THE CONSUMPTION OF BANALITY: live-streaming China

Abstract

In this essay the author describes and critically reflects on the online live-streaming phenomena in mainland China. Within the last three years (2015 - 2018), online live-streaming became one of the most popular topics and potent business models in China. This relatively new media form is by now wildly accepted, to such an extent that it is used by different state departments in several cities, such as the fire department, traffic police, the communist youth league and so on and so forth. In June 2017, the number of live-stream users who had installed a streaming application was over 300 million, that is, an astonishing 45.6% of all internet users in China. In this essay, the author critically reflects on the development of this new social phenomena by creating a brief genealogy of live-streaming from its origin in game-streaming in the early years of the 21st century until today in 2018. Critical questions are asked about whether embracing whatever change called “high-tech” without hesitation, absorbing whatever new elements from any advanced models without any criticism, could cause other results worse than being technologically backwards? What happens when our private life become increasingly transparent? What does it mean to consume videos of people eating noodles in real-time? What does this desire tell us? The author also ponders upon the potential political potentiality of live-streaming and asks whether live-streaming can be used against the government, who control their online activity on a day to day basis? She also reflects on how artists can use live-streaming to make performance pieces? And, what role would chance encounters play within this context?