Image credits @unsplash
Wen 丨 parity
The midsummer of August is not at all calm for the entertainment industry.
On August 27, Zhao Wei was taken offline from the whole network, and Zheng Shuang was chased 300 million yuan in fines.
On this day, the Cyberspace Administration of China issued a document calling for a heavy blow to solve the problem of the chaos of the "rice circle". These include canceling the list of star artists, optimizing and adjusting the ranking rules, strictly managing star agencies, regulating fan group accounts, and standardizing the behavior of fundraising.
The day of the rice circle has finally changed, and the world has been bitter for a long time.
The rice circle comes from the English etymology fans (fans), which refers to a fan circle phenomenon.
In East Asia, the rise of the rice circle was basically the birth of Japan and the further study of Korea.
The Chinese rice circle, drawing on the experience of the two countries, especially South Korea, in the vast market of 1.4 billion people, with the efficient dissemination of the Internet, gave birth to the local rice circle, a gold-devouring monster.
In this article, we will sort out the origins, triages, booms and pains of the East Asian rice circle.
<h2>The patriarchal Japanese rice circle</h2>
The formation of the Japanese rice circle was inseparable from a Japanese-American named Johnny Kitagawa.
Unlike the crowds of Chinese and Korean rice circles, Japan's male idol scene has been dominated by the Janis office founded by Kitagawa.
When it comes to Johnny Kitagawa, the two most important points to mention in the promotion of the idol world are: the feminization of male idols and the idol trainee system.
/Johnny Kitagawa
Born in Los Angeles, California, in the 1930s, Johnny Kitagawa was interned in California during the Pacific War, and waited until the war subsided, and in 1950 Johnny Kitagawa and his sister returned to Japan.
Johnny's fortune in Kitagawa is inseparable from the RELATIONSHIP between the US military in Japan. After returning to Japan, Johnny Kitagawa worked as an interpreter at the U.S. Embassy in Japan, and his work department was even more bizarre, which turned out to be in the infamous U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group.
Later, Johnny Kitagawa and his sister opened a coffee shop, and because of their closeness to the US military, they could get high-class materials such as butter coffee, which attracted a lot of people in the media circle.
It can be said that the work for the US military has accumulated the first pot of gold for Kitagawa.
Johnny Kitagawa's idea of establishing an idol office may be related to the popularity of the Funkies male group in 1961. Prior to this, Japanese male idols had always been showa tough guys such as Toshiro Mifune and Ken Takakura.
Funkies debuted as a feminine and kind boy, and unexpectedly received a welcome from many young women at that time.
Johnny Kitagawa became aware of this traffic code and on a rainy day, he took the members of his baseball team to the cinema to see a song and dance movie "West End Story".
"Do you want to be like this?" Johnny Kitagawa asked, pointing to the boy singing and dancing in the movie.
The boys on the baseball team had hesitation in their eyes, but Johnny Kitagawa's eyes became more determined.
Soon, he selected 4 baseball team teenagers from the baseball team to form the first group "JOHNNYS", and later slowly established the Janis Office. Their first foreign performance was funded by the US military.
Since then, the development of Janis Firm has been very rapid, and the popularity of FourLeaves launched later has completely established The status of Jenis.
Janis's success lies in his insistence on cultivating all-round artists, and singing, dancing, acrobatics, and acting skills are the basic compulsory courses for Janis artists. For example, KitaKoji in FourLeaves was the first idol of Janis to perform a backflip on stage, and later fans said that he pioneered the Janis Acrobatic Troupe.
From the 1960s onwards, Janis was an important part of Japanese entertainment culture, and later almost unified the Japanese male idol group.
During this time, Janis slowly groped out the trainee system. The trainee system mainly includes: each year, Janis will select about 200 trainees from tens of thousands of young boys as the company's alternate force. The company spends a lot of time on them in lengthy and demanding training. This continuous fresh blood also allows Janis to always be at the forefront.
Since the 1980s, Almost all of Japan's most influential male idol groups have come from the Janis Office, with artists such as Takuya Kimura (SMAP), Masahiro Nakai (SMAP), Tomoya Nagase (TOKIO), Jun Matsumoto (Arashi), Sho Sakurai (Arashi), Kazuya Ninomiya (Arashi), Tsuyoshi Domoto (KinKiKids), Tomohisa Yamashita, and Hideaki Takizawa.
