The Influence of Social Media on Contemporary Subcultural Groups in China: The Case of BL Fandom

Abstract

Social media has become the infrastructure of contemporary virtual life and greatly influenced the landscapes of the modern culture. By tracking the development of a local subculture in China-BL fandom and analyzing BL fandom on social media, this research argues that social media empowers the subcultural groups and makes the cultural expression of BL fans heard. Meanwhile, the social relationship of online subcultural groups shows the tendency of decentralization and conglomeration, which is typical of social network services. In the interaction between fujoshies through social media, the subcultural groups also develop a collective identity resistant against the mainstream society. The rise of social media leads the contemporary subcultures to a new stage.

Untitled

“…Tahun 2006 hasil penelitian menunjukkan jumlah halaman web tentang komik yaoi di Spanish mencapai angka 639.000 halaman, Italia dengan 181.000 halaman, sementara Inggris mencapai 3.740.000 halaman. Sedangkan China halaman web terkait fandom yaoi mencapai 100.000.000 pada tahun 2016 (CHEN Min, 2017). Untuk memenuhi keinginan batin, penggemar fujoshi kerap mengakses cerita atau film bertema yaoi di blog atau dalam suatu aplikasi.…”

The Thai perception of the bounds of masculinity: an analysis of boys’ love drama series

“…The evolution of social media is a widely utilized platform which further helped to increase the outreach and impact of the boys' love genre. This particularly affected the development of queer youth counter-cultures in other countries (Chen, 2017). However, there are arguments regarding whether or not the development of this queer youth counter-culture was really an intentional by-product of the development of the boys' love genre, or even if it is truly counter-culture at all.…”

“…The strict requirement for secrecy has then served as a basis for community organizing and coalition building within the secretive society of the boys' love fandom. The development of this particular system has led the Chinese fans to bond with one another over digital platforms, unafraid to connect with one another due to the safety of internet anonymity (Chen, 2017). The shared experience of suppression has also united the Chinese fans through their critiques of social problems, alongside their love for boys' love (Yi, 2013).…”

“…A form of subversion of the mainstream narrative can be seen through the successful establishment of underground internet communities that focus around the boys' love genre and its consumption. Websites have been created that specifically allow for the writing, sharing, reading, and discussion of boys' love media forms (Chen, 2017). The ease of internet access also increases the ease of information sharing, allowing for individuals to quickly be connected to the community and its resources.…”

“…The internet or digital community has no clear hierarchical structure as well, alluding to another form of resistance to mainstream narratives. Instead, the digital community focuses on horizontal management (Chen, 2017). Moderators vary across groups and come from different geopolitical communities, forcing cooperation on many levels in order to increase ease of communication and accessibility to the boys' love genre.…”