小屏传播时代少数民族女性新形象研究——以“浪漫侗家七仙女”为例

A Study on the New Images of Ethnic Minority Women in the Era of Small Screen Communication——Taking the Short Video Account“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”as a Case Study

现代传播活动构建了公众对不同群体的“符号化”认识,就少数民族女性而言,不同的传播方式和时代会对其“生成”不一样的公众形象。在当前这个全新的小屏传播时代,短视频网红ID“浪漫侗家七仙女”使侗家女性获得了较大的话语权,使她们有可能成为传播主导者,其形象构建更真实、更加符号化,显示出较强的“带货”能力,但也因出于“流量”的考量,“侗家七仙女”的传播呈现较强的表演性质。其网红、年轻漂亮、家乡代言人及现代女性等形象特征使少数民族女性在传播中的主体地位大为增强,但由于小屏传播的局限、男性审美的主导及表演性、碎片化呈现等方面的局限,小屏传播时代少数民族女性形象与其真实的状态还是有一定的偏差。

Modern communication structures the public's“symbolic”understanding of different groups.In terms of ethnic minority women,different types of communication and time periods will“shape”their different public images.The media has become the main force for shaping“symbolic”images in the era of the rise of mass media,and most of the public images generated in the popular imagination are influenced by media communication activities.This research focuses on the new images of ethnic minority women within the context of the latest changes of medium's ecology,i.e.the era of small screen communication.It takes the video account of the“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”which spread very powerfully as a research sample with which to explore the changes that occurred of in the public images of ethnic minority women under the“creation”of small screen communication.It will also explore the values brought about by these changes.The main example researched in this study–the“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”-is an account registered in 2018 on the Social Video Network platform“Kuai”by Wu Yusheng,the first secretary for poverty alleviation in Gaibao village,Liping county,Guizhou province.Inspired by a local legend,he recruited seven Dong girls from the village and taking them as the main characters he planned,directed and edited short daily videos.Within a year,the“seven fairies”had become a veritable web celebrity ID,and currently,the short videos of the“seven fairies”are uploaded on both“Kuai”and“Tik Tok”platforms daily.The reason why the“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”was selected as the sample for analysis in this study is that it is an account which both takes ethnic minority women as the primary subject,and has had a strong influence within the context of domestic short video platforms.So,within the field of communication and image construction,its performance has had strong impact.“Small screen communication”places particular emphasis on defining the dominant characteristics of the current communication era through the means of the form of communication terminal.The arrival of the era of small screen communication indicates a systematic change in all aspects,including the mode of communication,mode of social exchange,and mode of production.And,this is the reason why this article tries to explore the new images of the ethnic minority women within the context of the era of small scree communication.Small screen communication possesses the following two“innovative”characteristics:1)The mobility of small screen communication terminals promotes the change of communication content—fragmentation communication.2)The accessibility of the small screen communication terminals blurs the boundary between communicators and receivers—everyone can be a communicator.Compared with the age of traditional media,the small screen communication era has five new features in the process of constructing the images of ethnic minority women:1)Communication Pattern:The small screen era empowers ethnic minority women with the right to speak,making it possible for ethnic minority women to dominate the communication.2)Communication Narrative:the small screen transforms the communication narrative from“he says”to“I say”.There is no need for additional processing of the communication in the narrative mode of“I say”;it is a direct expression for providing first-hand information.3)Communication Presentation:the fragmented communication of the small screen enables the images of ethnic minority women to become more symbolic.4)Communication Results:Ethnic minority women become internet celebrities who can speak for the images of ethnic minority women by themselves.5)Communication Orientation:Because the small screen communication content of the“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”is selected according to the flow of the situation,it tends to be more performance oriented.Based on the five new features mentioned above,a series of new images of ethnic minority women have been presented in the era of small screen communication.Research on these images will be helpful for focusing public attention on the groups of ethnic minority women in the new era.Taking the“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”as an example,the new images of ethnic minority women in the era of small screen communication are as follows:1)Internet Celebrity:The dominant position of ethnic minority women within communication has been enlarged,and the preference for female images in the small screen era has further strengthened the dominant position of ethnic minority women in visual communication.Therefore,one of the new images of ethnic minority women constructed by small screen is their absolutely dominant visual image,i.e.that of an internet celebrity.2)Young Beauties:this results from the male aesthetic perspective.In all of short videos of the“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”,their being young and pretty has become the main symbol of Dong women.The construction of the new image of ethnic minority women with“facial attractiveness”is selected from the perspective of the male aesthetic.3)Spokeswoman—i.e.speaking for their hometown,customs and characteristic products.The preliminary aim for the promotion of the“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”is for them to speak for Gaibao village,and increase the popularity and reputation of the village through short videos.So,the“Seven Romantic Dong Fairies”,indeed,was born out of the need to“speak for the village”.4)Modern women-modernity behind the traditional symbol of their ethnicity.The case of“Seven Fairies”enables us to note that ethnic minority women have already found a point for integrating tradition and modernity;they have become a combination of tradition and modernity.Overall,the innovation of small screen communication produces a“bonus period”for ethnic minority women which they have never experienced before:It enables ethnic minority women to transform from the“the absence of status within the social structure”to“the communicators who can mostly represent themselves and their own hometown”,and their social status has been greatly manifested.Nevertheless,we must be clearly aware that due to the limitations of small screen communication,the new images of ethnic minority women still cannot completely eliminate those limitations,such as the dominance of the male aesthetic,the performative presentation,the fragmentation of presentation and so on.Therefore,there is still a disconnection between the new images of ethnic minority women and their real life.In real life,the“seven fairies”are not always the protagonists they appear to be when they are in front of the camera on the short video platform.