Fan Culture and Leaders of Fan Communities

Cencen Hu

Scholars of communication began to pay attention to fan studies in1980s. Through reviewing the definitions of fans, the characteristics of fandom, the history of fan studies, this study found that there have been two tendencies since the occurrence of fan studies: one considering fans as morbid and irrational, other praising fans for their taste and creativity. However, both the two tendencies focus on the ‘byproducts’ of fandom, the fan scholars trap themselves in the discourse structures of their own. They either demonize or idealize fans.
Fan community has its own internal structures as a social group; there are leaders who have power in these communities. Some fan scholars point out that hierarchy exists in fan community, but most of them drew their conclusions just from observation and interview. Some of them neglect fans’ activities in their everyday life. Since the fan scholars never use quantitative methods to test or verify their results, their conclusions are too vague to be put into effect. This study combines qualitative and quantitative methods and puts forward a reference index which can be used to measure the characteristics of the leaders of fan community.

Cencen Hu is a Ph.D. student candidate at the School of Journalism and Communication, Renmin University of China, where she received her bachelor’s degree in Radio-Television Journalism and master’s degree in Radio-Television Arts. She served as a newspaper editor in Guangzhou Daily from 2013 to 2015. She took part in editing the textbook “The Introduction to Radio and Television”(China Renmin University Press,2014). Her current research interests include popular culture, fan culture as well as transnational television consumption.

Date&Time: Nov 3(Thur) 2016, 12:00 – 13:00
Location: SNUAC #406