American Late-Night Talk Shows in China

Aided by fan subtitling (fansubs) groups, as well as peer-to-peer file sharing systems and social media, American TV shows, albeit unintentionally, have attracted enthusiastic fans among the Internet generation in China (Ishii, 2013; Jiang & Leung, 2012; Li, 2007; Lu, 2009). Though the threshold for understanding late-night talk shows is high (Baumgartner, 2007; Young, 2006), many young audience in China have enjoyed watching late-night talk shows and even become avid fans. Dozens of late-night talk show clips go viral on social networking platforms and has evoked extensive discussion.

Building on the active audience approach, this study examines Chinese audiences’ cross-cultural reading of late-night talk shows. As shown in Zhang’s (2016) analysis of Chinese audiences’ reception of American TV series, House of Cards, viewing a trans-local television text is not only for pleasure, but also an important experience for learning, understanding, and forming identities. Using data obtained from fan forum discussions, online video comments and in-depth interviews, we discuss how fansubbers make use of elements of contentiousness and playfulness that are familiar forms of Chinese Internet culture to highlight certain aspects of American late-night talk shows.

The concept of textual transparency first comes into play. Originally a term to describe American media texts’ Hollywood aesthetics – ahistorical with its use of mythotypes that helps to “block out the absolutism of reality” (Olson, 2000: 10) – Olson argued that it was not merely a matter of economic or political power that American media is able to traverse multiple cultures, but the nature of the texts themselves played a large part in their movement outside the United States. However, we propose that Olson’s initial focus on mainstream entertainment media such as Disney’s The Lion King, fail to account for the processes in place in the cross-cultural consumption of texts which appeal to a narrower audience than cinematic blockbusters and television dramas. Instead, members of the audience themselves employ strategies to help make American late-night shows more transparent for others. A shared appreciation of these familiar elements provides the needed textual transparency for other Chinese fans and viewers to make sense of these shows.

Late-night talk shows are a previously unfamiliar television genre embedded in sophisticated cultural and political backgrounds separate from the everyday experiences of the average Chinese. Thus, the fan-subbing community plays an important role in rendering the shows transparent, making it comprehensible literally (language) and symbolically (meaning) to the wider fan community, as well as to the casual viewer, via a “localised” frame. As the shows are rarely consumed in their original form without the fan-subs, this means that the fan-subbers engage in the first round of meaning-making, as their subtitles frame the talk shows for their viewers.

The frequent interactions within and across various online platforms, such as bulletin boards, social network sites, blogs and microblogs, facilitate the spread of an Internet culture beyond any specific online community or interest group to the general Internet users in China. A relatively unified Internet culture, though not without ambivalence, has taken shape under the multi-interactions among the state, market, public space and global forces (Yang, 2009, 2012). The online culture in China has, over the time, acquired two fundamental characteristics: Political contentiousness and playfulness (Xiao, 2011a; Xiao, 2011b; Yang, 2009; Yang, 2012). As Meng (2011) argues, this online culture may not give rise to rational discussions, but it potentially offers an interpretive and appreciative framework for understanding and communication. It is possible that the two major characteristics of China’s online culture may provide Chinese viewers fundamental strategies for interpreting American late-night talk shows.

First, the Internet in China has become a contested space where a wide array of social issues are represented (Xiao, 2011a; Yang, 2009). Second, as Yang (2009) maintains, the critical discourse online has a prominently playful and fun-making feature.

While there have been specific studies on China’s Internet culture, it is unclear how this intersects with other aspects of media culture.

This study employed a multi-site research strategy to investigate how American late-night talk shows were received in China. This allowed us to obtain a comprehensive picture of what was going on within the phenomenon, by collecting data from “the differing perspectives of people who are involved with the same experience” (Hesse-Bieber, 2015: 8).

First, we analysed the comments from 15 selected clips of American late-night talk shows on Sina.com (including The Daily show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert report and the Late Night with Conan O’brien). These video clips were selected because they had gone viral on social media, attracting large viewership and provoking intensive discussions. The videos were subtitled and published online between January and May, 2013, covering a variety of issues such as Foxconn workers’ suicide, the arrest of an Egyptian reporter who mocked the president, the Boston Marathon bombings, and air pollution.

