Content area
Abstract
This is a transborder cultural consumption study which focuses on the fan cultures of Hong Kong television stars in contemporary Mainland China. The methodology of this research is composed of my aca-fan position, nine-year’s ethnographic experiences, and forty-three in-depth interviews with the fans. I argue that any cultural consumption study has to begin with the examination of economic transactions and then expand to the wider social and cultural dimensions. It is found that two new types of social relations, which are the F-O (fans and the object of fandom) and the F-F (fans and fans) relations, have been constantly experimented in the processes of star-chasing fan practices. Among these relations, the consuming model, the learning model, the (homosexual) eroticizing model and the fan-friendship model are the most important four models in this case. These models are not listed statically in this paper; rather, I show the dynamic processes in which they are activated or avoided by the fans in the fan talks. Meanwhile, I contend that the structures of the fan communities should be understood in a ‘networking’ way to go beyond the monolithic imagination to envision these fluid fan formations. Therefore, the two predominated theoretical approaches in the previous fan studies, the IRP (Incorporation/Resistance Paradigm) and LP (Life Paradigm), have been re-examined. By interrogating the power relations and fully capturing the fan experiences in their life trajectories at the same time, this paper draws a cultural consumption picture with a holistic vision.
Furthermore, I endeavor to articulate the micro-politics of everyday consumption to the macro-politics of the heatedly debated issues on the Hong Kong identities and the Sino-HongKong relations. In this particular fan culture, if it is the HongKongness which is enjoyed by the fans, what is it exactly? It is found that the HongKongness could be a consumption habit which had been carved into the fans’ growth of youth, and/or a strategic misrecognition of the ‘entertainment utopia sensibilities’; when it comes to the Sino-HongKong conflicts, the HongKongness is a kind of discriminating discourse. In other words, the HongKongess is usually operated through negation in the fan talks, thus, it might be an empty signifier without any concrete, authentic and comprehensive contents. However, it cannot be easily ignored, since it is this very emptiness that could be filled with anything. HongKongness, even as an empty signifier, is an emotion-loaded symbolic sign. In this case, Hong Kong should be understood as a format of emotion. By picturing an out-of-HongKong HongKongness with its unique positionality, which is formed through the popular culture fandom, this research tries to bring with more possibilities in the Hong Kong studies.
