Talent shows have rocketed to popularity in Taiwan in recent years, as demonstrated in the high rating programs, One Million Star (超級星光大道) and Super Idol (超級偶像). This article focuses on the Taiwan talent show phenomenon as an exemplar of today's contradictory and exploitable reality TV ‘celebrity economy’. Through the oft-repeated assertion of ‘yes, teacher’ (謝謝老師), Taiwan's talent shows manage to combine a globalising self-enterprising ethos of neo-liberal labour conditions with a Confucian-patriarchal culture. Within this context, powerful judges become mentors, with obedient contestants positioned as their apprentices. This article scrutinises the interdependence between this power-laden relationship in the talent shows and the self-enterprising practices of Taiwan's entertainment industry. It argues that, rather than democratising the TV empire, these shows have, paradoxically, contributed to the revival and consolidation of the previously presumed to be outmoded figure of the ‘star authority’.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BaudrillardJ.1983, Simulations, trans. FossP.PattonP.BeitchmanP., Semiotext[e], New York.
ChangShih-Chen2005, ‘The Commodification of TV Program Production in Taiwan’, 台灣節 目製作業商品化歷程分析：一個批判傳播政治經濟學的考察, Chinese Communication Society 中華傳播學 刊, no. 7, pp. 137–81 (in Chinese).
ChenShih-Chang2012, ‘Council of Cultural Affairs Granted 30 Million to Wei-Chung Wang. Critics: Is Artist Agency a Part of the Creative Industry?’ 文化部投資王偉忠3000萬，藝文界批：經紀人算什麼文創, ettoday.net 東森新聞網, 28 June, www.ettoday.net/news/20120628/67628.htm?from=rss (in Chinese).
6.
ChouMei-HuiYehChun-yuan2012, ‘Wei-Chung Wang's Attendance at National Cultural Forum is in Dispute’ 明起跑 首場談文創 文化國是論壇 王偉忠列名遭質疑, United Daily News 聯合報, 27 June, p. A10 (in Chinese).
7.
CollinsS.2008, ‘Making the Most Out of 15 Minutes: Reality TV's Dispensable Celebrity’, Television and New Media, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 87–110.
8.
HardtM.NegriA.2000, Empire, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
9.
HearnA.2009, ‘Insecure: Narratives and Economies of the Branded Self in Transformation Television’, in LewisT. (ed.), TV Transformations: Revealing the Makeover Show, Routledge, London, pp. 55–63.
10.
HesmondhalghD.BakerS.2008, ‘Creative Work and Emotional Labour in the Television Industry’, Theory, Culture and Society, vol. 25, nos 7–8, pp. 97–118.
11.
HsiehYuan-TingChangYa-wenLinChih-hsuin2010, ‘“Producer Wang's Not Holding Back”: Chinese Million Star Seasonal Revives with Competition’ 王偉忠沒喊停，「季」望《星光》耀世界, China Daily 中國時報, 16 December, p. D4 (in Chinese).
HuangWen-Hsi2011, ‘Famous Singer Yueh-yun Pan Helped Talent Show Winner Chung-min Wu with His Rough Career’ 吳忠明星路不順，潘越雲幫集氣, China Daily 中國時報, 9 October, p. D4 (in Chinese).
14.
JenkinsH.2006. ‘Buying into American Idol’, in H. Jenkins, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide, New York University Press, New York, pp. 59–92.
15.
JianMao-Ju, 2008a, ‘Watch and Be Watched: Desire for Surveillance, Screenborging and Postmodern Fakery in Taiwan's Local Reality TV, Journal of Radio & Television Studies, no. 28, pp. 95–124.
16.
JianMao-Ju, 2008b, ‘Television 2.0: Talent Shows' 選秀邁向電視2.0, China Daily 中國時報, 4 December, p. A12 (in Chinese).
17.
JianMiao-JuLiuChang-de2009, ‘“Democratic Entertainment” Commodity and Unpaid Labor of Reality TV: A Preliminary Analysis of China's Supergirl’, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 524–43.
JinKuan-TaoLiuChing-feng1992, Prosperity and Crisis 興盛與危機, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong (in Chinese).
20.
LewisT.2010, ‘Branding, Celebritization and the Lifestyle Expert’, Cultural Studies, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 580–98.
21.
LewisT.MartinF.SunW.2012, ‘Lifestyling Asia? Shaping Modernity and Selfhood on Life Advice Programming’, International Journal of Cultural Studies (forthcoming).
22.
LinFu-Mei2006, The Journalism Workers and Performing Artists in Taiwan: Analyses of Cultural Labor Within the Market Economics, Showwe, Taipei.
23.
LiuChang-De2011, ‘Cultural Production, Consumption, and Labor: The Influences of “Being the Public Sector's Subcontracting Works” on Taiwanese documentaries' 台灣紀錄片的產製、 消費與勞動：作為公部門的影視外包工作及其影響. Journal of Communication Research 新聞學研究, no. 107, pp. 47–87.
24.
NianChang-Yu2009, ‘Talent Show Judges are the Biggest Winner. Guo-lun Huang Raised 10 Times the Show Fee, Yun-ling Huang, Yu, Chang and Hsiao-hu Huang Earned Most’, 明星評審超級印鈔機 黃國倫身價飆10倍 星光幫、超偶幫捧紅評審 黃韻玲、張宇、黃小琥等是大贏家, United Daily 聯合報, 12 October, p. C2 (in Chinese).
25.
PalmerG.2004, ‘“The New You”: Class and Transformation in Lifestyle Television’, in HolmesS.JermynD. (eds), Understanding Reality Television, Routledge, London, pp. 173–90.
26.
SunLong-Ji1990, The Deep Structure of Chinese Culture, Tonsan, Taipei (in Chinese).
WangYu-Qing2007, ‘Competitive, Touchable and Dream Fulfilling, the Stardom Syndrome has Swept Away the Students and Office Workers' 競爭、感動、圓夢，找到久違的「期待收視」：星光症候群狂 襲學生、上班族, China Times 中國時報, 1 June, p. A3 (in Chinese).
31.
WuChung-Jia2012, ‘With No Album After 5 Years, One Million Star Yu-wen Pan's Contract will Not Extend’, 熬5年還沒法發片，星光幫潘裕文慘遭解約, China Times Weekly時報周刊: 1782, 19 April, http://mag.chinatimes.com/mag-cnt.aspx?artid=13668 (in Chinese).
32.
WeberB.R.2009, ‘Makeover Nation: Americanness, Neoliberalism, and the Citizen-subject’, in B.M. Olson and B.R. Weber, Makeover TV: Selfhood, Citizenship, and Celebrity, Duke University Press, Durham, NC, pp. 37–79.
33.
YuLi-Zi2007, ‘The Long Tail of Runway to Stardom has Generated Hundreds of Million Value, the Miracle in Taiwan's Broadcasting Business’, Economic Daily 經濟日報, 11 June, p. A9 (in Chinese).
