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Javnost - The Public, Vol. 33 - 2026, No. 2
When Red Turns to Maroon: the Resemiotisation of Political Discretion in Audiences' Re-creations of Chinese State-sponsored Dance Dramas
This article examines online re-creations of Chinese dance dramas (CDDs), a state-sponsored artform that over the past two decades has diluted its distinctly “red” appearance. Arguably, this transformation reflects China’s “discreet” top-down political communication approach that seeks popular consent while minimising overt, Party-based, “red” messaging. I analysed audiences’ re-creations and interviewed creators of such derivative works to understand whether/how their works sustain that political discretion. I argue that while audiences’ re-creations shift away from the original political tones to focus on individualistic expression, they nonetheless constitute China’s dominant yet discreet political discourse in a resemiotised form. CDD re-creations afford popular and disembodying qualities, inviting audiences’ neoliberalised participatory and re-creative practices that align with the state’s popular and discreet political discourse. This article offers an instance of how the depoliticising logics of neoliberalism are given a distinct national articulation by catering to people’s political (dis) taste and individualistic purposes. In this process, explicit forms of state political indoctrination become diluted while at the same time the state’s official discourse gains bottom-up popularisation.