The "Media Field" As The Fusion Of Popular Culture And Elite Culture

TV talk shows about books first sprung up in China in the1980s. Sincethen, such specialized TV programs have two sides. On the one hand, they aresaddled with various cultural ideals such as conveying culture and knowledge,sharing aesthetic tastes, and provoking multiple viewpoints. Nowadays, aselectronic media is increasingly replacing print media, quite a few people arepinning their hopes on the revival of the society’s interests in reading andattention to culture through such TV talk shows about books. However,regarded as synonymous with elite culture, programs such as literary themedtalk shows may never escape the survival predicament in the mass cultureenvironments’pursuit of audience ratings and ROAS (Return-on-Ad-Spend).According to a survey released in2013, on average, a Chinese citizen (18-70years old) reads4.39paper books every year. This means China may rapidlybe becoming one of the nations least fond of reading: this may help to explainwhy so many domestic TV talk shows about books have failed. But this inturn shows that we are in desperate need of good talk shows to correct ourprecarious reading habits.Throughout the developing process of overseas TV talk shows aboutbooks, many successful cases have showed that TV and reading are notnecessarily incompatible. All of the following shows have achieved greatsuccess both in economic and social benefits: The Book Club of the OprahWinfrey Show in America, the Apostrophes in France, and the Reading forEight Minutes in Hong Kong’s Phoenix TV. For the media, these shows enhance the cultural quality, and provide a good reputation. For the audience,these shows recommend good books, convey profound information, andbroaden their minds. For intellectuals, these shows provide a stage on whichto disseminate their research and ideas; a “shortcut” to rise to fame. For thepress, these shows are the savior of the revival of the entire industry.Undoubtedly, none of these benefits come spontaneously, unless a special“Media field” is constructed. With the help of French scholar Pierre Bourdie’smedia culture theories, this research will consider TV talk shows about books,unlike other TV fields, to be a special “Media field,” within which popularculture and elite culture “fuse organically.” Whoever joins it, TV media orintellectuals, has to obey the rules of the game of popular culture, as well asthe ethics of the elite culture, thus the “Media field” can be operated within avirtuous circle, and achieve a win-win scenario.