TRANSNATIONAL FANDOM AND NEW FORMS OF CULTURAL FLOWS: DIGITAL MEDIA PRACTICES AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF GLOBAL TV DRAMA

My dissertation explores the role of transnational audiences in the reception, consumption, and distribution of non-English media content -TV shows and films- through digital platforms in Western markets, especially those of North America. I focus my work on the direct collaboration audiences with the media industry and how they manage their role as both participants and consumers in those processes. The purpose of this research is to shed light on the configuration of the flows and contra-flows shaping the media entertainment landscape, and to explore the transformation of grassroots practices when operating under the constraints of commercial industries, and how people manage the tensions that emerge from their position as both consumers and co-producers. Using virtual ethnography and a variety of qualitative methodologies, I analyze this issue following the study of three streaming video services dedicated to the distribution of global content: DramaFever, Viki, and Gooddrama. My approach was based on conceptual notions and theoretical foundations of audience and fandom studies, digital platforms, the political economy of communication, and critical cultural studies. I argue that with their digital practices, audiences not only open new markets to global media products that otherwise would find it difficult to be adopted by international viewers, but they also transform traditionally lengthy and costly circulation processes. In the meantime, audiences act as cultural mediators as they widen the options of media content available to Western audiences and participate in reshaping the media landscape with the increasing presence of media channels and outlets