches from1983to2012. The principal purpose is to explore what characteristics do theseShort Sketches about men and women have in the Spring Festival Gala during the past30years, andwhat is the meaning behind it.The paper applied quantitative content analysis method. There are three major findings based onthe content analysis data:1st, There are no difference of image between the group of men and the groupof women. In the CCTV Spring Festival Gala’s Short Sketches, there is a little image of groups withsingle characters (lively and responsible), and a little issues for groups. There are almost no differenceof image between the group of men and the group of women. Earlier studies have shown that in order toexpress the national narrative, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala has to create a platform to pray for peace,prosperity and favorable weather. Therefore, positive characters of image, including lively andresponsible, become mainstream, and the issues of these short sketches are single, mainly for personalissues, such as marriage or colleague relationship. Group issues such as lack of social security and so onare not shown. Here, group is not important, the difference between different gender groups is notimportant, either.2nd, Neutral temperament is the mainstream. From the point of role’s personality ortemperament, Neutral temperament is the most in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala’s Short Sketches. Thesecond most is sex-matched temperament, for example, the male image is corresponding to masculinity.The generality characteristics are strong-minded/logic and responsibility. From the changing trend, menand women are increasingly showing neutral temperament. The neutral temperament is increasinglybecoming the mainstream temperament of men and women in these sketches. This finding is differentfrom previous studies. Here, men and women have no absolute difference in temperament. They can notonly be capable, but also do more housework.3rd, from the perspective of the number of gender image,men has more opportunities than women to be represented. From the perspective of the roles’ characters,occupation, places, function and so on, more men than women are represented as sporting, occupationaland active. The traditional structure that men’s work centers around outside, women’s work centersaround the home still exists. But from the30-year change, this structure is changing, and the image ofmen and women is becoming more and more balanced and rich, which reflect the self-regulation of theCCTV Spring Festival Gala which is like a “safety valve”.