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Suffocating Housewife? Postfeminist Media Representation and Reception of Mai Lin in See you Again4

Ababaikeli, Buhejer LU (2025) MKVM13 20251
Media and Communication Studies
Department of Communication and Media
Abstract
Women’s representation in media has been a critical topic of research. In a nation where gender scripts have undergone radical shifts according to state policy and ideological shifts, the current moment where birth rate declines and policies changes abruptly, once again sounds the alarm. This thesis examines how the Chinese reality TV See you Again construct postfeminist sensibility through gendered representation of Mai, and how female audiences negotiate this representation.
Drawing on Hall’s encoding/decoding model, this study employs a detailed Thematic Analysis with a genre-specific approach to examine the reality TV, treating it as a highly mediated text shaped by narrative framing, production techniques, ideology positing. While... (More)
Women’s representation in media has been a critical topic of research. In a nation where gender scripts have undergone radical shifts according to state policy and ideological shifts, the current moment where birth rate declines and policies changes abruptly, once again sounds the alarm. This thesis examines how the Chinese reality TV See you Again construct postfeminist sensibility through gendered representation of Mai, and how female audiences negotiate this representation.
Drawing on Hall’s encoding/decoding model, this study employs a detailed Thematic Analysis with a genre-specific approach to examine the reality TV, treating it as a highly mediated text shaped by narrative framing, production techniques, ideology positing. While marketed as an observational and education program, See you Again produces a contradictory framing that simultaneously deploys postfeminist media logic, emphasizing individual choice, emotional discipline, symbolic empowerment while reinforcing Confucian gender norms that promote female domesticity. This analysis in complemented by audience interview which explores how female audiences interpret Mai’s representation and negotiate its embedded ideologies. The findings reveal that under a highly constrain political environment, female audiences use Mai’s representation as a space for practicing cultural citizenship, negotiating both postfeminist ideals of “empowered femininity” and Confucian ideals of the devoted wife/mother. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Ababaikeli, Buhejer LU
supervisor
organization
course
MKVM13 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
postfeminism, reality TV, audience, cultural citizenship, China
language
English
id
9209850
date added to LUP
2025-09-15 15:32:02
date last changed
2025-09-15 15:32:02
@misc{9209850,
  abstract     = {{Women’s representation in media has been a critical topic of research. In a nation where gender scripts have undergone radical shifts according to state policy and ideological shifts, the current moment where birth rate declines and policies changes abruptly, once again sounds the alarm. This thesis examines how the Chinese reality TV See you Again construct postfeminist sensibility through gendered representation of Mai, and how female audiences negotiate this representation.
Drawing on Hall’s encoding/decoding model, this study employs a detailed Thematic Analysis with a genre-specific approach to examine the reality TV, treating it as a highly mediated text shaped by narrative framing, production techniques, ideology positing. While marketed as an observational and education program, See you Again produces a contradictory framing that simultaneously deploys postfeminist media logic, emphasizing individual choice, emotional discipline, symbolic empowerment while reinforcing Confucian gender norms that promote female domesticity. This analysis in complemented by audience interview which explores how female audiences interpret Mai’s representation and negotiate its embedded ideologies. The findings reveal that under a highly constrain political environment, female audiences use Mai’s representation as a space for practicing cultural citizenship, negotiating both postfeminist ideals of “empowered femininity” and Confucian ideals of the devoted wife/mother.}},
  author       = {{Ababaikeli, Buhejer}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Suffocating Housewife? Postfeminist Media Representation and Reception of Mai Lin in See you Again4}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}