A Study On Affective Labor In The Realationship Between Fans And Virtual Idols

With the advancement of technologies such as motion capture,voice synthesis and hologram,the virtual idol industry has started to emerge and lead the new trend of youth culture and entertainment consumption in China against the background of the continuous collapse of real idols.As a new medium with specific technological and cultural biases,virtual idols have given rise to a new fan culture and built emotional relationships different from those between real idols and fans.This paper conducts a case study on the virtual idol group A-SOUL,introduces the theory of "affective labor”,uses participant observation,in-depth interviews,content analysis and other research methods to explore the role of affective labor in the relationship between fans and virtual idols,the expression of affective labor between fans and real people performing in virtual spaces,the impact of affective labor on the subject and the development of the industry,and finally proposes a study on the relationship between fans and virtual idols.Finally,we propose suggestions for guiding the development of virtual idol industry from the perspective of affective labor.This study finds that fans obtain emotional satisfaction and identity through different forms of participatory affective labor,creative affective labor,and consumer affective labor.Virtual idols have gained the recognition and self-empowerment of fans through the shallow participatory and deep output affective labor performed by the people behind them.However,as the commercial value of virtual idol IP increases,the game and structural contradictions between the capital,real people performing in virtual spaces and the fans become increasingly prominent,leading to emotional disillusionment and group polarization of fans on the one hand,and the splitting of subjectivity and excessive exploitation of real people performing in virtual spaces in switching between dual identities on the other.These problems affect the healthy development of the virtual idol industry on the one hand,and have a great impact on the construction of subjectivity of fans and real people performing in virtual spaces on the other.This study explores this issue from the perspective of affective labor empowerment and alienation,in order to reflect on the development of the industry and the construction of subjectivity,which has certain theoretical significance and application value.