Source: i Dark Horse
Guo Youcai, who has been on fire for more than ten days, is being bitten by the traffic.
Article: Xiong Zhi
In the past two days, a netizen reported that Guo Youcai had made improper remarks under his real name, accusing him of fostering the wrong values of mental laziness, inaction and depression. Others said that he started a company before he became popular, lived a luxurious life, and was fake.
However, after Guo Youcai's outburst, the phenomenon of online celebrities streaming live and dancing in chaos was severely criticized by the media, which said, "We must cut off the cancer that endangers children.". Heze also seems to be aware of the problem, set about rectifying the chaos of Internet popularity, and comprehensively stopped the live broadcast of Heze South Station.
The story of a man with fire in a city finally turned over.
01
Twenty years ago, the popular Super Girl opened a new era of mass star making. Groups of selected ordinary people, under the mobile phone vote of tens of millions of netizens, stood in the center of the stage, the high point of honor, and started the inspirational stories of grassroots counter attacks.
Compared with the years when Super Girl became popular, the Internet age now has a stronger ability to create stars. Social media and video platforms are like a huge star making factory. From the famous Guo Youcai of Heze, we can clearly see the huge energy of star making on the platform.
With a heart wrenching "Promise", Guo Youcai has gained tens of millions of fans in just ten days, and the income of a single live broadcast has reached more than 1 million yuan. It is even reported that Guo Youcai was signed by a local MCN agency, with a signing fee of up to 50 million yuan.
Why did Guo Youcai explode overnight?
It is not because of his "Promise", which is "no skill but all feelings", how well it sounds, nor because of how bitter and inspirational his experience is, or how touching his faithful love story with his girlfriend, "a good wife helps me in Qingyunzhi, and I return ten thousand liang gold to a good wife", is. Otherwise, Guo Youcai's popularity will not make many people feel puzzled.
Essentially, the current society needs grassroots counterattack samples to provide emotional value and spiritual massage.
From Yu Wenliang to Guo Youcai, this is the story of Internet popularity. Ordinary but not extreme, with some positive energy elements, such characters can form resonance.
As far as the platform is concerned, it is building the legitimacy of public opinion for the stigmatized webcast by pushing one ordinary person after another to the center of the stage to let people see that live broadcast can change their lives.
At the social level, the rapid rise of "Guo Youcai" and the explosive growth of wealth brought about by it make everyone believe that the grass roots will not always be buried, but there will also be a day when ordinary people will be promoted, and the ceiling is often higher than expected.
So far, the truth of Guo Youcai's popularity has become clear at a glance - when lying flat and rolling inside became a collective narrative of young people, the emergence of "Guo Youcai people" brought hope for turning over. Although the probability of turning over and becoming popular is as low as winning the lottery, at least it shows that today's society is not monolithic.
02
After ten years of hard work, no one asked. Once the broadcast is broadcast, the world will know.
Guo Youcai's counterattack is really too tempting. But when wealth comes too fast and too suddenly, the development of things gradually gets out of control and turns sour, which is the expected result.
Over the past two days, more and more people questioned Guo Youcai. Many people said that someone else had set up a car to overturn, and more worried people cried out. Guo Youcai's explosion made a bad start. The whole society is enthusiastic about getting rich overnight, which will only spread the impetuous atmosphere of getting something for nothing and trigger copycat. The best proof is the online celebrities who show off in front of Heze South Railway Station.
In the cry of "we must cut off the red tumor that endangers children", the reflection on Guo Youcai's phenomenon finally reached a climax - under the news posts, I saw many netizens leave messages, calling for the closure of rewards, and even calling for the prohibition of webcasting.
To be honest, I don't like those online celebrities who are ostentatious, but when I see the relevant live broadcast, the most thing I can do is to draw them away directly, and I don't even have the motivation to click "not interested".
In the era of market economy, where there is demand, there is supply. The audience has the need of motivation, so there is Guo Youcai; There is a need to judge ugliness, so there are online celebrities who play ugliness.
