Recent years have seen the rise of the ‘processual approach’ in media ritual studies, which focuses on the making of media rituals through various ‘ritualised actions’ rather than assuming them as isolated events distinctive to ordinary broadcasting. This article advances this line of argument by shedding light on a previously less-discussed form of ritualised action: the ritualised casting. It examines how the character of ‘rural migrant’ has been staged in the 28-year history of China Central Television’s Spring Festival Gala and how the casting of this ‘social outsider’ served as a dynamical strategy in the process of ritualisation of the Gala. The case study demonstrates a persistently central position of the image of ‘rural migrants’ in the Gala in the past 21 years, yet the scripting of this ritual subject varied as the agendas and crises of ritualisation shifted. This ritualised casting not only delivered a self-replicating effect that made the success of the Gala as natural and desired, but also, it exhibited a power to converge the media’s categories with other social categories, which further legitimised the ritual authority of the Gala as a mediated centre in the festival space of the Chinese New Year.

中文翻译：

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在仪式中心抛弃“局外人”：央视春节联欢晚会上“农村移民”的表演已有二十年了

近年来，在媒体仪式研究中出现了“过程方法”，这种方法着重于通过各种“仪式化行动”来制作媒体仪式，而不是将其视为与普通广播不同的孤立事件。本文通过阐明以前较少讨论的仪式化行动形式：仪式化演员，来推进这一论点。它研究了在中央电视台28年春节联欢晚会的历史中如何扮演“农村移民”的角色，以及在联欢晚会的仪式化过程中，这种“社会局外人”的铸造如何成为一种动态策略。该案例研究表明，过去21年中，“农村移民”形象始终处于中心地位，然而，随着仪式化议程和危机的转移，该仪式主题的脚本也有所不同。这种仪式化的表演不仅带来了自我复制的效果，使联欢晚会的成功既自然而又令人向往，而且还展现了将媒体的类别与其他社会类别融合的力量，这进一步使联欢晚会的仪式权威合法化。农历新年节庆活动的中介中心。