DIGITAL FANS ON THE CONTINUUM: Idealized Korean Popular Culture and Local Practices in the Transnational Mediascape

초록

This chapter examines how digital technologies have empowered transnational fans to engage with Hallyu (Korean popular culture), thereby reshaping their identities, expanding their experiences, and challenging dominant symbolic orders. Drawing on Jacques Lacan’s psychoanalytic concepts, this study proposes the idea of an imaginary-symbolic continuum to explore how K-fans employ K-content as a new symbolic tool to actualize their desires for the fantasy while negotiating their place within structured social norms. Platforms such as YouTube, Netflix, and TikTok have become indispensable arenas for K-fans across the globe, who often discover in K-culture resources for self-expression and opportunities to connect with others, thus amplifying their voices. By embedding K-content into their daily routines and producing localized interpretations of K-pop dances, K-dramas, and K-beauty aesthetics, fans reveal hybrid identities that blend global imagination with local realities. Acknowledging the limitations imposed by platform capitalism and platform imperialism, this chapter calls for a deeper understanding of digital fandom in the transnational mediascape.