This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Yang, L. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

All for love: The Corn fandom, prosumers, and the Chinese way of creating a superstar

Capital Normal University, PRC, lyang7273{at}126.com

• The 2005 season of Super Girl not only turned Li Yuchun into a household name in China but also witnessed the birth of Corn fandom, a massive and predominantly female fan group. In this article, I examine Corns’ dedicated support of Li Yuchun’s music career, and analyse their free labour from a fan perspective. I argue that with the emergence of ‘participatory culture’, Corns have been able to participate in the star-making process of Chinese music-entertainment industry on an unprecedented scale. They begin to assume the intriguing new role of ‘prosumers’ that integrates fan production, fan promotion, and fan consumption all in one. But Corns’ partnership with the industry is highly problematic. While it provides a channel for them to assert their collective agency and power, it also leads to target marketing and aggravated corporate exploitation. •

Key Words: Corns • fan labour • free labour • Mainland China • music-entertainment industry • prosumers

International Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 12, No. 5, 527-543 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1367877909337863


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?