Journal Articles

Inventing the ‘authentic’ self: American television and Chinese audiences in global Beijing

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This article examines the ways educated urban Chinese youths engage American television fiction as part of their identity work. Drawing on theories of modern reflexive identity and based on 29 interviews with US TV fans among university students in Beijing, I found these youths are drawn to this television primarily because they perceive the American way of life portrayed on it as more ‘authentic’. This perception of authenticity must be examined within the sociocultural milieu these students inhabit. Specifically, torn between China’s ingrained collectivist culture and its recent neoliberal emphasis on the individual self, my respondents glean from US TV messages about how to live a spontaneous, nonconforming, and fulfilled life while remaining properly Chinese. By inspecting the ways these youths employ foreign symbolic materials to interrogate their own identity and life, this article demonstrates how transnational media consumption informs lived experiences for a historically unique and important Chinese demographic.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Media, Culture & Society

Call Number

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Publisher

Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publications., 2016

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

0163-4437

Classification

NONE

Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Volume 38, Issue 8, November 2016; pp. 1201–1217

Subject(s)

Identity
modernity
Authenticity
cross-cultural media consumption

Specific Detail Info

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Statement of Responsibility

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