Denigrating Images of Migrant Workers in Two Chinese Soap Operas

Abstract

The emergence of migrant workers is a unique phenomenon in the process of China's modernization. Since the “new era,” the shaping of this group’s image in film and television has not only revealed mainstream society’s general understanding and evaluation of the group, but has also, to some extent, led to an even deeper discrimination against this group in China. Based on an analysis of a group of trans-provincial female migrant workers in the 10-episode soap opera Migrant Working Girls on a Guangzhou TV station in 1991, and an analysis of two male migrant laborers working in a small town in the TV series Ma Dashuai, which premiered in 2004, this article shows how migrant-worker-themed film and TV productions further amplify discrimination against this already marginalized group. These programs disparage the mentality of Chinese peasants and their rural lifestyle. This is mainly achieved by magnifying the migrant-worker characters’ defects, presenting the countryside as a place the characters need to escape from, and treating the city as their only possible salvation.