Analysis of the Social Impact of Fandom Culture in “Idol” Context

Abstract

With the development of the economy, social progress and the rapid change of high and new technology, mass media has a faster speed and broader range of communication than in the past. Simultaneously, with the popularity of various talent shows, more artists have emerged from the talent shows and are favoured by a broader range of audiences, thus creating a new social group called “fan groups”. Conceptually, “fan groups” belong to a new culture that is emerging in Chinese society, and a new term like “fan culture” has also emerged. This article explores fan culture’s background and influence from a sociological perspective. Some scholars have noted the social influence of the entertainment industry, dominated by idol stars and the mass media, as the basis of communication. However, this cultural association between idols and fans has not received sufficient academic attention. In this paper, I take the development of idol and fan culture in East Asian cultures as the starting point of my study and analyze the emotional connection between idols and fans based on theories of mass culture and mass communication. I also try to analyze how fan culture has further developed based on the concept of idols. On this basis, I also focused on how idols use new media and mass media platforms to spread their culture after their professionalization. The results of the study show that there is indeed an inseparable and complementary relationship between idol culture, fan culture and mass media platforms. This result benefits mass culture’s development and its impact on society. At the same time, the findings also indicate that toxic fan culture can produce incorrect values.