Para-kin relationship between fans and idols: a qualitative analysis of fans’ motivations for purchasing idol-dolls

2.1 Participatory fans and Gen Z

Fans are individuals with a deep, positive emotional conviction about someone or something famous (Duffett 2013). They actively shape their own culture by reconstructing elaborate interpretations of their cult objects (Jenkins 1992; Lewis 1992). The emergence of the Internet has empowered fans, transforming them from passive consumers of media products to active participants in (re)creating and sharing new content (Burgess and Green 2009).

The Internet and social media have played an integral part in the expansion and the accelerated growth of participatory fans (Zhang 2015). Previous studies have shown that Generation Z, as a group of young people who are being tech-savvy from a young age, can utilize social media platforms proficiently to create and share expressive animations, music (videos), reimagined stories, and other forms of art related to fandom (Djafarova and Bowes 2021;Reinikainen et al. 2020). In China, fans have grown from a powerless marginalized subcultural group to the third power in the entertainment industry (Wang 2019). Fan voting now plays a decisive part in Plebiscitary TV, where idol candidates compete with each other to win the chance to perform on the stage. Moreover, fans also participate in online collective activities such as massive purchases of idol-endorsed products and managing comments to defend their idols (Zhang 2019). These fan activities require a huge investment of time, money, and energy, through which fans gradually develop a strong attachment to the idols they love. Moreover, occasionally, a two-way interaction might happen. That is, celebrities sometimes would interact with fans via social media, which could significantly increase fans’ stickiness to idols (Frederick et al. 2014). It should be noted that while many studies have examined the shift in fandom activities to a more digital and interactive form (Doherty 2020), this research plans to focus more on Gen Z’s material practice as fans.

2.2 The relationship between fans and Idols

Fans may fantasize that they are having an intimate relationship with celebrities. The virtual interactions between fans and idols via new media platforms result in the formation of “virtual intimacy” and parasocial attachment, which represents a strong emotional bond (Stever 2017; Wu 2020).

Many fandom studies on parasocial relationships have discussed “girlfriend/wife fans”, who take themselves as idols’ girlfriend or wife. This relationship is based on heterosexual norms and fans’ romantic fantasies about idols. It is also worth noting that, recently, a relatively new form of fans, “mother/sister/aunt fans”, have become popular. They are co-cultivating idols as their elder female relatives, who are indulgent to idols, taking them as cute, innocent kids who need their extra care (Yan and Yang 2021). Unlike other fans, instead of creating digital content, such as fan fiction, songs, or videos, their major creations are idols per se. In the process of fostering idols, para-kin fans are highly self-organized with clear divisions of duties and responsibilities and a strong dedication to action-taking (Yan and Yang 2021). Previous research on mother fans, though scarce, has revealed the reasons why fans claim themselves as idols’ mothers. However, the application of parasocial relation theory to explain the popularity of this specific fan type has not been explored (David et al. 2019; Xu and Meng 2021).

2.3 The motivations behind fans purchases

2.4 Conceptual framework

This research aims to explore idol fans’ motivations behind their idol-doll purchase practices. This study will be based on the fruitful findings from previous studies of fan-idol relationships and fans’ consumption practices. It exclusively focuses on a distinctive type of fans—fans who buy idol dolls—so as to support a more focused study that does not intend to generalize findings to other fan groups.

Previous research on fans’ consumption practices usually divides motivations into “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” ones and roughly sums it up as the pursuit of “sensory pleasure” or a sense of “fulfillment” (Zhao and Wu 2021). This study emphasizes the significance of a specific fan identity (i.e., mother fans) in shaping fans’ consumption practices. It also examines the emergence and popularity of “mother fans” or “mothers of idol dolls” within the theoretical framework of the Para-kin relationship.

2.5 Research objectives

The prevalence of mother fans signals a new mode of fans’ consumption practices and inspires the researcher to reexamine the existent research patterns of parasocial relationships between fans and idols. The main research question is: what are fans’ motivations for purchasing idol dolls? This research takes a step forward to investigate the role of “mother fans” in contributing to the idol-doll community by answering the sub-question: why do fans claim themselves as “mother fans” and what are their emotional needs?

Building the connection between the emergence of mother fans and the popularity of idol dolls is an intuitive decision. To be more specific, mother fans usually refer to themselves as their idols’ mommy, while idol-doll buyers also refer to themselves as moms of the baby and treat the baby doll as if it were a real person. Exploring the emotional needs of mother fans and how they differ from that of girlfriend fans could provide a clearer understanding of fans’ motivations for purchasing idol dolls. In addition, the motivations and emotional needs of male idol fans will also be examined, as they may provide a completely different perspective to explain their idol-doll buying behavior.

3.1 Rationale for the methodology used

Textual analysis of articles published by Chinese official mainstream media provides a concrete socio-cultural context to understand the current situation of fan groups in China. As a qualitative method that focuses on the underlying cultural assumptions of a text, textual analysis helps in understanding how Chinese mainstream culture conveys its core value and ideologies, and how it interprets fan culture through texts (Fürsich 2018). However, depending solely on mainstream discourse is insufficient for gaining a profound and comprehensive understanding of the intricacies and subtleties of fan culture. This is particularly true in the context of this research, which aims to explore fans’ implicit motivations for purchasing idol dolls. Therefore, to find out fans’ practices, expressions, and interactions that occur beyond the dominant narratives presented in mainstream sources, semi-structured in-depth interviews thus were conducted.

