Evolution of Fan Culture Under the Influence of Audience Labour in Context of Attention Economy

Yuting Liu; Xinyun Luo; Wentao Yan

doi:10.2991/assehr.k.220105.290

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Evolution of Fan Culture Under the Influence of Audience Labour in Context of Attention Economy

Authors

Yuting Liu¹^{, a}^{, †}^{, *}, Xinyun Luo²^{, b}^{, †}^{, *}, Wentao Yan³^{, c}^{, †}^{, *}

¹Liberal Arts, Culture and Society, King’s College London, WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom.

²Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006 Australia.

³School of Arts and Cultures, Newcastle University, NE1 7RU, Newcastle, United Kingdom.

^b

xluo2685@uni.sydney.edu.au

^c

w.yan5@ncl.ac.uk

^†

These authors contributed equally.

^*Corresponding author. Email: ^ak21129155@kcl.ac.uk

Corresponding Authors

Yuting Liu, Xinyun Luo, Wentao Yan

Available Online 17 January 2022.

DOI: 10.2991/assehr.k.220105.290 How to use a DOI?
Keywords: Fan Culture; Audience Labour; Fan Economy; Attention Economy
Abstract: Changes in multimedia technology and production have instead made fandom a major form of consuming in the previous few decades and fans are considered as an excessively obsessive subset of the audience. An abundance of burgeoning shows in China’s entertainment industry have emerged in an endless stream in the latest decade. The survival show has become the mainstream reality show and increasingly sought after by fans. Audiences are able to use financial support and other ways to fully engage in the show and lead the success of the debut of their idols. This phenomenon is becoming fanatical. Due to this type of interactive participation mode, a series of male/female group survival shows, for instance Youth with You and Chuang, have made considerable profits for Chinese entertainment industry. Nonetheless, some abnormal and unhealthy phenomena occurred in fandom due to the lack of regulation in fan culture. The sensual labour in today’s fan economy are being digitized and used as unpaid labour in form of exploitation by the capital. This paper traces the historical development and current situation of both fan economy and fan culture, looking particularly at the factors and impacts of a series of abnormal and unhealthy phenomenon that have occurred in today’s Chinese fandom, to allow for a discussion of the relationship between fans and idols by using the concept of ‘audience labour’ as the theoretical framework. In addition, some suggestions will be put forward for the future approaches of the government and the public regulating and normalizing fandom in terms of the development trend of fan culture.
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

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Volume Title: Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2021)
Series: Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date: 17 January 2022
ISBN: 978-94-6239-512-1
ISSN: 2352-5398
DOI: 10.2991/assehr.k.220105.290 How to use a DOI?
Open Access: This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.

Cite this article

ris enw bib

TY  - CONF
AU  - Yuting Liu
AU  - Xinyun Luo
AU  - Wentao Yan
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/01/17
TI  - Evolution of Fan Culture Under the Influence of Audience Labour in Context of Attention Economy
BT  - Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1577
EP  - 1582
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220105.290
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220105.290
ID  - Liu2022
ER  -

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