雖然在選秀節目熱潮席捲東西方之際,相關的文獻也如雨後春筍般冒出,兒童選秀卻鮮少被討論。然而新聞報導和社會輿論中,兒童選秀及兒童參賽者往往又是爭議的焦點。兒童參賽者往往被描繪成「早熟的小大人」,並且被看作是星爸星媽夢的受害者;而製作單位則被看成是剝削兒童及其家長的吸血鬼。 因此,本研究以童星早熟之爭議為起點,為有效回應媒體、社會對童星和節目製作單位的批評,透過分析台灣目前僅有的兒童選秀節目【超級童盟會】,從當事人的說法、生產的角度來檢視兒童選秀相關爭議。 首先透過文本分析,釐清節目中的童星建構,並討論該建構如何對立於台灣社會對兒童的認知和期待,即「浪漫童年」。接著,為了挖掘製作單位生產童星形象的情形,研究者實地參與錄影,並且訪談了參賽者、家長和製作單位,共十七位。最後,為了捕捉節目生產過程中,行動者和場域、以及行動者之間的互動情形,研究者借助Pierre Bourdieu日常生活言行理論中的概念,來詮釋蒐集到的訪談資料。 研究者在挖掘該節目的童星形象及其建構手法的時候,也和文獻爬梳過的兒童相關概念(例如兒童權利)對話,以討論兒童選秀相關爭議。透過分析【超級童盟會】場域,本研究發現收視率既是宰制該場域的象徵體系,也是控制行動者的生存心態,導致不論是參賽者及其家人,還是製作單位,對於勞動剝削皆是無感。
Although talent show industries and child contestants appear glistening, they are often blemished by media criticism and scholar critiques: the industries are accused of damaging children's development and destroying childhoods while child contestants carry condemnations of being precocious and acting like "small adults" along the shows. The competitors in Famous Children, a talent show aiming at children under 12, are no exceptions. Instead of simply echoing with the aforementioned criticism, I will study this issue by including 'the accused' in my discussion, hoping to create a more complete picture of the program production of child talent shows and a better understanding of the debate on child stars. In this study, I first examined the child images of Famous Children by conducting a text analysis on the program and discussed how they conflict with the mainstream of child/childhood in Taiwanese culture. Next, by interviewing 7 child contestants, 7 parents and 3 media professionals behind the scene, I collected data for an analysis of their participation in the program production. Then applying Pierre Boudieu's "Field theory" to the interview data enabled me to explore the interactions among actors and between the actors and the field. This research finds out two main child star images of Famous Children which challenge the existing and dominant "Romantic Childhood" but at the same time, reflect the changing landscape of the contemporary childhood. It also offers an insight into the production of the show, namely TV ratings as the "habitus" and the "symbolic violence" in this field.