Super Girls

A screening of a documentary of the popular Chinese television show "Super Girls Singing Contest" followed by an audience discussion with filmmaker Jian Yi.

Filmed independently around the fringes of the controversial show's second series, it follows several 18 to 20-year-old contestants during their search for instant stardom. En route, the viewer is given a rare glimpse of how a new strain of western capitalism – reminiscent in some ways of Britain in the 1980s – is affecting the younger generation in this often-closed society.

Following its launch in 2005, and particularly during its second series the following year, the “Super Girl Singing Contest” broke numerous records to become the most popular Chinese television show ever produced. 80,000 pop “wannabes” flocked to its heats and viewing figures for the final peaked at 280 million – dwarfing, for example, the estimated 12 million garnered by “Pop Idol” in the UK.

But with that immense popularity came controversy. Unlike most shows normally produced by China Central Television, "Pop Idol" hails from the decentralized studios of the Hunan TV network. More significantly, the program was the first ever to allow the Chinese public a chance to vote for their favored contestants.

In a country where ordinary people cannot choose their political leaders the response was huge. More than 800 million text votes were cast, while the winner of the 2006 series alone received 5.2 million SMS messages of support. Fanclubs, backing different contestants, sprang up all over China. According to some observers, however, the huge wave of spontaneous enthusiasm unnerved the government of the People's Republic. Last year, the programmed was banned.

“No-one is quite sure the real reason behind Beijing's order that the program must stop,” Jian Yi says. “Public fascination with the show was huge – people became crazy about its stars. Many believe that this mass enthusiasm, uncontrolled by the central state TV, was perceived as a threat. It was also low-brow culture, which may have made the government uncomfortable.”

Jian Yi often kept a low profile, filming with a hand-held camera at venues around China during the competition's various rounds. The resulting documentary reveals how the same dreams of celebrity that often characterize British reality TV contestants have likewise penetrated youth culture in the East Asian state.

Super Girls will be shown in Lucas 108 on USC’s University Park Campus with director Jian Yi in attendance for a Q&A following the screening.

Time: 7:00 PM
Date: April 17, 2008
Place: USC University Park Campus, Lucas 108

Admission is free and all are welcome.  No RSVP necessary.