Keynote Lecture: 'Antagonistic fan communication and its political relevance' by Mingyi Hou
Why are fan communities not communicating with each other online? And why do they never mentions idols other than their own? In this lecture, Mingyi Hou presents her new book, which discusses how fandoms are in constant conflict with each other, and how their algorithmic practices can be understood as online activism.
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The fact that fan communities often refuse to acknowledge and interact with each other, was previously understood as preventing conflicts between different fandoms. According to Mingyi Hou, however, this perspective on fan culture and potential antagonisms is incorrect. In her forthcoming book titled "Language, Celebrity Fandom, and Political Activism in Chinese Media", Hou presents a sociolinguistic analysis of celebrity fandom culture on Chinese social media in relation to (algorithmic) activist practices, conflict and hostility. Building on previous studies of East Asian pop idol culture and China’s datafied fandom culture, Hou describes a competitive fan-support-idol ethos in the industrial and technological contexts of fan practices. Drawing on an ethnographic study of everyday fan practices, she argues that beyond neologisms and language styles, the linguistic features of fan communication entail an antagonistic order that lends fans momentum in activist and civic participation online.
