Elena Heller is a doctoral candidate at the DFG Research Training Group “Aesthetics of Democracy”, supervised by Prof. Zhiyi Yang. She obtained her B.A. in Sinology and Southeast Asian Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt, where she also completed her M.A. in Sinology. Prior to joining the RTG she worked with “Campus Connect: China” where she planned and conducted workshops on the topic of Youth Cultures. Her core research interests are new media, rural China, and poverty alleviation.

Pop Culture Democracy: Talent, Technology, and Dynamisms of Power in Changing China

My doctoral project explores how expressions of civil society in the form of play dialogically unfold in Chinese pop culture and therefore expand democratic spaces. The media space in China has been characterized by fluidity and fragmentation, shaped by a trifecta of strata: civil society, state and the markets, forming an intricate (inter)play of all three. But how do netzines navigate these complex and tight-knit power dynamics of pop culture and digital landscapes in China? The key aim of my dissertation is to investigate this question. To that end, symbolic and material democratic practices with and in pop culture and cyberspaces are explored through media analysis, with the concept of ”play“ serving as the necessary conceptual link.

Play relieves seriousness and shifts our attention towards the aesthetic. Thus, even sensitive topics like gender or urban-rural inequalities, can unfold in the form of comedy, web novels, music, or literature. Pop culture reflects political, societal, and technological changes, not through formal politics, but through the aesthetics of the everyday. In today’s increasingly complex, accelerated, and pluralistic societies, play within popular culture evolves alongside these changes and offers a space for democratic expression.

In this regard, the media industry in China, serves as a particularly intriguing example. What once used to be a mono-value media space, has become more fragmented and diversified, inviting citizens to use forms of self-media, to build online communities, or to vote for their favorite participants in casting shows. These deliberative symbolic expressions in pop culture might appear absurd or mundane, but they shape, test, and even create boundaries as netizens engage with unspoken ideas and symbolic reflections of society. I aim to explore how in China’s ever-changing media landscape play can shape structures of power, revealing and expanding democratic spaces of diversified visibilities, communities, and self-expression.