Daniel first became an avid fan two years ago at the unseemly age of 27. In the past, he had never been fascinated by any celebrity idol and felt that “people who follow stars are insane”.
His “idol” is ju Jingyi, a young girl less than 1.6 meters tall who was born in 1994 and is a member of Chinese women’s group SNH48.
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Two months ago, Ju Jingyi won the champion with 230,000 votes in the third idol annual popularity contest held by SNH48, 60,000 votes more than the second place. In the first election two years ago, the winner needed fewer than 20,000 votes.
According to the rules of the SNH48 system, fans’ real money is behind the votes. The electronic vote costs 5 yuan (0.1 yuan), while the physical vote requires the purchase of CDS dedicated to voting, ranging from 78 yuan to 1680 yuan. The most expensive album can get 48 votes, which is equivalent to 30-35 yuan per vote. By this estimate, Ju Jingyi’s 230,000 votes are worth more than 8 million yuan.
The 800 thousand li is a quarter of Daniel’s annual income. “I work for Ju Jingyi for three months every year.”
This year’s SNH48 Idol annual popularity general election venue, is the Huangpu River in Shanghai Mercedes Benz Cultural Center, just held in July jay Chou, Li Ronghao, Xu Jiayin ten thousand concert.
The five-hour dance performance, which included more than 160 performers from nine teams and 29 songs, even invited South Korean psy to mix and match “Gangnam Style” and “Just Feel Good” from two major Chinese and South Korean squares.
Crouching Gray girl ju Jingyi crouching Gray girl Ju Jingyi
What audiences are most looking forward to is the highlight of the concert — the final award ceremony, in which the top 48 members, voted by fans, are announced, and the ranking will influence the members’ exposure and work schedule in the coming year. It took the host 15 minutes just to recite the names of more than 160 candidates.
As the champion, Ju Jingyi is the last one to appear. When special guests Hu Yanbin and Tao Zhe read out the amazing 230,000 votes, the audience screamed, “Ju Jingyi! Ju Jingyi!” I could hear no end of cheers.
Wearing a crown and a red cape, the girl stood in front of the microphone, constantly adjusting the height of the microphone, keeping a sweet smile on her face, closing her eyes, patting her chest and taking a long breath. “Thank you for two years of waiting and hard work, and we did it.”
The girl sat on a red throne decorated with huge white wings and rose slowly into the air. “Thank you to my fans and I hope you will accompany me to the new heights.”
The audience was once again drowned by the sound of ju Jingyi.
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Imagine more than 160 young girls wearing similar styles of white pompous skirts dancing simultaneously on the triangular stage with the tip deep into the auditorium. It is believed that no matter how close the VIP seats are, it is difficult for them not to be face blind under the impact of similar hair, makeup and smiles.
They range in age from 26 to 13. “I almost never watch a performance by X and XII, a group of 14 and 15 year old girls singing and dancing on the stage, trying their best to make you happy. I feel guilty.” “Said the fan.
In August 2013, Ju Jingyi from Suining, Sichuan province passed the final selection and became the second phase member of SNH48. A few months later, she became a full member of NII Team. Since its establishment in 2012, SNH48 has had five detachments, including SII and NII. In April this year, it also established the Beijing BEJ48 and Guangzhou GNZ48 subregiments.
As the Chinese sister group of Japanese AKB48 idol group, SNH48 originates from Japanese AKB48 in terms of operation mode, early records and performance style. Founded by Japanese producer Akumokunkang in 2005, SNH48 is an idol group based on theatrical performances. Currently, it has more than 450 members and record sales have been more than 10 billion yuan for several consecutive years.
SNH48 follows the operation model of “face to face idol” of Japanese AKB48. Fans and idols cannot have direct contact offline, but they can purchase official function vouchers to have close contact with their idols. SNH48 follows the operation model of “face to face idol” of Japanese AKB48. Fans and idols cannot have direct contact offline, but they can purchase official function vouchers to have close contact with their idols.
Ju jingyi, 19, dropped out of the High school attached to the Sichuan Conservatory of Music to join her Chinese sister group, moved into SNH48’s living area on the outskirts of Shanghai, and began her career as an idol at the slightly rundown Xingmeng Theater in a lane on Jiaxing Road in Shanghai.
