「這又不是演戲」 “We’re not playacting here”: Self-Reflexivity in the Taiwanese Idol-Drama
摘要
「這又不是演戲」 “We’re not playacting here”:Self-Reflexivity in the Taiwanese Idol-Drama W. Michelle Wang (bio) In this essay, I seek to develop a cross-cultural approach to popular culture artifacts using tools from narrative theory. Specifically, I attend to the peculiar phenomenon of the Taiwanese idol-drama’s deployment of self-reflexivity, by addressing possible functions that motivate its inclusion in the narrative and its potential impact on viewers. The use of self-reflexivity in this genre of Asian popular culture is particularly interesting because the device typically functions in ways that appear to be at odds with the mimetic nature of the idol-drama. I use my case study of the Taiwanese idol-drama Love Keeps Going (2011) to show how varied instances of self-referentiality in the narrative serve different ends. More generally, I argue that the functions of self-reflexive techniques are nuanced and contextualized by the conventions of particular narrative genres. In laying out my argument, I begin by defining methodological concepts that underpin my theoretical approach. I then point to key characteristics of the Taiwanese idol-drama genre and explain how it has proven to be a significant narrative form for East and Southeast Asian television viewers, within the larger contextual discussion of Asian popular culture flows. The remainder of my essay uses Love Keeps Going to explore a number of issues surrounding narrative self-reflexivity. First, I examine how deployments of the self-reflexive device serve apparently paradoxical ends in the idol-drama, highlighting both the narrative’s realism as well as [End Page 105] its artificiality—what James Phelan terms its mimetic and synthetic components.1 Second, I theorize that self-reflexivity is being used in the idoldrama as a way to establish what I call a mimetic pact, and I use my analysis of the case study to more fully elucidate the functions and implications of this pact. Briefly, the mimetic pact can be defin