The Political Reconstruction Of The Network Subculture Group In Contemporary China

Regarding the political effects brought about by the Internet,academic circles generally hold negative views,believing that the Internet is increasingly“depoliticized”,resulting in negative effects such as political alienation and political polarization.However,the “Girls of Fandom” who use the Internet as their main activity tool have shown a tendeny to politicize.They constructed an identity with political attributes and functions in the “Occupy Central Movement” in 2019,showing a kind of positive political effect.Therefore,this article takes the entertainment-oriented subcultural group “Girls of Fandom” as the research object,and uses the theory of subcultural research and the theory of interactive ritual chain to analyze the politicization of “Girls of Fandom” as a political subcultural group for ten years,in order to answer why and how the politicization of an entertainment-oriented group like“Girls of Fandom” appears.Methodologically,this article uses online ethnography and in-depth interviews,and uses Weibo as a research platform.Through more than a year of online observation and interviews with relevant personnel on Weibo,this article has deeply studied the political attitude and political emotion of this group.Through research,this article believes that “Girls of Fandom” is a marginal,resistant,and stylized subculture group defined by labels.Under the influence of the dominant political and cultural ideology’s compilation,it has been endowed with political attributes and functions.For more than ten years,the official media and cyber nationalists have provided external impetus to the politicization of “Girls of Fandom”.In this process,the “Girls of Fandom” broke down the barriers of entertainment and politics.They formed unique political stance and patriotic expression,like “Idol is first”and “The country is the biggest idol”.At the same time,“Girls of Fandom” internalized part of network nationalism,formed fan nationalism with stylized characteristics,and provided internal group identification power for its politicization.Due to their strong self-attribute in this process,the “Girls of Fandom” formed not a political identity of unitary value,but a diversified identity that blended culture and politics.Although “Girls of Fandom” is showing politicization,this phenomenon is not stable and long-lasting.Its super-powerful self-empowerment,fanatical emotional expression,fragmented and coded reading cognitive mode,and short-term jubilant political excitement will lead to mainstream cultural suppression,making entertainment and politics inevitably in opposition.The mainstream culture should give the fan circle subculture a certain degree of understanding and free expression space,and online and offline linkages should guide “Girls of Fandom” to form rational political cognition and political emotions.