“A Feast for the Five Senses” and “The Hollowing Out of Meaning”: Aesthetic Alienation and Paths to Redemption in AI Micro-Short Dramas

Abstract

Iterative innovations in generative artificial intelligence have propelled AI micro-short dramas into a new form of online art, completely rewriting the production models, aesthetic forms, and reception mechanisms of traditional audiovisual content. Distinct from the traditional film and television aesthetic paradigm of “narrative-driven, emotion-empowered” storytelling, AI micro-shorts rely on algorithmic parameter tuning to construct a comprehensive, immersive “sensory carnival” aesthetic experience. By leveraging a new aesthetic reception contract based on the premise of “accepting the fake as fake,” they cater to the demands of audiences in the age of fragmentation for imaginative consumption and emotional compensation.     However, behind the dividends of technological empowerment, the industry is gradually revealing significant issues of aesthetic alienation. Sensory revelry obscures narrative depth, and algorithmic production erodes humanistic substance, ultimately creating a developmental dilemma characterized by “excessive atmosphere and hollowed-out meaning.” Based on existing research on AI micro-short dramas and integrating the logic of human-machine collaborative production, the aesthetics of atmosphere, and reception contract theory, systematically analyzes the generative logic of the five-sense carnival in AI micro-short dramas, elucidates the diverse manifestations and underlying mechanisms of their aesthetic alienation, and explores pathways for the value redemption of a virtuous symbiosis between technology and art from four dimensions: technological correction, content enrichment, audience cultivation, and industry regulation. This study provides theoretical references and practical guidance for the high-quality and sustainable development of AI micro-short dramas.