A Critical Forum on Media and Culture
A Critical Forum on Media and Culture
K-pop fandom is emerging as a global safe space for LGBTQ+ youth, offering community and resources for identity exploration. This trend creates a paradox, as the fandom’s empowering effects contrast with South Korea’s largely homophobic societal norms.
Read moreJungmin Kwon looks at K-pop idols and the way that dating is seen as a sin that requires forgiveness. She argues that this stems from the K-pop industry’s toxic business model, and investigates the relationship between idols, fans, and the industry.
Read moreTrevor Boffone examines the use of TikTok by musical theatre fans to illustrate the digital afterlives of popular Broadway shows.
Read moreCharlotte Howell looks at Dropout CEO Sam Reich’s public approach to operations which emphasizes collaboration both on-screen and with a devoted, niche fanbase. Reich has been developing a unique media executive persona fitting for a niche streaming service based in the fundamental collaborative form of improv comedy.
Read moreRukmini Pande traces how mainstream narratives of fandom history and fandom spaces have been characterized by white-centricity, racism, and anti-Blackness.
Read moreTaylor Peterson discusses the recent “resurgence†of Keanu Reeves vis-à -vis his performance in the John Wick franchise.
Read moreJosh Stenger argues that participatory fandom presents higher education with an opportunity to help undergraduates identify the skills and habits of mind they have already developed as fans, then strengthen and apply these in intentional, edifying ways in more traditional academic settings.
Read moreJenny Keegan summarizes the way academia and fandom can both be theorized as Lego sets: ready for communities to build up and together.
Read moreJosh Stenger considers how fan studies is uniquely positioned to help colleges and universities teach students how to learn.
Read moreJosh Stenger considers how fan studies is uniquely positioned to help colleges and universities reexamine, and hopefully even transform, how, whom, and why they educate.
Read moreMichelle Cho explores the impact of multi-platform fan engagement on television consumption through K-pop boy band BTS’s fans are expanding and redefining mediated liveness.
Read morePaul Reinsch discusses the intricacies of audience interaction with official—and unofficial—film soundtrack albums.
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