Pop Goes Fang Fang?

Abstract

Besides official news media reports, social media posts, defamatory “pseudo-academic” attacks, and personal attacks criticizing Wuhan Diary, another tool used to employ criticism against the book was popular culture. This chapter provides an overview of how different forms of popular culture—rap-style diss songs, political cartoons, digital art, parodies, etc.—were utilized to shift discourse around Wuhan Diary and give the illusion that the attacks were expressing “grassroots anger” from disenfranchised individuals exploited by Fang Fang’s book. Works discussed include diss songs “Round on the Inside, Square on the Outside” and “Literary Scum,” the political cartoons of the “Wolf Warrior Artist” Wuheqilin, and the viral videos posted by mixed martial arts fighters Lei Lei and Xu **aodong about Fang Fang. This chapter demonstrates how popular culture was employed to further validate official discourse by manufacturing an illusion of “organically generated” popular anger towards Fang Fang. By adopting a culture of play, these pop culture attacks also made the political messages aimed at Fang Fang more palpable and accessible to younger netizens and audiences less likely to be politically engaged. Ultimately, these “pop culture” attacks further reinforced the same political and ideological message put forth in official condemnations of the book.