Da Yu has not been a fan of Ju Jingyi for a long time and he only noticed the girl before the second general election. When the girl big Fish had loved for years went to America, the connection with him was looming. From adolescence on, the big fish have been attracted to pretty, smart, hard-working girls as their “best friends”. The departure of another girl left Big Fish in a low mood for a long time.
In the first half of 2015, while browsing the Web, Big Fish noticed the news about SNH48 Ju Jingyi, so he found all the videos related to her and watched almost all the night. Knowing that the second general election would be held in July, The big fish immediately flew from the south to Shanghai to see the concert, and then officially “entered the pit” and joined the official aid organization.
Over the past decade, big fish have not always been rewarded for their devotion to girls, nor have they had the positions and opportunities to devote too much attention and affection to them. Similar to big Fish, one of the psychology of many male fans like Ju Jingyi is to fill an emotional void.
SNH48: An idol-inspired “The Truman Show”
“Thank you for your support, I will strive to become a better myself! I hope you will continue to walk with me!” Ju Jingyi people in the speech are constantly repeating the thanks and need to the fans. This makes the “big fish” have enough position to pay, every point of pay has value, become a girl Thanksgiving, the power of growth.
Behind the “need” is the “presence” of being noticed, validated and able to influence something, which led Bigfish to pay nearly 40,000 yuan, or a third of his annual income, in this year’s final round — a percentage that surprised him. Big Fish agrees with the “parallel universe theory” put forward by a fan in yingyu club’s QQ group. If Ju Jingyi does not win the no.1 position this year, the world of fans will be completely different. It will be like living in a gray parallel universe, “with tears in eyes and grievances”.
Ju Jingyi’s victory makes the world of the big fish more complete and live in the parallel world of the champion.
For Ju Jingyi’s attention, Da Yu’s sensitivity and meticulous, often to a jaw-dropping degree. By watching the video and listening to a word, he can tell whether Ju Jingyi is happy or tired recently.
He remembered all the details the girl had said about herself. When she quit school to join SNH48, she longed for campus life and worried that her high popularity would cause jealousy from other members.
Far beyond the information content of traditional idols, fans gain the illusion of “omniscience”, believing that what they see and know is the most authentic image of their idols. When in doubt, they dialectically reassure themselves that “we all grow and change” and nothing seems to shake their conviction.
On July 30, the temperature in Shanghai was close to 40 degrees. When The big fish went to the concert, he brought an extra T-shirt to prevent himself from becoming inappropriate due to his sweaty clothes. In a barely shaded square, nearly a hundred supporters gathered early under flags, more than 3,000 tiles bearing surging heat and hormones.
Young fans, mostly in their late teens or early twenties, had backpacks, flaps, and shirts that were wide open at the neckline, showing red lines soaked with sweat around their necks. Ignoring the large beads of sweat on their foreheads, many wore black masks and “cooling stickers” to reduce fever to mimic their idols’ outfits when they went out. Many people wear “aid scarves” printed with the Logo of their idols around their necks to wipe off their sweat, after all, Shouting for help is a very physically exhausting thing.
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When Squirrel first noticed Ju Jingyi in SNH48’s video, she was just standing on the edge dancing in an unremarkable “human background”.
Finishing fourth in the first year, ju jingyi has more resources to tilt, in addition to theater performances, she has also appeared in micro films. The following year, she ranked second in the general election. She got two supporting actress roles, singing songs and 11 variety shows including The Brain.
The fast growing popularity has made Ju Jingyi win the champion in the third general election. Ju Jingyi got the chance to play the leading role in a 48-episode TV drama and got better salary and accommodation than other team members. After the third general election, she even got the curtain of “Ju Jingyi” on the Bund.
SNH48: An idol-inspired “The Truman Show”
Her soaring fame and wealth has also brought her many negative controversies, such as dropping out of school, having plastic surgery and hyping the “Beauty of the 4,000 Years”.
“I can’t bear to see the slander of Ju Jingyi. What if Ju Jingyi does it?” Squirrel, a fan of Ju Jingyi for more than two years, used to cry and stay up late to explain to ju Jingyi on Her Micro blog and “Sunzi” who called her a “no brain fan”. She kept adding new comments on Ju Jingyi’s micro blog and tried to suppress the bad comments.
“She’s a little girl. She took a lot of shots for SNH48.” The squirrel was very distressed.
At the time, the squirrel who had been arguing with netizens was “Fanfan” (a single independent fan), and she only joined the aid organization after the second general election. In the organization, Squirrel has found a group of partners who have common topics and views all the time. They can talk about ju Jingyi’s voting strategy, her latest news and make fun of trivia in life.