Whether it is Guo Youcai who is regarded as a model of inspiration or those online celebrities who have gone to Heze to rub traffic, they are just two sides of a coin. They are all products of the needs of the times.
Why did Guo Youcai not fire early or late? It was precisely at this time that he burst into flames? You know, he didn't start live broadcasting recently, nor did he start singing "Promise" recently.
If you understand the current economic and social environment, it is easy to understand the timing of Guo Youcai's explosion.
In the past two years, the downward pressure on the economy has increased, social expectations have weakened, and confidence is insufficient. Reports of layoffs, bankruptcies, and debts can be seen everywhere. The story of middle-aged unemployment and middle class poverty has even become a rich mine in news reports. Do you find that there seem to be more and more extreme injury events nowadays?
When social vitality and confidence are insufficient, Guo Youcai is the placebo that provides emotional value.
So, when some people shout "fight and kill" to liquidate the online celebrity culture represented by "Guo Youcai", perhaps we should seriously think about a question - if we adopt shock therapy, close the rewards and ban the live broadcast in one step, will this society really be better?
The answer may be no.
To a large extent, online celebrity economy plays the role of placebo and decompression valve. The new star making mechanism creates a sense of satisfaction for the audience that grassroots can counter attack, and provides a way to make a living, although in many people's eyes, this way is essentially online begging.
Those online celebrities who have gone to Heze to rub traffic are at most ugly, far from being a disaster to the country and the people.
Under the current economic and employment pressure, those who cut off the way of live broadcasting and have no skills are like a group of unemployed refugees, which is exactly what creates instability for the society.
03
In the process of social development, the hat of "social cancer" has almost become a universal stick. Online games are a cancer, e-commerce is a cancer, and online live broadcasting is a cancer. Even in the early years, Teresa Teng's voice was also a cancer of society.
Critics are worried to point out that the values of people infected by these cancer cultures are deteriorating. But in fact, with the development of the society today, is it true that every generation is getting worse?
I have no feelings for Guo Youcai, and even less for those Internet celebrities who are dancing in the crowd. However, "Guo Youcai" cannot afford the big hat of corrupting the social atmosphere.
A common criticism is that online celebrities are over packaged, which will pass on wrong values to teenagers, let them follow the trend, fall into unrealistic fantasy of becoming rich, and stop reading. "More and more people want to become online celebrities. If they don't go to work, the world will end".
This kind of worrisome worry is actually a great misunderstanding of online celebrity economy. The star making energy of the platform and capital is certainly strong, but how many online celebrities like Guo Youcai have become so popular so far? It can be counted with fingers.
In fact, webcasting has never been a golden industry. The Report on the Development of China's Online Performance (Live and Short Video) Industry (2022-2023) shows that 95.2% of the anchors with live broadcast as the main source of income have a monthly income of less than 5000 yuan.
"95% of anchors earn less than delivery clerks", which is the current industry reality. Behind Guo Youcai's myth of wealth creation, there are countless anchors who can only earn modest income by live webcasting. The main function of live broadcast is not to make money, but to make a living.
Online live broadcasting is an industry without any barriers. It is free to enter and exit. Even if some people are confused by the myth of Guo Youcai's overnight explosion and becoming rich, they will flock to become anchors. If there is no talent for live broadcasting, he will sooner or later recognize the reality, realize the cruelty of this industry, and quit to find another way out.
Therefore, national online popularity is just a hypothetical target, and it has no realistic possibility at all. It is biased to take it as the argument of criticism to denounce "Guo Youcai"?
Again, when the repressed social atmosphere needs Guo Youcai's inspirational story to heal, and judging ugliness is also an objective need, don't always call for power and give online celebrity culture a sweeping liquidation.
After the live broadcast is cut off, does this society have enough employment opportunities to earn money for those online celebrities who have no skills?
An increasingly narrow social environment requires diversity and inclusiveness. If you have no feelings for Guo Youcai, slip away; If you feel that those crazy online celebrities are too ugly, click "not interested", which is enough.
