Discussion on Affective Participation and Value of Fan Culture from the Feminist Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/3z0wj666Keywords:
Fan Culture, Feminism, Affective Labour, Participatory Culture, Fandom, Intersectionality, Digital Media, Emotional CapitalismAbstract
Fan cultures, often linked with female audiences, have historically been viewed as illogical, extravagant or insignificant – a pattern of stigmatisation that feminist study has progressively explored and opposed. In this paper I analyse the affective participation of fans, particularly women, in digital fan cultures from a feminist theoretical perspective building on the frameworks of affective labour, participatory culture, emotional capitalism and intersectionality. It contends that female fan engagement represents a complex constellation of cultural activities, whose meanings are diverse and range from personal identity construction and community formation to counter-hegemonic creative output and collective social action. However, the study also critically interrogates structural problems that are intrinsic to contemporary fan culture, including the commodification of affective labour by platform capitalism, the maintenance of internal hierarchies and the political appropriation of fan affect. By locating fan culture at the crossroads of feminist theory and digital media studies, the study offers a contribution to the reconceptualisation of fan engagement as a culturally and politically meaningful form of gendered agency.
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