Mass media and the localization of emotional display: The case of China’s Next Top Model

Abstract

Few studies have explored the relationship between globalization and emotional expression. One prominent means through which physical forms of emotional display circulate globally is through the mass media, and specifically through the reality television format trade. Whether local people can successfully perform globally circulating forms of emotional display depends, in part, on how local audiences receive their performances. Globally circulating forms might convey meanings that conflict with local public values or media regulators' ideologies. Audience approval is facilitated through textual framing strategies that reflect producers' directorial and editorial choices. I describe three strategies that frame emotional displays in ways that align their meanings with local ideologies and cultural values: (1) define what caused the feelings that led to the emotional display as culturally appropriate, (2) portray the emotional display as not reflecting the performers' true feelings, and (3) ensure that the performers' feelings are resolved within the show's narrative in an appropriate manner. Framing strategies are mechanisms through which global formats and local culture jointly shape mass mediated emotional performances.

How Culture Influences Emotion Display in Transnational Television Formats: The Case of The Voice of China

“…In media communication, the face, body, and voice of the performers are only some of the emotive tools available. The power of the speaker to shape emotional performance through their routine production practices has been also described by Wei (2014), who also describes the speakers as "display producers" of emotion.…”

A Systematic Literature Review of Localization Strategies of the Global Format Reality TV in China in the Past Decade (2012-2022)

“…Within Chinese reality TV shows, local producers purposefully diminish the competitive nature of the competitions and instead emphasize the camaraderie between contestants, a reflection of the values embedded in traditional Chinese culture that strongly emphasize interpersonal harmony (Wei, 2014). In television shows, cultural specificity in the emotional display has been identified as a critical factor contributing to the distinctiveness of local programming (Grimm, 2010;King, 2009;Campaiola-Veen, 2012).…”

The Cultural Politics of Affect and Emotion

“…As a product of the cultural industry, reality TV uses a variety of framing techniques in routine production to manage protagonists' emotional performances and limit the possibilities for their interpretation in order to conform to local emotional repertoires and feeling rules. Thus understood, the mediated emotional performance is shaped by the interplay of global formats and local cultures (Wei, 2014).…”