| Facing the active fans of TV media,Henry Jenkins put forward the concept of "participatory culture" according to the interaction between the audience and media content at that time.As a new type of media culture,the characteristics of participatory culture will change with the development of communication technologies.The virtual idol born based on the social context and the background of the times is not only an object of entertainment consumption,but also a product of media technology,which opens up new ways of producing for idols and changes the self-expression and cultural posture of fans.The special technological practices and participation patterns of virtual idols provide a good entry point for studying fan participatory culture with dynamic characteristics in the context of new media.Following Jenkins’ s research on fans,theoretically intervene and analyze the new-type fan culture phenomenon jointly created by media technology and social culture,discover the new characteristics of the participatory culture of virtual idol fans in the new media era,and complement the participatory culture theory.The meaning-producing behavior of virtual idol fan groups is different from that of general fan groups.With the evolution and popularization of technology,virtual idols reserve maximum participation space,providing fans with rich participation opportunities.Fans of virtual idols are no longer satisfied with appropriating the original text to bring value-added meaning,but also realize self-empowerment in the act of creation.Under the leadership of this new media practice,fans of virtual idols have given birth to a special fan participatory cultural landscape: its production method surpasses the "poaching" behavior in traditional participatory culture,and fans can directly "create" by relying on their own cultural production capabilities Text;its operating mechanism is no longer limited to the amateur field,and has been upgraded from the once scattered "individual poaching" model to "collective intelligence";the fan texts it creates are no longer just used as free "gifts" for sharing,but also gradually have a commodity the nature of transformation.As Jenkins puts it,participatory culture is not simply a form of culture,but a form of power.The meaning of the new participatory culture carried by virtual idols is not limited to the expansion of freedom of creation and expression,but also carries the change of the meaning of power,and even brings about structural changes in power.On the whole,the participatory culture of fans of virtual idols has formed a new path of power evolution: the producer transfers idol production rights—fans participate in idol production—fans realize self-empowerment—the producer passively transfers more power—the producer secretly recycles partial power. |
