The fandom is the subject that is always presented in the debate about the mass culture. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the communication between a star and fans becomes the cultural phenomenon by the name of the fandom.
The research ...
The fandom is the subject that is always presented in the debate about the mass culture. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the communication between a star and fans becomes the cultural phenomenon by the name of the fandom.
The research questions are as follows: What is the place that the communication between a star and a fan exists, and what is the contents that they are talking about?, How the communication between a star and a fan affects the communication among fans?, How `the communication between a star and a fan' and `the communication among fans' is related to the fandom?, What is the meaning of the fandom in the cultural communication?
In order to answer each of these research questions, I examined the Yoon, Jong Shin's fanclub. The research method is the participation observation, the examination of the writing contents in the fanclub site board, and the interview with fanclub members. The period of the participation observation is from Jul. 1 to Oct. 31, 2004.
As results of this can be summarized as follows:
First, Yoon, Jong Shin and fans intercommunicate in the online space as well as the offline space. Their communication contents consist of the message from a star to fans, the message from fans to a star and the reaction to each other.
Second, fans like to communicate with fanclub members. But they are prior to communicate with a star.
Third, the space that fans talk about a star and their life becomes the cultural space. And the subject that they share becomes the cultural contents.
Fourth, the meeting in the offline and the online are interactive. Yoon, Jong Shin and fanclub members actively intercommunicate with each other by the interactive meeting in the space of the offline and the online.
Fifth, the fandom includes the social sphere as well as the personal sphere. The fandom that is started from what a fan likes a star becomes the social phenomenon related to the social change.
In conclusion, Yoon, Jong Shin and his fans make the cultural phenomenon by intercummunicating with each other in the space of the offline and the online. Yoon, Jong Shin leads the communication in the offline space and fans lead the communication in the online space. The fanclub members' activity in the fanclub site becomes active when the communication between Yoon, Jong Shin and fans happens. The communication between Yoon, Jong Shin and fans makes up the cultural space and the cultural phenomenon. That is, the communication is the source that makes the cultural phenomenon.