Second, we visited late-night talk show fan forums on Douban.com to analyze their online discussions. The fan discussions were posted between December, 2007 and February, 2013. Whereas video comments represented the interpretation of general online video viewers in China, the fan forum discussions primarily reflected the views of avid fans of late-night talk shows in China.

Third, we conducted 7 in-depth interviews with those who identified themselves as fans of late-night talk shows. The interviewees were recruited by sending mass emails to a postgraduate class at a university in Hong Kong. The majority of students in this class had just graduated from universities in different places in mainland China. Two of the interviewees (Lu and Zhang) were introduced by the interviewees recruited through emails. The interviews were conducted between March 23 and April 25, 2013. The length of the interviews ranges from 27 minutes to 121 minutes. All interviews were digitally recorded with the interviewees’ approval and then transcribed for analysis.

A. Subbing and circulating late-night talk shows on China’s Internet

Fan-subbers can be considered as mediators between multiple cultures, and in translating cultural and linguistic content, act upon their perceptions of cultural differences and how these perceived differences should be represented (Mattar, 2008). Fan-subbers may employ strategies of emphasizing the familiar elements in the foreign text or by emphasizing differences (Lee, 2014; Mattar, 2008). Studies on fan-subbing in China have shown several unique strategies to translate foreign texts. For instance, fan-subbers of American television localise their subtitles with indigenous expressions and include annotations (as a way to include background information and explanations to their translated subtitles and/or their own opinions), arguably to enhance the audiences’ understanding of the shows (Cai, 2015; Lee, 2014). Paying special attention to Chinese fan-subs of American television humor, Cai (2015: 440) argues that fan-subbing differs from mainstream (often commercial) subtitling that tries to domesticate foreign cultures. Instead, fan-subbers “rewrite and recreate, using pop-culture words and dialectical terms in the target culture to transfer the cultural expressions which may be hard for the audience to understand”. In particular, Chinese fan-subbers “rewrite” the subtitles by using trendy internet languages familiar to young people and borrowing expressions from pop songs and jokes in their own idiosyncratic and creative style. Such translations work among the Chinese fan-subbers and their audience as they are implicit but “very exaggerating, and the application of the expressions on the screen is quite out of the audience’s expectation and thus emphasizes the humorous effect” (Cai, 2015: 440).

On social network sites, many tag themselves as talk show fans in their profile. In addition, online forums have been established to promote and discuss the shows. For example, on Douban.com, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart gets an extremely high rating from users and triggers intensive discussion. Fans even address some hosts with Chinese nick names in the discussion (e.g. Jiong shu, or Uncle Awkward, for Jon Stewart or Coco bear for Stephen Colbert). The following two figures are screenshots visually illustrating the late-night talk show with fan-subbing on video site in China.

B. Enjoyment through Tu Cao

The fun-making style of late-night shows is invariably interpreted as tu cao (吐槽). The term of tu cao is the Chinese translation of a Japanese word tsukkomi, a special kind of punch-line used in traditional Japanese comedy. It was first adopted by Chinese fans of Japanese anime, and later became one of the best-known Internet expressions in China. Tu cao can hardly be understood by its literal meaning and requires a fair amount of local knowledge to decode. According to Baidu Encyclopedia, a Chinese equivalent of Wikipedia, tu cao means making jokes by raising questions or giving comments when a fault or a hidden agenda is caught in others’ speech or actions. It is usually accompanied by unintentional truth-telling while others attempt to down play or simply conceal the facts. Tu cao is an example of the mocking culture and playful style (Xiao, 2011a; Yang, 2009) frequently used by young Chinese both online and offline. For instance, people often tu cao when celebrities make stupid remarks or when their words and actions are not in agreement.

It is not hard to find that tu cao perfectly captures the spirit of American political humour. The understanding of tu cao enables Chinese viewers to quickly make sense of the satire involved in late-night talk shows. Moreover, many describe the tu cao in late-night talk shows as “without moral integrity (无节操)”. No moral integrity is a figure of speech of Chinese Internet language used to describe a performance or joke going too far beyond one’s expectation. The use of “without moral integrity”, as exemplified in the two following quotes, reflects how the previously unfamiliar “make-fun-of-everything” culture was read.

