Fans say that "you die and I live" is the underlying logic of the rice circle

Over the years, I have chased many "love beans" back and forth, witnessed the rise of the "top stream" that has attracted much attention, and also done assistance for the "eighteen-line paste coffee". After chasing the stars with a sense of truth several times, I suddenly realized that the rice circle mode is actually highly homogeneous, no matter who is on the powder, you will face similar expressions and share the same set of underlying logic.

I thought that I had already "passed through the stars, and the leaves did not stick to my body", but when I met the male protagonist of the hit drama a few months ago, watching him from years of dormancy to a blockbuster, he was pushed into the flow field by holding high, and I still plunged into it. Looking back, everything he went through after becoming a fan can be the epitome of today's rice circle.

The initial joys of chasing stars are highly concentrated and pure. During the show, countless interviews, variety shows, and "sugar spots" stimulated a large amount of dopamine secretion, making my heart swell like a balloon, and I was happy as if I was going to fly. On the day of the first offline pick-up, I carefully selected my clothes, put on makeup and washed my hair, as if I were going to a grand date.

After the end of the drama, the real "war" of the rice circle has just begun. The carnival came to an end, and everything returned to normal. My little "love beans" are also facing the test of a series of data lists such as the number of plays, the amount of goods carried, and the new media index of artists. "Rice circle" fans will always live in competition and comparison, than the actual performance, than the ranking, "let his ranking be a little higher, have more commercial film and television resources" has become the starting point of many fans' behavior.

In order to maintain the activity of fans, it is a routine operation in the circle to carry out cyber "team building" from time to time. "Team building" can happen in any situation where data is needed, especially where there is a "right home". Some time ago, my little "Love Bean" had a movie to release a promotional film, which was his first work after becoming popular, and there was another "top stream" in the same group. This is a battle of honor, the little sisters in the star-chasing group are all rubbing their hands, and they have long been ready for the "team building" deployment of "control and evaluation" under the official micro, and they are riveted to give him noodles. In the group, everyone's action logic is also very simple: "Everyone else is rushing, you are not rushing, how can your brother's data look good?" ”

It is not difficult to find that the pan-data logic has long dominated the rice circle. The data represents the traffic of "Love Bean" and becomes the embodiment of social influence and commercial value, and the data strength of fans directly affects the future development of idols. In order to compete for the first place in the data hot list, fans voluntarily become "data workers", even if they copy and paste meaningless words everywhere, they can make the super talk ranking climb one more place. The collective action mode of "team building" will also make each individual fan involved feel honored.

Under this seemingly conventional rule, the fan base is reduced to a squeezed free labor force, behind which some entertainment companies and their agents use the emotional labor of fans.

I remember that during the broadcast of the drama, the support committee of our little "Love Bean" took the initiative to appeal to fans not to "control the comments" in order to create a healthy discussion environment. However, in the end, it could not withstand the pressure of the "inner volume" of the rice circle environment, and finally failed. When "team building" is full of blood, and when the enthusiasm retreats, you will find that all the love and dedication are finally made for the daily active data of social media.

If the friction in "team building" escalates, it may evolve into a network scolding war. Many times, the underlying logic of the rice circle is the zero-sum game of "you die and I live", such as the sword between the forerunner and the latecomer, and the sword between the fans of the old "top stream" and the "upstart" of the traffic. For example, if a celebrity fan makes inappropriate remarks about other celebrities on the Internet, and the latter's fans find out and then fight back, the situation may then expand and evolve into a collective scolding war, and eventually end up with a statement from the star team or even a lawyer's letter.

Fans have long been in a highly dense and single information environment, and under the action of the information cocoon, the rice circle conflict often falls into a state of "public saying that the public is reasonable and the wife is reasonable". Don't say the public outside the circle, I'm afraid that fans who belong to the same rice circle are also difficult to judge the merits of the right and wrong through "tearing each other up". The scolding war is no longer aimed at discovering the truth and distinguishing between right and wrong, but a blind release of collective emotions, and even a community mobilization mechanism, which has become an important means of consolidating the identity of fans. This widespread and intensive war of insults is often accompanied by the spread of rumors and fierce personal attacks, which not only pollute the online environment, but even spread to real life.

Once the "mutual tearing" of the rice circle begins, fans will be busy "clarifying" and monitoring the direction of public opinion. Every fan involved was so busy and exhausted that perhaps no one remembered a war that had spread for days, and the initial trigger might have been just a "shirt bump."

In the highly homogenized rice circle model, I found that "team building" and "abuse powder" have become a means of emotional mobilization in the rice circle. In a single and dense rice circle narrative, fans are portrayed as the "only savior" character of "Love Bean", which stimulates the cultivation and competition psychology of fans and enhances fan stickiness by rendering heroic feelings. This emotional connection is essentially to mobilize fans to carry out data labor in the name of "team building", deconstruct the value of fans into virtual traffic, and become the nutrients for the daily supply of digital platforms. What is more serious is that in the case of sudden emergencies, emotional and unstable fan circles are more likely to get out of control, and irrational behaviors such as "human flesh" netizens and online violence appear.

Many times, fans in the bureau are difficult to recognize the true face of Lushan, but if you jump out of the rice circle thinking and look at it again, you will realize that there is never more than one way to express love, and fans should not bear the responsibility of deciding the "love bean" star path. Your star-chasing experience is entirely up to you.

China Youth Daily

Source: China Youth Network