• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.9 no.11
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• pp.130-139
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• 2009

This paper introduces the secondary cultural productions of game fandom that have been underestimated. The participatory cultural activities of game users are broadly expanding owing to machinima technology based on game engine. It allows gamers to make the three dimensional digital animations simple and easy way. This paper studies that how simple game consumers change their role as producers through machinima. This study is focused on the relationship between polysemy of participatory Machinima and former fandom's the secondary culture studies using ethnographic research method. It is to clarify relationship between the game users' psychological motivation for culture practice and the machinimas. We verify practically the machinima's effects on fandom culture through analysing viewers' reaction using replies on the machinimas and then find out machinima is a very important tool for expanding the game culture realm as the main body.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.559-575
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• 2021

The popularity of K-pop, the development of diverse media and communications, and rapid globalization are increasing consumers' attachment to celebrities. These celebrities, called "Human brand", have a growing impact on consumers. However, research on idol celebrities has been conducted mainly on teenagers. Furthermore, there are limits to the studies on consumers' attachment to idol celebrities who do not advertise specific products and intention to purchase products which are not advertised but related to the idol human brand. Therefore, this study has been conducted on 301 out of 400 adult women in their twenties to forties in Korea to examine the relationship between the characteristics of the idol human brand, attachment to the idol human brand, desire to imitate the idol human brand, desire to identify with the idol human brand and its fandom community, and the effect on purchase intention. For the statistical analysis, SPSS and AMOS were used. The study found that the characteristics of the idol human brand which are trust, professionality, social attractiveness, and physical attractiveness positively influenced attachment to the idol human brand. The attachment to the idol human brand positively affected the imitation desire toward the idol human brand, and the identification desire with the idol human brand, and to identify with its fandom community. Additionally, the desire to imitate and to identify with the idol human brand and its fandom community positively affected the intention. Furthermore, the relationships between all variables were found to have a significant mediating effect.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.523-530
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• 2019

This study examines how global fandom for Korean dramas is formed and maintained by examining the reason and purpose of voluntarily making the subtitles of Korean drama through in-depth email interviews with foreign subtitle producers(fan subber) working on a video site called Viki.com. The research focused on Viki's fan community, which has grown into the most influential Korean Wave platform. Collective intelligence expresses in the fan community produces more than professional results and they are acting as consumers, cultural producers, and second creators of K-content. In order to continue the spread of K-content, it needs to pay more attention to the long-term strategy of global fandom combined with the fan community activities of the new media platform and network effects.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.480-493
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• 2021

In this paper, we attempt to empirically explain the process by which fandom performs social participation using digital media. To do this, we utilize the concept of identification and the Situational Theory of Publics in a theoretical framework, and study ARMY, BTS fandom. We confirmed a positive association between communication behavior and social participation, and verified a mediating effect of the identification as well. Interestingly, horizontal identification, a fan-to-star friendly relationship, had a greater effect on moving toward social participation than did vertical identification, a fan's blind worship of a star. This study has significance in that it has figured out the relationship of personal feelings to public participation by mobilizing achievements in various research fields.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1601-1612
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• 2022

As human brands, Idols, the central members of K-pop, are actively engaging in various industries based on the support of their fandoms, greatly impacting the national economy. In particular, due to the development of digital devices and technologies, they are active both online and offline, and idol avatars are a significant part of their activities across diverse contexts. Therefore, this study aims to categorize avatars used in various contexts and explore fandoms' perceptions according to each type. Based on case studies and literature review, idol avatar usage was categorized into products, supplier-led content, and interactive content, and accordingly, surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted. As a result, regardless of category, fandom showed a negative perception of idol avatar usage, as shown in the order of interactive content, supplier-led content, and products. Regarding human brand characteristics of idol avatars, attractiveness was evaluated higher than intimacy and likeability. However, the attachment to real-life idols showed a higher correlation with the characteristics of intimacy and likeability than attractiveness. This study is significant as it looked at the future directions of idol avatar usage by analyzing the fandoms' perception of avatar usage in the K-pop industry from a human brand perspective.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.1-14
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• 2020

This study was initiated by the interest in identifying what the characteristics of BTS' preference is in the expanded K-Pop market. For this study, a survey was conducted to Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, and Korea where BTS is popular. The results of this study show that Vietnam and Thailand have the most positive perceptions of most of the BTS preferences, and the factors affecting the highest quality were analyzed by the differentiating sense of BTS. BTS' preference is an independent variable consisting of five factors: singers and music, a discriminative sense, global communication, meditative lyrics and Korean sentiment. And it has been shown to have a statistically significant influence on both the fandom star and the fan community at a high level. In particular, the Identification desire for fandom star shows that the discriminative sense and meditative lyrics affect the positive at a high level. Also, the identification desire for the fan community's found that the attraction of singers and music affects the highest level of affection. This study was extended to Southeast Asian and Korean fans through a wide range of survey participants, and it is meaningful that a new perspective on the BTS preference was available. Nonetheless, Failure to take into account the various variables that may affect the fandom effect and the intent to purchase, and the lack of a survey of fans in the U.S. and Europe, which has more fans worldwide, could be a limitation of the study.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2014.06a
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• pp.131-132
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• 2014

• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.4
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• pp.291-311
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• 2000

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.8
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• pp.506-519
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• 2017

This research examines the impact of Korean boy group's misogyny issue leading to internal conflicts among female fans and external division. As a result of research, BTS's fans who are mostly female reflected their identities by problem posed by external stakeholders on this issue. In the past, most fandoms tried to protect themselves from criticism but this case shows a positive significance since they broke out from stereotypical cases. Under the vague and flexible standard, fandom can be considered the obstructing factor for Feminism which suppress and denounce Feminists' idea. It is important to pay attention to possibilities of females hide at the end of the conflict process, being unaccepted by the society for their opinions and tendencies, have uncomfortable emotion against Feminism itself, or Feminism leading to another type of aversion.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.125-137
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• 2012

In this paper we draw from recent theoretical discussions of fan culture and the new media technologies to explore how online communities contribute to new forms of K-pop fandom. We suggest that these online sites play an important role in setting the new stage of dissemination and dialogue of K-pop knowledge, through which particular forms and spaces of online fan culture are being created and sustained. Moreover, these web-based communities challenge the existing concepts that have embraced interrelations between culture, consumption and technology. Based on an empirical study of YouTube, carried out using netnographic methods, this study tackles the following questions: how fans construct themselves as Korean pop fans through the online activities; how they exchange information and opinions of Korean stars; and, what meaning they extract from online file-sharing activities.