(I) Super love Uncle Jon. Sharp and hilarious, he is an empire of tu cao without moral integrity.” (User ID: Uncle Li, retrieved from fan forum)

Great punch-lines! Great rhythms! It attacks the social ills with dirty jokes and exaggerations without moral bottom-lines. It is simply good. (User ID: 7R, retrieved from fan forum)

Drawing on these indigenous online concepts suggests that Chinese fan-subbers and viewers actively employ local knowledge to quickly make foreign humor into a communicable and understandable experience. Specifically, concepts such as tu cao and “without moral integrity” are present in other forms of online spoof and parody, that belong to the playful but critical discourse of China’s Internet culture (Meng, 2011).

In addition, the element of contentiousness of China’s online culture may serve as another major interpretive strategy. With political commentary a prominent feature of American late-night talk-shows, the findings show that such critical attitudes lead the interviewees and discussion participants to look into the value of social criticism involved in late-night talk shows. Specifically, commenting on social issues in a light-hearted tone and criticism with dark humor appeared to be a unique media experience for Chinese viewers, as Bai commented:

I think their tu cao is a little malicious. [T]echnically, it is not as simple as to laugh or not. It is social sarcasm. I think it represents a voice of criticisms. I don’t simply see it as a kind of humor. (Bai, interpersonal communication, April 17, 2013)

C. Learning and reflexivity

It is interesting to note that watching satire in late-night talk shows triggers learning. Interviewees state that they acquire political information from the shows. Sometimes lack of background knowledge motivates them to engage in information searching and self-learning.

In addition to gaining knowledge, viewers develop a deep engagement with the texts of late-night talk shows. Findings show they make efforts to make sense of the texts in their own ways and negotiate with the intended meaning. For example, we found some of the viewers have a sophisticated understanding of these late-night talk show clips. Usually these viewers have a sound understanding of the logic of satire in the late-night talk show. Sometimes they dismiss arguments about the irrelevance of late-night talk shows to China as laid out by those who had a negative response to the shows. As Wang and Zhang comment:

I used to think, like, hey this is our own business. [B]ut after second thoughts, I think they might make sense in another way and it is not bad to know others’ opinions. (Wang, interpersonal communication, April 21, 2013)

Ultimately they take no interest in China. Many people on the Internet may be offended by the show. That is because they don’t understand the nature of the shows. (Zhang, interpersonal communication, April 24, 2013)

Most interviewees, who were avid fans, reveal greater political sophistication than general viewers on the Internet. Most of them are able to critically think about the nature of the show together with the American political culture as reflected in the shows. They appreciate the satire but did not approve American political culture. Lu, for example, displays a reflexive understanding of the politics and media in general. She mentioned her change in attitudes through a long period of late-night talk show viewing:

There has been a turn in the understanding. At first, you would be amazed by the shows. After a while, however, you will find that the so-called American-type democracy is no more than party politics. It has its drawbacks. (Lu, interpersonal communication, April 25, 2013)

Furthermore, interviewees and discussion participants are inclined to make sense of the sarcasm in the talk shows through intertextual interpretation and re-contextualize the issues into China’s situation. This tendency is also reflected in the fact that late-night talk show episodes involving China issues received more traffic and comments than others. Even though the late-night talk shows help diffuse knowledge of American politics, interviewees acknowledge that they are not fundamentally concerned with American politics because it is after all “others’ business”. Naturally, the Chinese society became a topical area that are intensively discussed by viewers.