“No matter what you say, people will understand and agree with you.” Although they don’t know each other’s real identities, they are even the squirrel’s best friends.
It’s a feeling that squirrels have rarely experienced in the past. Since junior high school, I have been fascinated by the star-chasing squirrel. I can sing every song of Lin Junjie and the variety show of Taiwan artist Wu Yingjie. Before the college entrance examination, I was also fascinated by the Japanese AKB48. In the northeastern town where the squirrel grew up, she felt lonely because her classmates couldn’t understand her star-chasing behavior. To Ju Jingyi here, the squirrel reached the peak of star worship.
In the second SNH48 election last year, Ju Jingyi set her goal to win the first place, but she finished second by more than 9, 000 votes.
When She graduated from College, she spent all her pocket money of more than 4,000 yuan saved in her senior year on voting, even though she could not find a job and lived in a shabby rented house. As a result, ju Jingyi didn’t win the first place last year. Squirrel was watching the live broadcast in front of the computer alone. Tears fell down his face and blamed himself for not contributing more to Ju Jingyi’s climb to the top.
SNH48: An idol-inspired “The Truman Show”
This year, fans are tacitly acknowledging that there is a “no. 1 agreement” with Ju Jingyi. For this agreement, the squirrel did not eat properly for two months, every day at noon in the unit canteen eat 10 yuan buffet, that is the only meal in her day. When he went to the third general election concert in Shanghai in July, he only had 300 yuan in cash. A year’s work savings of more than 10,000 yuan, almost all spent on voting.
After the concert, the squirrel took part in the official “handshake” and “photo session”. From 9 am to 4 PM on the first day, the squirrel did not drip water for 7 hours, “I do not know what to support, not dizzy”. The next day in order to avoid the queue, I got up at 4:30 to rush to the venue and became the seventh fan to see Ju Jingyi.
It was the first time to meet his idol of 2 years. Squirrel was so excited that he kept saying “How could you be so beautiful! You can’t dance so well!” Incoherent.
These acts have some of the fanaticism of the believer. But from the squirrel’s point of view, all that toil is no sacrifice. When knowing ju Jingyi won the second place with more than 60,000 votes, she had a little thought of “I knew I don’t have to vote so many votes”. It is not remorse but that I can spend the extra money on voting next year.
The rise of ju Jingyi brings popularity, opportunities and resources, which is also the driving force for squirrels to “go all out” for the rise of Ju Jingyi
Squirrel said the male-to-female ratio of Ju Jingyi’s fans is now close to 1:1. Among some idol members of the team, the percentage of female fans is even higher than that of male fans.
And compared to male fans, female fans in support of the investment of time, energy, money, often some regardless of the cost and hysterical sense. In the face of such “fanatical” “luna”, Daniel, as a core member of the aid society, is often at a loss. Should he persuade them to be rational, or thank them for their efforts?
Squirrel, however, felt that the girl, who was 2 years younger than him, was beautiful, talented, hardworking, practical and cute, and was a “perfect” star. She even felt ju Jingyi should be so high up and unapproachable. Squirrel herself did not realize that maybe she is infatuated with ju Jingyi’s “perfect” character. It is the “ideal self” that she longs for but does not have enough confidence to reach.
Now the squirrel, not far from home in the city to do environmental research work, the economy is not rich. But she always felt that as long as ju Jingyi and silently efforts, “the future is a bright”.
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According to the traditional starting standards, the “idol” or “artist” is either a good singer, a good actor or a good dancer. But most of the girls in THE SNH48 department are untrained “normal people” whose performances often raise the question “Is this ok? Caught off guard.
However, the 48-Series system has subtly changed the relationship between idols and fans. Instead of using “perfection” as the signboard to attract fans, fans are made to pay for the help of “imperfect” idols to “perfection” and for the emotional “fetters” generated in the process. This is also what Ju Jingyi has been following for 2 years.
Awkwardness seems more evocative than perfection.
Daniel thinks Ju Jingyi is just like his sister. She is a common person like him. All the little shortcomings are very lovely in the halo of trying to become a better self. Watching her become more beautiful, better at singing and dancing, better at acting — Daniel even has the satisfaction of watching his children become successful.
