The Illusion Of Participation:Cultural Analysis On The Civilian TV Show

In2010, the China’s Got Talent, a program of TV Civilian Show, of the Dragon Television has set off a rating boom in China, which has been the typical program of TV Civilian Show. At the end of2013, the new building " China’s Got Talent V" came on stage as a blockbuster debut. It provided a channel for the masses to go into the entertainment mainstream with an open mind and a civilian attitude, which matched the "social participation" psychological demands of the bottom Chinese during the transition period, and expressed the dream and desire of the common class. Just because of this idea made China’s Got Talent as the sudden thriving show of so many talent show.Nevertheless, any TV program could never get rid of the mainstream ideological and the TV commercial logical shackle.The China’s Got Talent delivers positive and optimistic belief. It provides a channel for the masses to realize themselves and show their dreams.In fact, it is a romantic anaesthetic for the masses under the control of the TV commercial logical.The program emphasizes "participation" is just symbolic significance, is a phantom that the television media made to attract the masses’attention, finally to realize the commercial profit.This paper takes the China’s Got Talent as an example,combination of text analysis and case analysis to demonstrate the theme. The first chapter of the paper analyzes the general situation of TV Civilian Show,and summaries the reasons why the TV Civilian Show has kept the enduring popularity from four aspects:social background, cultural antecedents、mass base and media competition.The second chapter of the paper selected the fifth China’s Got Talent as a case,analysis of how the television media construct civilian participation stage、the judges and the host have no authority、building a sense of "ritual"for ordinary people,in order to present the participation landscape.The third chapter is the contract of the second chapter,it criticizes the "participation" is a phantom that the television media made.The contestants were wrapped. The performances were rendered. The brilliancy were shown by editing out.The elite of the judges control the dominance.The last chapter is a further interpretation based on the text analysis of previous three chapters,points out that the TV programs commercialized the masses’hope of social participation,which are under the influence of the consumer culture、business profits and the mainstream ideology.Through the investigation and analysis on the China’s Got Talent, author hopes to point out that under the control and influence of consumer culture and mainstream ideology, the idea that people desire to participate in television programs so as to change their social status and roles is naive. Author hopes that this paper could have some help on correcting one-sided understanding on some TV Civilian Shows and the understanding of their own development.