For example, when The Colbert Report discusses the false news report regarding the Boston bombing suspects, many viewers take the chance to reflect on the rampant rumour on China’s Internet in time of crisis, which has long been seen as a challenge facing China’s cyberspace. Several online viewers are impressed by the phrase “attention whore” made up by Colbert in the show and use the term to address and condemn the online rumour makers in China. The episode by Jon Steward criticizing the sweatshop of Foxconn factories lead many viewers to reflect on the macro economy conditions in China. On the comment sections, some viewers show worries about the economic model that is heavily centred on GDP and other metrics. Some others discuss the sustainability of the current model and the possibilities of transforming and upgrading labour-intensive industries in China. The quote below is a prominent example:

China is losing its advantage of cheap labor. The young generation in rural places no longer like working as hard labor. [T]he aging population in China will lead to declining domestic consumption. Looks like we do need to transform our economy model. (ID: SuntaoTTT, retrieved from Sina video site)

It is important to note that as with all texts, sometimes Chinese young viewers interpret the American late-night shows in different ways as the original text may intend. Our analysis shows that cyber-nationalism and national identity could serve as an important frame for viewers to critically evaluate the shows. Nationalistic sentiment is another marker of China’s Internet culture, which has been constantly transforming and evolving since late 1990s (Wang, Li, & Wu, 2016). According to the same group of authors, cyber-nationalism has turned into informed actions that are heavily influenced by burgeoning commercial forces in the country. It was found that nationalistic sentiments also play a part in viewers’ interpretation of late-night talk show. For example, some viewers demonstrated hard feelings or anti-America sentiments towards how China and some other countries were portrayed and ridiculed in the shows.

When China-related issues are brought up, some online discussions express critical attitudes towards the stereotypes and biases embedded in the hosts’ remarks. The following are two such comments:

This is typical how hegemonic America does things. Really want to say to Americans, it is none of your business. (ID: Cicily Queen, retrieved from Sina.com)

Americans look at all those things with inherent superiority and pride. Just don’t believe they will understand at all. (ID: Fangfang_Lynn, retrieved from Sina.com)

There is a slim chance that China will import American late-night talk shows through mainstream channels. This is not only because of policy constraints, but also due to its predictably bleak market prospects. After all, late-night talk shows are culturally and linguistically complex media content, the decoding of which calls for good background knowledge and language skills (Caufied, 2008). However, findings show that at least part of its Chinese fan-base and general viewership have found ways to overcome the cultural barriers and derive pleasure in viewing late-night talk shows.

This study examines the way Chinese online viewers decode a foreign text that is previously unfamiliar to them. The findings first show how fan-subbers constitute an important step in the meaning-making process, for through their subtitling, they help render complex textual material more transparent for the wider community. The foundation of their work is a relatively stable and pervasive online culture that combines critical attitudes and light-hearted styles. These basic cultural resources offer viewers interpretive strategies and rhetorical devices to understand complex foreign media texts. Particularly, tu cao (吐槽) is found to play a key part in quickly rendering the texts comprehensible. Tu cao is a practice that is already familiar to Chinese online viewers. It has combined both the satire style and the fun-making culture of Chinese Internet, which intersects with the spirit of American late-night talk show. Findings also show that, in doing so the Chinese viewers seek fun and reflect on social issues within their local context. Using contentiousness and playfulness as interpretive strategies not only facilitates enjoyment of these shows, but also positions these late-night talk shows as a vehicle for learning and reflexivity two specific interpretive strategies to deal with the political humor embedded in the late-night talk shows are highlighted in this study: contentiousness and playfulness. These interpretive strategies also led Chinese viewers to generate contextualized interpretations. The targets of satire in late-night talk shows, most of which concerning American domestic politics, often prompted a reflexive look on China’s situation.

While specific demographic data of the online discussion participants are not available, the interview sample in this study is somewhat skewed, comprising of highly educated young people with outstanding English skills. Nevertheless, the interview data yields another important finding that the interpretation is conditioned by viewers’ cultural capital. Compared with general online viewers, the interviewees exhibit greater political sophistication and the ability of negotiating the meaning of media texts more flexibly and independently.

Online viewing late-night talk show in China is admittedly an idiosyncratic case. But this case reveals the possibility of a new mode of cross-cultural media consumption. Different from any existing media ow patterns, it seems that Chinese local cultural elites have transculturally appropriated foreign media content for enjoyment. In this case, rather than merely appreciation of a foreign television genre, American late-night talk shows can be also viewed as a kind of transnational cultural and rhetorical resource useful for local audiences to engage in further learning and reflexivity.

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本期执编 / 彤昕