Abstract

Fans’ online activities are often traced through the most active participatory members of fan communities. By contrast, this article examines online fan distribution from the outside in as a way of reconsidering how the peripheries of a fandom shape the communities at the heart of a fan culture. Taking Japanese dorama (television drama series) as my case study, I examine how dorama fans redistribute texts and how they communicate with one another while doing so. I argue that these practices reveal an emerging shadow economy that tantalizingly challenges some entrenched ideas about online fan communities and their creative work.

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