Photo: Japanese idol boy band Arashi (ARASHI)
The Janis office is almost Johnny Kitagawa's one-word hall, although many artists choose to quit the club because they do not like the shackles, but whether they leave or stay, they have left a strong Janis mark on their bodies.
Since the 1990s, the entire company has often held sports games and New Year's Eve at the Tokyo Dome. Many people say that the Spring Festival Gala in the Japanese idol industry is the annual meeting of Janis Company.
Perhaps because of the dominance of the Janis family, the Japanese entertainment industry does not have much vicious competition.
For example, at concerts, it is often more intentional, and Janisken spends a lot of money on it. And the concert is uniformly priced, there is no middleman, fans need to join the fan club to draw tickets, and fairly rely on luck to get tickets. Those who try to sell tickets will be expelled from the club and will no longer have the right to buy tickets. It is also for this reason that although it is still difficult to find a ticket, it is not as high as Korean entertainment and Domestic.
There is also a genius idol system has been relatively perfect, basically each group will have independent programs, want to act also directly have TV dramas, will not be like the domestic and South Korea, for the performance resources need to compete with each other.
But that doesn't mean you don't need to work hard at Janis. In fact, effort is the most basic thing for idols, and in China and South Korea, the efforts of idols are often exaggerated. And Janis always said that hard work is the bottom line of an idol.
The hardest thing in Janis is not hard work, it is that you must innovate, you must always do different results than before.
Janis is very strict with his artists, not letting them sell their boyfriends, not allowing them to say ambiguous love words, but needing them to rely on their strength to win fans. So in general, the quality of Japanese idols is on average higher, and the life cycle will be a little longer.
Many artists have been interviewing and designing concerts by themselves since they were teenagers.
Stage plays, acrobatics, movies, variety shows, comic talents, painting, art design, etc., as long as the artist is interested, they can study in these technical directions. And Janis has always encouraged artists to study well, and many artists have been admitted to very good universities, and they are equal examinations, not out of the box.
In addition, Janis is very well protected for artists, except for Janis's permission, no media and artists are allowed to disclose artist photos. Even at one time, there were only four stores in the whole of Japan, selling the surroundings of Janis's idols, and it often took a lot of effort to chase the stars in order to get a little peripheral, and to go to The surrounding shops of Janis, even known as "idol pilgrimage".
Under the patriarchal system, Janis has always developed with Johnny Kitagawa's strict requirements, sometimes even unkind.
For example, not long after the death of Sato's father, Johnny Kitagawa personally asked to add a crying scene after his father's death to the stage play he was about to perform. The character is played by the real name of Sato Katsuru. The stage play lasted for two months, and he cried for 73 times.
At Janis, the entertainer has a natural trust and obedience to Johnny Kitagawa.
Kitagawa's life is like the one in the movie "The Godfather": "I don't care whether what you did is right or wrong, I just want you to know that only I have the right to make a decision, because I am the godfather, and only my death can not approve it." 」 ”
<h2>The K-pop rice circle that looks adored</h2>
Before the 1990s, Asian pop culture was almost dominated by Japan. Until the rapid rise of the Korean Wave at the end of the 20th century, it could compete with the Japanese.
This achievement is inseparable from Li Xiuman and his SM.
Unlike Johnny Kitagawa, Lee so-man is an authentic Korean. Lee So-man was born in 1952 in South Korea to a Kochi family, his mother was a music teacher, and perhaps Lee so-man has a very good artistic cell.
Lee so-man was gifted and successfully admitted to Seoul National University, the best university in South Korea, to study agriculture. However, after being admitted, Li Xiuman found that he did not like agronomy, so he spent more time and his second brother doing a band, and achieved little success.
However, at that time, the political arena in South Korea was not stable, and the coup d'état came to power and the liquidation of the government occurred one after another. After the Gwangju Incident, Chun Doo-hwan's military dictatorship lasted for several years, and his control over culture and entertainment was relatively strict.
The 29-year-old Li Xiuman was somewhat discouraged by music, so he gave up the band and ran to Northridge California State University to study computer engineering. It was also during this time that Li Xiuman witnessed the rise of Michael Jackson and the popularity of MTV, and saw the glory of American pop music to the world.