But more fans of their own cognition, is the guardian of the “princess” “knight”. Most of this work is done by the support groups behind the girls. Yingyuan club is a more integrated fan group, with Baidu Tieba, Weibo and QQ groups as its main positions. Ju Jingyi tieba has attracted more than 230,000 followers, and the QQ group has thousands of active dialogues every day.
Fan circle has its own language system, fan group is called “fan circle”, the highest contribution, the most core members are “Juju”, “Fan Head”. When fans meet for the first time unfamiliar, will respectfully call each other “gather together”, unknown fans self-humble “small transparent”. Daniel wouldn’t say how much he spent on Ju Jingyi, but it was enough to get him close to ju’s core position.
The aid community is like a small combat center.
Fans are graded according to the number of votes cast, ranging from a few hundred to thousands. The more votes cast, the higher the contribution, loyalty, closer to the core of the aid association. The core “juju” members are responsible for the development of the highest level of aid programs, and carry out “diplomacy” with other members’ aid clubs to unite and fight for Ju Jingyi’s interests to the greatest extent.
The “core messages” that fans have access to are reduced from top to bottom, and they are more like soldiers on a mission, acting on a strategy they have already set. For example, when the September issue of ELLE World Fashion Magazine published an interview with Ju Jingyi, the club called on fans to buy from the official ELLE Taobao store and leave a message. Call on fans to carry out the “purification action”. When ju Jingyi makes an expression or chat on her micro blog, he or she does not reply to “Sunspot”. When “Amway passerby”, please remember to be modest and polite about things and “master good methods to overcome the difficult period”.
Instead of individual votes, aid groups call for funds in the form of “fundraisers”, in which six or seven core principals guarantee the funds and promise to disclose their accounts after the polls close. Fans can buy virtual goods in their core members’ taobao stores, or transfer money directly to designated alipay, WeChat accounts and bank card numbers. Overseas fans even set up special tumblr and facebook pages to pay through Paypal. In the already published accounts of funds handled by the aid Societies, the top three parties collectively voted for more than 50% of the total votes.
SNH48: An idol-inspired “The Truman Show”
Where there is voting, there is ranking, and where there is ranking, there is competition. In this game of money and heart, plus limited time conditions, will inevitably have the meaning of the flames of war.
The third general election will be held on June 10th this year, solstice and July 30th. On June 17, SNH48 officials released a real-time update of the voting process. The day is just one day before Ju Jingyi’s birthday, and fans of the club decided to give her a quick-witting birthday gift.
As soon as the results came out, all the “Ju qi” were surprised. The first place went to his opponent Li Yitong. Ju Jingyi took the second place with more than 2,000 votes. Rumours, some people say that have a ghost in the leaked out JuJing yi who will “birthday gift” message, someone says this is Li Yitong who would deliberately blood atmosphere, improve their morale, and even conspiracy declare it is to discuss two good results, to tell others “this year, the first is our two immortals fight, the other from the far point, don’t hurt yourself”.
Whatever the truth, ju Jingyi has set a goal of raising 500,000 yuan on Ju Jingyi’s birthday on June 18. Soon, an official taobao shop was listing “Ju Bao Bao’s birthday wishes!” The virtual goods, the main QQ group will not stop “urge kidney” (urge payment), and even fried out of the group of many years diving party. As of 23:55, a staggering 5,00018 had been sold. One fan said, “All we need is momentum to show Xiaoju our strength and determination.”
On July 11, SNH48 officially released the interim report of real-time voting, ju Jingyi yingyuan association went all out to overtake the second place Li Yitong by more than 40,000 votes, equivalent to more than RMB 1.4 million. There is a rumor here that Ju Jingyi’s family has run out of money.
One of Li’s fans decluttered on Zhihu, “Someone asked me what happened to my idol’s food. I think I know the answer now and I will never change my mind… A general attack on the first throne.”
Every day close to a deadline is fraught with uncertainty.
On July 29, the taobao link to ju Jingyi’s fund raising fund was blocked, and some funds in the store were frozen. The official response was swift, saying on Weibo that the link had been blocked because of a malicious report, but that “this will not prevent us from racing to the top”.
Before the deadline of 12:00 noon on The 30th, the members of the aid association camped at the gate of Shanghai Xingmeng Theater, forming an assembly line. They unsealed the 1,680 yuan voting album they had just bought, took out the voting coupons and recorded the voting information. The abandoned CD behind them was all over the place, and Ju Jingyi’s voice was also recorded on the audio track.
