Abstract
This chapter offers a critical examination on the discursive construction of diaosi masculinity in Chinese web-series and problematizes the simplistic reading of it as a celebration of losers. This chapter argues that diaosi appears to be a floating concept of identity that challenges hegemonic values and overturns normality while reinforcing ruling masculine discourse at the same time. Moreover, Siyang explores the ambiguity of late modernity and individualization that have been attached to contemporary Chinese society, as well as suggesting a more socially located approach to look at young people in cyberspace, given the increasing fragmentation and diversification of youth culture and identity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beck, U., & Beck-Gernsheim, E. (2002). Individualization: Institutionalized individualism and its social and political consequences. London: Sage Publications.
Cai, R. (2013). Diaosi de nixishi—wangluo yawenhua chuanbo guankui (The counterattack of diaosi: An investigation into the dissemination of network subculture). Jin Chuanmei (Today’s Mass Media), 9, 23–24.
Carpini, M., & Williams, B. (2001). Let us infotain you: Politics in the new media environment. In W. Bennett & R. Entman (Eds.), Mediated politics: Communication in the future of democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Damm, J. (2007). The internet and the fragmentation of Chinese society. Critical Asian Studies, 39(2), 273–294.
Dong, H., & Huang, Q. (2013). Diaosi liuxing ji yiyun fenxi (An analysis of diaosi popularity). Zhongguo Qingnian Yanjiu (China Youth Studies), 1, 5–8.
Gong, H., & Yang, X. (2010). Digitized parody: The politics of egao in contemporary China. China Information, 24(1), 3–26.
Hall, S. (1997). ‘The spectacle of the “other”’ in S. Hall (eds.) Representation: cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage in association with the Open University.
Herold, D. (2011). Introduction: Noise, spectacle, politics: Carnival in Chinese cyberspace. In D. Herold & P. Marolt (Eds.), Online society in China: Creating, celebrating and instrumentalising the online carnival. Abingdon: Routledge.
Herring, S. C. (2008). Questioning the generational divide: Technological exoticism and adult constructions of online youth identity. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media. London: MIT Press.
Hu, X. (2013). Hou xinshiqi caogen wenhua jiedu (The interpretation of grassroots culture in the post-new-period). MA Hons thesis. Hunan University of Science and Technology.
Kluver, R., & Yang, C. (2005). The internet in China: A meta-review of research. The Information Society, 21(4), 301–308.
Li, H. (2011). Parody and resistance on the Chinese internet. In D. Herold & P. Marolt (Eds.), Online society in China: Creating, celebrating and instrumentalising the online carnival. Abingdon: Routledge.
Lin, P. (2013). Cong wangluo yawenhua dao gongyong nengzhi—diaosi wenhua pipan (From internet subculture to universal signifier—a critique of diaosi culture). Wenyi Yanjiu (Literature & Art Studies), 10, 37–43.
Liu, W. (2008). Dui wangluo caogen wenhua xiaoji taishi de fansi (Reflecting the negative trend of internet grassroots culture). Gaodeng Jiaoyuyu Xueshu Yanjiu. Higher Education and Research, 7, 187–189.
Liu, F. (2011). Urban youth in China: Modernity, the internet and the self. New York/London: Routledge.
Meng, B. (2011). From steamed bun to grass mud horse: E Gao as alternative political discourse on the Chinese internet. Global Media and Communication, 7(1), 33–51.
Nixon, S. (1997). Exhibiting masculinity. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. London: Sage in association with the Open University.
Qian, P. (2013, January 6). 10 most popular Internet phrases in China in 2012. ChinaHush. http://www.chinahush.com/2013/01/06/10-most-popular-internet-phrases-in-china-in-2012/. Accessed 26 Feb 2015.
Shen, Y. (2014). Wangluo zizhiju zhong diaosi xingxiang wenhua piping—yi diaosi nanshi weili (A critique of ‘diaosi’ figure in web-seies—a case study of Diors Man). Jiangxi Qingnian Zhiye Xueyuan Xuebao (Journal of Jiangxi Youth Vocational College), 24(6), 14–16 21.
Skeggs, B. (1997). Formations of class and gender: Becoming respectable. London: Sage.
Song, G., & Hird, D. (2013). Men and masculinities in contemporary China. Leiden: Brill.
Szablewica, M. (2014). The “losers” of China’s internet: Memes as “structures of feeling” for disillusioned young netizens. China Information, 28(2), 259–275.
Weber, S., & Mitchell, C. (2008). Imaging, keyboarding, and posting identities: Young people and new media technologies. In D. Buckingham (Ed.), Youth, identity, and digital media. London: MIT Press.
Yan, Y. (2009). The individualization of Chinese society. Oxford: Burg Publishers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Cao, S. (2017). Beyond the Celebration of Losers: The Construction of diaosi Masculinity in Contemporary Chinese Youth Culture. In: Lin, X., Haywood, C., Mac an Ghaill, M. (eds) East Asian Men. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55634-9_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-55634-9_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-55633-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-55634-9
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)