THE UNCIVIC POP CULTURE?

Abstract

Based on a discourse analysis of the fan-audience discussions found in the National Taiwan University and Soochow University Bulletin Board Systems, this case study discovers that the Taiwanese youth in fact draw on Japanese TV dramas as a springboard for reflexive discussions of their own social and political conditions in post-authoritarian Taiwan. The Japanomania fan discourse played a crucial role in Taiwan's democratization and nationhood-building in the 1990s. This paper argues that fan discussion networks are ‘pre-political’ because they create social conditions and alternative discourses that could prepare media users for potential social changes. I contend that foreign media are not necessarily the most immediate oppressors and could become the source of subversive symbols and new meanings for local resistance. Further research is called for to illuminate the shaping of identity by the global media in non-Western contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• fan
• critical discourse analysis
• Japan
• Taiwan
• China
• popular culture
• online interactions
• national identity
• political change

Acknowledgment

I thank the Project on Rhetoric of Inquiry at the University of Iowa for all the constructive comments received during my research and writing process. Any error in this research remains mine. I was a recipient of the dissertation fellowship provided by the Taiwanese-American Foundation of Boston, USA.

Notes

1 For readers who are not familiar with the social political condition of Taiwan, the US Central Intelligent Agency website provides a nice backgrounder of Taiwan:

In 1895, military defeat forced China's Qing Dynasty to cede Taiwan to Japan. Taiwan came under Chinese Nationalist control after World War II. Following the communist victory on the mainland in 1949, 2 million Nationalists fled to Taiwan and established a government using the 1947 constitution drawn up for all of China. ( … ) In 2000, Taiwan underwent its first peaceful transfer of power from the Nationalist to the Democratic Progressive Party. ( … ) The dominant political issues continue to be the relationship between Taiwan and China – specifically the question of Taiwan's eventual status – as well as domestic political and economic reform. (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tw.html)

2 A psychological condition in which victims of kidnappings develop positive feelings toward their captors. Source: Oxford University Press (2009).

Additional information

Hsin-Yen Yang's research interests focus on discourse analysis, media globalization, critical cultural theories, popular culture, and political change. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Fort Hays State University, Kansas, USA, where she teaches media and society, public relations, advertising, and communication and the information society. She holds a PhD in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa, an MA in Integrated Marketing Communication from Emerson College, and a BA in Political Science from National Taiwan University.