After returning to South Korea, Lee Soo-man rekindled his fighting spirit and formed a "Horse Trio" group with singers Lee Wen-seok and Yoo Lie, which was also very popular in South Korea.
In 1989, with 200 million won in savings, Lee founded starmuseum, which means Star Museum.
Li Xiuman, who has just started a business, is quite hard, squatting in the bar every day to find new people. Then spend a lot of money to send trainees abroad for training.
It wasn't until 1996, when HOT was founded and caught fire, that SM became widely known.
Photo: Li Xiuman
Unlike the Japanese entertainment industry, the domestic market in South Korea is small, so from the very beginning, Lee Xiuman has vigorously promoted overseas business, and China is his main market. Therefore, since the HOT fire in China in 1996, the Korean Wave has influenced China for more than two decades, and domestic entertainment is also based on the Korean system, and it has been built up little by little.
Li Xiuman's biggest impetus to the rice circle is to discover the power of fans, especially in the list.
When many companies promote their artists, they will market on various media lists, so that they have super popularity, become the focus of netizens' attention, and obtain greater benefits.
Unlike the Japanese entertainment industry and fans to maintain a sense of boundary, South Korea is closer to fans, explore the initiative and independence of fans, and promote fans to play the list for Aidou, which is derived from this.
Korean fans will compete for their own love beans and continue to dominate the list. Korean artists compete, and the smell of fan competition is particularly strong.
In return for the favor, South Korea will put the needs of fans in a higher position, will change the development route of idols for the preferences of fans, and will customize more diversified services according to the needs of fans, of course, the premise is that money must be given enough.
Photo: South Korean girl group BLACKPINK
Compared with Japan, South Korea is lighter in technology, while male artists who are heavy on appearance and good looks are more popular. Perhaps it is also because of this that the red face is easy to grow old, and the enduring artists in South Korea are relatively rare, and it is often difficult to have a glimpse of the aftermath.
And because of the inherent scarcity, in order to have more content to display. SM also pioneered the practice of exposing the idol's private life, tidbits, and a large amount of content behind the scenes to "truly" show the idol to fans.
But this kind of reality is nothing more than a visible life, which has been edited and beautified to create a sense of life that fans want.
Perhaps because of the fierce competition, the lack of internality, the rapid payment of money, and the love of fans too much, South Korea has a high tolerance for idols. According to the revelations of these years, the scandals in the Korean entertainment industry are simply unbelievable.
Zhang Ziyan, Cui Shirley, and Gu Hela committed suicide one after another, and Lee Shengli's nightclub solicitation shocked the whole of South Korea.
So, overall, Li Xiuman's SM is a company that chases traffic and money more. According to the feedback of the market, it will be constantly adjusted, and it will do everything in its power for the sake of red.
Commercial real estate, fashion products, digital media innovation, everything SM will actively engage with and turn these into growth engines for stars.
Just like sm's original intention, the star museum, quickly becoming a star and being collected by SM seems to have become the mission of this company. He didn't care if the star would fall, as long as it had ever shined.
<h2>Rice circle, culture, economy and society</h2>
Japanese idols, the model of The Johnny Kitagawa dictatorship, are based on strict requirements and a variety of styles, producing enduring crafts.
South Korean idols are Lee So-man's star-making factories, chasing traffic and profits, emphasizing idol competition, promoting fan competition, and continuously producing standard products in the way of letting the entertainment industry roll in.
Tracing the rise of the rice circle in South Korea and Japan, we can see that economic stability is the background for the vigorous development of culture and entertainment.
When Janis was booming, Japan had just completed the "income doubling program", and even exceeded it, and the income of ordinary people had tripled. In Japan in the 1950s and 1960s, in order to revive a large number of women to work, their disposable income became higher.
In the early 1980s, South Korea's economy caught up with and surpassed North Korea. The construction of the 1988 Seoul Olympics prompted South Korea's economy to grow by leaps and bounds. The establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea in 1992 and the comprehensive exchange of trade have officially soared into the sky.
Countries like South Korea and Japan are small in size and have strong dreams of rising. The idol economy has become an aphrodisiac to stimulate the productivity of women throughout the country.
