Mirroring the Workplace: Audience Identity Work and Cultural Communication in Chinese Workplace Observation Reality TV - A Mirror-Theory Analysis of The Exciting Offer

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_25How to use a DOI?

Keywords

workplace observation reality TV; mirror theory; cultural communication; platformed spectatorship; professional discourse; China

Abstract

Workplace observation reality shows transform professional routines into shareable narratives and, increasingly, into sites of cultural communication in the platform era. Drawing on Lacanian mirror theory and cultural studies of audience negotiation, this paper asks how The Exciting Offer organizes nested gazes (interns-panel-online audience) and how viewers use this structure for identity work. We triangulate close viewing of four seasons with semi-structured interviews with ten viewers (five senior students preparing for employment and five early-career professionals). The analysis identifies two connected processes: reflective resonance, through which viewers evaluate habits, values, and employability via interns’ performances and panel commentary, and practical learning, through which they collect workplace scripts and profession-related knowledge across platform discussion. The paper argues that the format operates as a three-level mirror machine: mirror-self enables an Imaginary rehearsal of coherent professional personhood; mirror-other places viewers under the Symbolic judgment of multiple evaluative Others; mirror-society translates private anxiety into publicly discussable issues about work culture. In this way, affective resonance is converted into cultural meaning-making. At the same time, elite casting and conflict-oriented editing can intensify misrecognition and employment anxiety. The study contributes to research on workplace media, platformed spectatorship, and cultural communication in contemporary China.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Xirui Long
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/13
TI  - Mirroring the Workplace: Audience Identity Work and Cultural Communication in Chinese Workplace Observation Reality TV - A Mirror-Theory Analysis of The Exciting Offer
BT  - Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Language and Cultural Communication (ICLCC 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 228
EP  - 234
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_25
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-597-3_25
ID  - Long2026
ER  -