Global Stars on Local Screens: BTS and Its “Army”
Global Stars on Local Screens: BTS and Its “Army”
Author(s): Rozália Klára BakóSubject(s): Music, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Evaluation research, Family and social welfare, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: Scientia Kiadó
Keywords: K-pop; Hungarians from rural Romania; cultural bubble; BTS fandom;
Summary/Abstract: This research note is aimed at exploring the opportunities and challenges faced by teenagers living in an underprivileged region in Romania as fans of an internationally popular K-pop band. We used desk research and netnography to explore similarities and differences between the local and international BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) fandom, also called “Army”. Which are the barriers a Hungarian “Army” from Romania encounters when engaging with their idols? What is the role of K-pop in opening up the language and cultural bubble in which Hungarian youth in rural Romania live?1 The innovative element in our empirical research is the focus on family context: we interviewed both BTS fans and their parents in order to assess to what extent is K-pop in general and BTS in particular part of their daily lives. With its limitations as a small-scale qualitative analysis, such research can give insights into fan studies from a comparative perspective.
Journal: Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Communicatio
- Issue Year: 2020
- Issue No: 7
- Page Range: 151-165
- Page Count: 15
- Language: English