Platformativity of Desire: Affective Labor, Libidinal Economy, and Prosumer Fantasy in Chinese Entertainment Live-Streaming

This article examines labor relations in China’s entertainment live-streaming, where the state and private companies jointly regulate desire to secure political control and economic profit. Using Hao Wu’s documentary People’s Republic of Desire as a case study, I analyze how physical and affective labor are converted into emotional commodities circulated across platforms. Drawing on Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of the “libidinal economy,” I argue that while desire carries the potential to disrupt economic structures, it is ultimately absorbed into sustaining the political-economic status quo in contemporary China. Moreover, engaging Thomas Lamarre’s notion of “platformativity,” I further show how video platforms interweave the political, economic, and psychic to sustain a “tittytainment” economy that masks ongoing labor exploitation. The rise of live-streaming thus offers a critical lens for understanding the shifting relations among capital, labor, technology, and state governance in the digital age.