A Preliminary Exploration of the Reasons Behind Viewers' Differentiated Empathy in See You Again IV
Abstract
See You Again IV is a relationship-focused reality show that has sparked widespread discussion since its broadcast. In the program, the three female protagonists—Mai Lin, Ge Xi, and Huang Shengyi—all face marital difficulties, yet the extent to which viewers empathize with them varies considerably. This article compares the three women, employing two methods—analyzing program content and surveying online public opinion—with the aim of exploring the underlying reasons for differences in audience empathy. The primary data sources are the bullet-screen comments on Mango TV and the comment sections on Douban. The research findings reveal that audiences do not experience emotional resonance unconditionally; certain underlying conditions must first be met for resonance to occur. To be more specific, for a character to be more readily understood and supported by the audience, she needs to meet the public's expectations regarding the "ideal woman", the "plausible victim", and "appropriate emotional expression". Furthermore, the strength or weakness of one's social status also significantly alters the threshold for emotional resonance: the audience tends to be far more tolerant of those in positions of power who possess greater resources, while the greatest amount of hostility is directed towards vulnerable, ordinary stay-at-home moms. Furthermore, this emotional resonance shifts in tandem with the evolution of the characters' stories, as evidenced by the improvement in Ma Lin's public image in the later stages; behind this phenomenon, one can discern the cultural logic of gender and the implicit class biases embedded in the emotional dynamics of variety shows.
References
- Wang, F., & Xu, Y. (2025). Research on the communication mechanism of social issues in domestic marriage reality shows: Taking the "See You Again" series as an example.Journal of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications (Social Science Edition), 37(4), 162-171.
- Ma, D. (2025). A study on the narrative strategy of emotional observation reality show "See You Again IV" from the perspective of empathy.Audio-Visual, (10), 27-30.
- Su, L. (2025). Research on communication strategies of emotional observation programs from the perspective of empathic communication: Taking "See You Again IV" as an example.Western Radio and Television, 46(5), 124-127.
- Zhao, M., Zhong, M., & Wang, K. (2024). Research on empathic communication of emotional observation reality shows: Taking "See You Again" as an example.Audio-Visual, (5), 111-114.
- Li, H., & Deng, K. (2025). Research on empathic communication strategies of emotional observation program "See You Again".News Communication, (24), 16-18.
- Wu, Z. (2025). An analysis of the reasons for the breakout of emotional variety show "See You Again IV" in the age of social media.Frontier(8).
- Du, S., & Shen, Y. (2025). See you again: Young women's divorce decisions from the perspective of relational life.Contemporary Youth Research(5), 58-76.
- Wang, D. (2025). An exploration of the narrative art characteristics of marriage and love observation reality shows: Taking Mango TV's self-produced variety show "See You Again" as an example.News Communication(21), 109-111.
- Li, Y. (2014).Feminism. Jinan: Shandong People's Publishing House.
- Bu, W. (2016). Media production and reproduction of gender discourse.Journalism and Communication Research, 23(3), 56-69.