Hi there. It’s Brady.
To be frank, I don’t understand standoms. But to each their own, I guess?
Anyway, idol competitions are a huge thing in China, and content platforms produce their own to draw in eyeballs. Some viewers take their fandoms to manic levels and go to any lengths to cast multiple votes for their favorite contestants.
That is about to change. The country’s cyberspace regulator said fan culture is “chaotic” and has run amuck. There’s some truth to that, especially when you consider the food waste stemming from bulk-buying dairy beverages that come with QR codes allowing fans to vote for their idols.
iQiyi has already suspended production of its idol competitions, as my colleague Jiaxing wrote. There’s a lot going on here. This development isn’t just about consumption. It’s also about the way entertainment shapes what some of us value and how we express that mindset.
As we know, vacuums get filled quickly, especially in virtual environments where information moves quickly. The question is: if the worship of singular idols is displaced, what will take its place?
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