This study focuses on the teenager's formation of self-identity and subculture through popular music fan club activities. Case study had been performed of the male/female teenagers of the TAIJI BOYS fan club and commemorative party from December, 1996...
This study focuses on the teenager's formation of self-identity and subculture through popular music fan club activities. Case study had been performed of the male/female teenagers of the TAIJI BOYS fan club and commemorative party from December, 1996 to August, 1998.
To teenagers, 'fan' means more than just enjoying somebody's song. Being a somebody's fan means not only just understanding moral or values surrounding a star, personal interacting with a star, making identifying and self-identity with people whom a teenager met through a star, or jumping over their personal experience which is restricted to the school activity, but also choosing an opportunity and a deputy by which teenager can feel and think various indirect experience lively. To teenagers, fan club is open space in which they organize meaningful matter by agreement determined by 'voluntary' will and activity, and meaningful space in which they test their potential ability and acquire something which wasn't acquired by their family and school life.
In fan club, teenagers are understanding the 'rule' which is made by values held in common, and forming a subculture which has resistant potentiality made by voluntary restraints formed by social interact in the fan club. They act like being like a star's fan, form their identity, "I'm a whose fan!", think that themselves and the members are united, clear up the stress and trouble which are formed in family and school, and make effort to activity grow knowledge about forming their presence and future, and resistant potentiality. These activities of teenager fans are the typical properties of subculture which makes their group's peculiarity, in their way, adapting their environment to their society.
However, these activities are still happened in the officious space of daily life mainly composed in the school. It is never disregarded that the difficulties which are experienced by teenagers between the logic of popular culture and school system just for the examination. Sometimes, tight daily life restricted by the very often examination or the vogue of fancy or style makes the condition in that the potentiality of teenager never actively intervenes the culture industry in persistence. But teenager's story about their own field, forming a new style, giving a meaning to that new style, making a new life style between institution and 'normal' action in which they can express exceptional meaning and values, and raising the questions about 'naturalness' and 'normalness' newly form the 1990's Korean youth culture.