Watching mukbang is horrified but also satisfied. Pretty anchors have extraordinarily huge appetites, contrasting with their slim figures—one anchor can clear off a big plate or even a table of food. In mukbang, audience’s jaw drops. But numerous “rabbits” hide behind “big-eaters” (“rabbit” is an argot for people with eating disorder, because “rabbit” and “emesis” are homophones in Chinese). Now let me introduce and analyze this contradictory webcast phenomenon—mukbang.
观看吃播，总是又惊悚又满足：直播中的俊男靓女们，却有着与其身材完全不符的食量——一个人解决一大盘甚至是一桌的美食——令人瞠目结舌。但在“大胃王”播主背后，却藏着“兔子”（饮食障碍患者群体在网络上的集体自称的隐语，“兔”和“吐”同音）。今天就由小编来为大家梳理梳理”吃播”这充满矛盾感的直播现象。
Since eating reality shows prevailed in Korea—watching anchors cooking and enjoying food through paid webcast—mukbang had sprung up. In these reality shows, professional anchors ordinarily eat for 3 hours，and get respectable income (9000 dollars a month, approximately 54000 yuan). A 34-year-old Korean woman, formerly working at counselling company, had resigned from it since she found eating before cameras brought up handsome profit. She named herself after The Diva and became a professional anchor. Every day, she ate for 3 hours before online audience and accordingly she was sent “virtual balloons” which could turn into money. Besides, a large number of beautiful people actively acted in webcast.
“吃播”是从2014年在韩国网络上兴起的一种”美食真人秀”节目，即通过付费网络直播的形式观看”吃饭直播员”在家中烹饪并享受美食全过程的一档节目。在这种”美食秀”中，专职美食直播员一般能吃上3个小时，可以月入9000美元(约合人民币5.4万元)。韩国34岁女子朴某原在一家咨询公司工作， 但自从发现在摄像头前直播吃饭能够让自己获得高额报酬后，她便离职了，化名”The Diva”，成为一名专职的”吃饭直播员”。每天，她在摄像头前，面对网友吃三个小时，而观看直播的网友则不时向她发送”虚拟气球”，当她把得到的气球转化为现金后，便可以轻松赚到薪酬。除此之外，还有很多俊男靓女活跃在直播第一线。
That everyone has a microphone provides platforms for nationwide mukbang. In addition to some professional anchors, such as Piao Shuyan, BANZZ and Yuka Kinoshita, netizens also hold up their smartphones and share their eating fun, some of who even rises to fame overnight by tens of thousands of clicks.
“人人都有麦克风”为全民加入吃秀提供了舞台。除了韩国朴舒妍、”奔驰小哥”、日本大胃女王木下佑香等专职吃饭直播员外，网友也会拿起镜头对准自己，使用美拍等软件平台分享自己的吃饭日常，甚至凭借数以万计的点击量一夜成名。
In the market of mukbang, most anchors are women with fascinating figures. They fiercely eat, without any scruple, but slim figures don’t leave them away. The great contrast between their slender figures and big appetites intrigues netizens—is it feasible for those anchors to eat a table of food? Truth be told, talented big-eaters are infrequent, however, fakes are in the majority. Gradually, the matter has been raveled out—emesis. It’s an accessory of mukbang, which helps an average person become a big-eater.
在吃播中，主播大多为身材较好的女性，他们在屏幕上无所顾忌，但是身材却仍旧苗条。纤细的身材和狂放的食欲之间这种巨大的反差不禁引起网友好奇：主播真的能吃下这么多食物吗？事实上，真正有天赋的大胃王是少数，许多吃播都只是“冒牌大胃王”——“催吐”作为吃播的附属品逐渐浮出水面。
In each webcast of A Tu, the number of online audience easily breaks 100000. Audience admires her for getting considerable income with mere eating. However, under the glamorous surface, A Tu lives like a drowned rat—she is a real fake. Every time, when she smilingly finishes mukbang, she has to rush into the bathroom to rescue her overloaded stomach, with her “secret weapon”—emesis. Before the webcast, she must gulp a raw egg for lubrication, and pour herself some sodas while eating for the sake of easy emesis.
“吃播”阿兔的每一次直播，在线观众人数都能上10万，不少观众都很艳羡阿兔，因为看起来，她只需要去各地吃大份的美食，就可以轻轻松松靠打赏赚到高额的收入。然而镜头之后，狼狈多过光鲜。阿兔并不是有“天赋”的大胃王，她只能在微笑着结束录制后，第一时间奔向洗手间，来解救已经过载的胃。通常在直播前，她要吞下一颗生鸡蛋来保护胃和做润滑；然后在直播时，喝下大量的碳酸饮料，那丰盈的泡沫会利于呕吐。
Contradictory mukbang deserves our profound reflection. Nowadays, women show a screwy yearning for thin figure, which makes our body a stage of self-performance. Thin figure is put on the top of chain of contempt. Many companies prefer to invite supermodels or stars with perfect body for advertising, which is based on this reason. And mukbang is no exception—emesis is another proof for this prevailing chain of contempt.
充满矛盾的吃播值得我们思考：当今社会，女性对苗条身材的病态向往，使得身材逐渐变成了人自我表演的载体，而苗条身材被放置在人类身材歧视链的最顶端。如今商业团体喜爱使用超模或身材纤细的明星进行宣传，也正是这一原因。无独有偶——催吐现象是身材歧视链这种诡异观念的又一佐证。
Time:2020-4-22