The Korean Wave and the Japanese Stream are written into the national development plan, and the economies of many places will strive to create their own local idols to bring about economic development.
In general, the entertainment industry is a phenomenon that develops in tandem with industry, which can also be corresponded to in our country.
Historically, South Korea has developed the Japanese idol trainee model, while China has taken the Korean model, which is more arrogant under the impetus of the East Wind of the Internet.
So that a few years ago, how many industries suffered from the rice circle, and they could not do without the rice circle. For example, in the film and television circle, it has brought sky-high film remuneration, which is equal to 2.08 million; for example, in the consumer industry, it has brought extravagance and waste, such as the pouring milk of "Youth with You".
And more importantly, idols have a profound impact on the next generation of the entire country.
Johnny Kitagawa said that idols are a dream-making industry.
But dreams should not come at the cost of destroying other people's dreams.
How many young children, the worldview has not yet been formed, but the idol has become the supreme existence in their hearts. Willing to spend all the money for the idol, whether you have the financial strength to chase the stars, just whether your idol can always be in the C position.
People in the rice circle live in dreams, in the illusions of others weaving and self-superstition.
And when the idol collapsed, he found that all his previous efforts had become a nothingness.
China's crackdown on rice circles is not a sudden event. In essence, it is also another stage of economic development. The economic situation, dominated by light industry, is developing towards high-tech technology.
The cultural level will also break through to high-quality aesthetics with the development of high-quality economy. We can't let the bad money in the rice circle drive out the good money.
Especially under the efficient promotion of the Internet, the behavior of many fans has become uncontrollable. For example, not long ago, Xiao Zhan's fans frantically complained about fan fiction websites, causing an Internet war.
In addition, idols are also the spread of culture, and many times, looking at other countries is often to see how their idols are, which is also a kind of national image shaping.
For example, Japanese Jenis idols are often shorter, not good-looking, and have a very low desire society; South Korea must look good, even if it is not good-looking, it must be good-looking, so many people say that South Korea is fake; and the new generation of Chinese idols often have to choose a taller one.
Now the Internet is too developed, and when young idols have accidents, not only at home, but also abroad, they are often spread. For example, Wu Yifan's incident has been heard all over the world, and the impact is bad.
In this case, it is also natural for the state to rectify the rice circle and require idols to strengthen self-restraint.
Economic changes have brought about cultural changes, and China is undergoing a period of metamorphosis. Perhaps in the past, our popular culture was greatly influenced by foreign cultures, but as the country became more and more prosperous, it was inevitable to lead popular culture with its own style.
<h2>Write at the end</h2>
The 50-year history of the East Asian rice circle is a history of economic and cultural intertwining.
Johnny Kitagawa injected femininity into the genes of male idols, and created a trainee system to industrialize idols. The Janis office became the originator of the East Asian rice circle.
By discovering the initiative and combat effectiveness of fans, Li Xiuman has pushed SM's artists to a climax in the fiercely competitive pop culture industry, and the traffic and wealth are indistinguishable.
And China borrows from the two, using the Internet to create stars, faster and more gold. But the rice circle is like a double-edged sword, which can not only send love beans to the starry sky, but also turn into a black hole and swallow everything.
On the other hand, the transformation of economic development is bound to bring about changes in star chasing, and the original shoddy star factories are bound to be shut down. Chasing stars with high quality may become a change in the next stage.
The entire network of bad artist content has been removed; enterprises must not use algorithms to manipulate the list; PUSH must not push gossip; and a number of star studios have issued the "Rational Star Pursuit Proposal". In a short period of time, the measures are frequent, and for the entertainment industry, this rectification may be a just beginning.
Idols are a dream-making industry, but we need to make sure that we don't give young people nightmares.
Resources:
[1] See Japan Again: What is known as "small fresh meat" today was a progressive culture in Japan at that time? View Video Studio
[2] "Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Janis, what is the intention of the "feminization" trend he initiated" is to accuse crane overseers
[3] "After reading this article, you will overturn all the imaginations of Lee So-man over the years" miracle production
[4] Johnny Kitagawa, President of The Janis Office: Creator and Observer of the Idol Empire, Hedgehog Commune