Though the curtain has fell on the 2005 "Super Girls" contest hosted by Hunan Satellite Television, a provincial television station known for its brand-new entertaining content one after another, a nationwide craze for "Super Girl" has not cooled down.
People all over the country, female or male, young or old, educated or not, at work or at home, are debating this most eye-catching entertainment TV show ever, with both hails and jeers. It is reported that "Super Girl" generated even more ratings than that of the benchmark Spring Festival Eve gala party of CCTV, China's central television station.
Among the good words, quite a number of people argue that "Super Girl" creates a stage with equal opportunity for ordinary girls who are not talented at singing but dreaming of showing themselves, which was cited as the heartthrob to grab participations and eyeballs.
Zhang Hanyun, 16-year-old, last year's "Super Girl" third place holder from Sichuan Province, was unknown before she performed on the stage.
But unfortunately not all the opportunities lead to happy endings, though the girls have sung to their hearts' content, some ended up with sadness, or even, tragedy. It is reported that a 15-year-old girl from central China's Hunan Province who dreamed of becoming Super Girl but dissatisfied with her figure died of organ failure caused by hunger.
It is true that chances come to those who grab it, but one should have a real and objective self-appraisal before one sets to do something challenging. Huang Xin, a 36-year-old short and flat-busted "Super Girl" contestant won thousands of fans overnight and her performance sent shocking waves since the launch of the program.
"We admire Huang Xin because she still keeps a healthy and young heart, which is difficult for lots of people," one of the fans of Huang said. "She is magnanimous. I believe that in real life she is the same--tolerant and open-minded," the fan added.
If the poor girl from Hunan had been tolerant and open-minded with her own figure, she wouldn't have ended up with the invaluable sacrifice. Anyway what the "Super Girl" stage upholds is a brand-new slogan "sing as you want", regardless of one's appearance and age, as what has been learnt from Huang's performance. "Why not have one's own dreams as an ordinary person?" the fan of Huang mentioned above asked.
Among the critics, some pundits denounced "Super Girl" as vulgar because the cut-throat contest drove numerous crazy fans to swamp into the public to rally votes for the favorite "Super Girl" who may not be talented at singing at all, leaving chaos in public and creating lots of truant players.
However, "Super Girl" has become irreversible social phenomena after all, behind which an underlying social causes must be there.
First, a drastic change in aesthetics of young people is getting underway. "Super Girl" cracked down the traditional "beauty-dominated" entertainment program by welcoming all girls who just want to sing instead of merely good-looking girls.
Then the 2005 "Super Girl" took on a new look with nearly all the beautiful and lovely super girls in traditional sense kicked out in earlier rounds. Instead, it was the transgender looking Li Yuchun from Chengdu and Zhou Bichang from Hunan who claimed two of the final three with Li who earned 3.5 million votes all over the country by her idol-like neutral image crowned the top super girl.
Professor Yu Guomin at the Renmin University in Beijing pointed out that it is a result of free market economy. This is to say that in today's increasingly diverse world, ego worshiping has become a symbol of one's existence, through which one's personality and characteristic are fully displayed instead of drifting with the tide. This helps people know what they like and what they want in this free and competitive society.
Moreover, just think twice why this "vulgar" entertainment TV show became so popular as to cast shadow onto the benchmark Spring Festival Eve gala party of CCTV? It is much worth considering. TV programs are competing for audience by doing polls gathering the audiences' favorite programs and "Super Girl" succeeded in this by letting audience have the final say who is their favorite super girl.
By contrast, quite a lot of other entertainment programs mainly star celebrities, suiting part of the people's tastes, rather than most people's, except for that they are much more professional.
Anyway, the "Super Girl" phenomena are reflections of the progressing social lives; people tend to enjoy their lives in their own ways. And each emergence of new social phenomena deserves our close attention by welcoming their good sides and solving the problems accompanying them.
(China Daily September 1, 2005)