In the battle for the championship, the game between the aid association is full of smoke. With the core group blowing the horn and the army following, there is something of a “game of thrones” about it. Although Daniel says that “little power” doesn’t matter to him, he cares more about whether he is really good for Ju Jingyi.
Of course, the entanglement of money and power, nature also has “the person with will” mix among them. A few months ago, there was a league member should aid the event of more than 30,000 yuan run away.
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Whether or not the clubs achieve their goals in the voting, the winner is not the idol, but the Shanghai Seba Culture media Co., the operator of SNH48.
More than 10, 000 tickets for the third general election were snapped up after one point 24 votes were issued. The 48 elected members received more than 1.75 million votes, a 252 percent increase from last year’s runoff, and more than 50 million yuan from voting alone.
SNH48 members must strictly abide by the system rules copied from Japan’s AKB48, such as prohibiting any private interaction with fans. The authorities hold “handshakes”, “autograph sessions” and “photo sessions” on an irregular basis, where fans can buy “coupons” with different functions to pay for any close connection with their idols.
In June 2016, AKB48 of Japan issued a notice announcing the default of SNH48. The news was interpreted as the official break between SNH48 and the matrix, and the songs performed by the team also changed from a cover of Japanese AKB48 to an original one. In order to attract more different fans, some of the songs even changed the Japanese style to be fresh and lovely. The members dressed in sexy costumes and danced with a hint of provocation. Many “Korean meals” defected to SNH48’s camp.
Fans have had mixed reactions as to whether the Chinese-style 48-idol cultivation system, which is not supported by Japanese operations, can develop smoothly. “After SNH48, China will definitely surpass AKB. Don’t you think how many people there are in Japan?” A girl who supports fei Qinyuan, a 14-year-old new member of the league, told me that she, who lives in Jiaxing, talked about “theater meals” where she could see live performances and stamped her feet with envy.
On the eve of the third general election, last year’s winner, Zhao Jiamin, withdrew after missing most of the company’s scheduled performances, citing academic commitments. On July 22, Zhao Jiamin, who received an admission notice from the Middle School, violated company rules by opening a new private weibo account to interact with fans, which was interpreted as a signal that members of the super popular group wanted to “fly solo”. In the evening, fans of the association organized a birthday party for her and specially included the screen next to the billboard for the third general election of SNH48 to send birthday wishes to Zhao jiamin. Two ads from the same girl group formed an awkward match.
The response of Seba Culture, the operator of SNH48, to the message of “flying solo and leaving the tour” was just five words: “It’s still in the contract”. Last year, seba Culture just got the B round investment of 100 million RMB from Junlian Capital and Innovation Works. This year, Seba Culture also accepted the Investment of Chinese Culture led by Li Ruigang. Seba Film, which is incubated by the company, has got a number of Internet literature IP film and television adaptation projects.
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SNH48’s system made this group of girls, but the rules themselves are also a tie for superheroes like Ju Jingyi, making fans both love and hate the operators. On the one hand, they can’t deny the opportunities and resources brought by this system to their idol; on the other hand, they feel regretful that their idol must obey the arrangement of the company and become a “money-making machine”. Squirrel’s aid organization, for example, believes ju Jingyi should not continue to be a “face to face idol” in theater. Instead, she should make more TV dramas, movies and advertisements to become a real artist.
Aid clubs and fan groups are both “vaults” for operators and can be a threat of some kind. In the network, the reality of the growing, let not under the control of the official they, and even slowly have the ability to “check and balance” with the official. “We will buy official products just to let them know ju Jingyi is known and we will not recognize you without her.” Finish saying that, Big fish released a message in THE QQ group of Yingyuan club, willing to buy Ju Jingyi single EP (album) with 3-5 times price.
Girls, fans and operators, formed a subtle triangle river’s lake.
Some people have needs and desires, and others meet them. From this point of view, the popularity of SNH48 is not much different from the infatuation with antiques, tobacco and alcohol in essence, which is a prescription for relieving loneliness in this era.
As a fan, you can decide which idol you support, invest as much money and time as you can, or suddenly decide to quit the game.
However, every white dress girl who signed an eight-year contract on the stage, under the package of “youth” and “dream”, had to attract the attention of fans and play a role in the “Truman Show” formed by her idol. More girls silently become the pulsating human flesh background of the possible members of the honor to the top, staging a strong counterattack and getting a “solo flight”.
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