Semi-structured interviewing was chosen for this study due to its proven versatility and flexibility, allowing for adaptation based on the study’s objectives and research questions (Kallio et al. 2016; Kelly 2010). Furthermore, the open-ended nature of semi-structured interviews facilitates in-depth discussions, allowing respondents plenty of room to speculate and express their opinions (Berger 1998). This approach thus could enhance our understanding of fans’ personal experiences and their attitudes and reactions to mainstream culture’s criticism. In short, semi-structured in-depth interviewing has the strength in penetrating “the defenses people put up to prevent their hidden feelings and beliefs from coming to light” (Berger 1998, p. 55), which is helpful in revealing fans’ motivations that they probably are not conscious of and thus could contribute to this study.

3.2 Data collection & analytical strategy

3.3 Ethical considerations, limitations, and reflexivity

All the participants signed informed consent forms to ensure that they participated in the interview with full knowledge of the risks and benefits of the research. They can refuse to answer questions if they feel uncomfortable, because some questions about expressions of sexual desire and sexual orientation can be sensitive for some interviewees. Moreover, detailed information and answers such as the idols interviewees are idolizing, interviewees’ dissatisfaction with members in the fan community, and their comments on mainstream media’s reports on fandom-related issues will not be shared with anyone outside of this research. Pseudonyms were also given to ensure respondents’ confidentiality. The quotation of all anonymized information and content in this research has been approved by all the interviewees.

In terms of limitations of this research, first of all, the quality and reliability of interviews may vary, given that respondents may withhold or change ideas, and sometimes they may deny the underlying linkage between their thoughts and practices (Berger 1998). For example, one interviewee said that “I do not want to get married and have kids, but I do want something to keep me accompanied. That’s why I buy idol dolls.” But when I asked, “do you think idol dolls are the substitute for family members?” She answered, “no, I think it (buying idol dolls) is just a random hobby.”

The second limitation lies in the demographics. Although about 60 % of the idol doll buyers are adults, teenagers (aged from 13 to 18) also play an important role in the idol-doll fan community. However, teenagers are not included in the study because it is difficult to obtain parental permission and adolescent assent (i.e., an affirmative agreement to participate). Some questions about the expression of love or sexual desire for idols may not be appropriate to ask (Blake et al. 2011). A larger sample involving more adolescent participants is expected for future research on similar topics, which provide a more complete understanding of motivations behind fans’ idol-doll purchases.

As for the research reflexivity, as a member of Gen Z as well as an idol-doll buyer who has basic background knowledge about idol-cotton-doll consumption and fan culture, the researcher has been observing mother fans’ purchase practices for a long time. The shared socio-cultural background and experiences helped the author reach out to reliable respondents and gain trust from them, thereby enabling the author to further probe into their underlying motivations. However, due to the researcher’s strong resistance to the stigmatization and criticism of fangirls from mainstream media, the researcher may at times have failed to remain neutral and may have unintentionally expressed her own opinions during the interview.

4.1 Mother fans’ emotional needs

According to the textual analysis of 9 selected articles, mainstream media simply interprets fans as consumers, focusing on their economic significance and ignoring their emotional needs. There is also a tendency to criticize fans’ consumption and fan community. That is, the purchase of idol dolls, as a specific form of the fan economy, is negatively framed as “irrational consumption by immature and fanatical (female) fans”. Moreover, idol-fan culture is seen as “distorted”, “chaotic” or “out of control”, and the fan economy under this circumstance is interpreted as a way of “exploiting fans” and thus “should be limited”. For this research, it is necessary to de-stigmatize idol-fan culture and understand the struggles and emotional needs of mother fans, as this could help uncover fans’ motivations for purchasing idol dolls.

4.2 Recognition from the fan community

Idol dolls could also be the trigger for fans to start a conversation or make a new friend in the online community. If mother fans happen to have the same idol dolls, they assume they have similar aesthetic tastes. “Some people like the idol with glasses, others like the idol in suits. Some people like their idol when he smiles, others may like him playing poker face. That is why idol dolls always have different costumes or facial expressions … Fans can always find their favorite one. I feel excited if someone has the same preference as me, especially when my favorite one is the unpopular one,” Cai said. That is, having the same idol dolls means fans are not just individual fanatics, but members of communities with shared norms, values, and interpretations of idols. More importantly, even if fans have very uncommon preferences, they can still find like-minded people with the help of idol dolls, the semiotic identifier that represents their special interests.

It should be noted that, for male fans, gaining recognition is more difficult. In real life, they face the same criticism as male idols that they are “not manly enough.” In September 2021, the Chinese National Radio and Television Administration released a notice to ban “effeminate” aesthetics in entertainment shows, which reflects the unshakable dominance of hegemonic masculinity in China (Song 2022). Male fans who have idol dolls, as a typical type of men who deviate from the masculine normative, therefore try to seek acceptance from the online fan community. “My parents think it (playing with idol dolls) is girly and sissy. But it is just a normal hobby. Why can’t men have idol dolls? … It is always easier to make friends online. At least they understand me and do not judge me,” Dahan said (Interviewee 11).

However, in the female-dominated fan community, male fans’ authenticity and loyalty are more likely to be doubted. Another female interviewee pointed out that “some male fans are not even real fans. They (fake male fans) just want to pick up girls or enjoy extra attention from girls … It is an invasion of our (female fans’) space.” But she also believes the idol-doll community is very inclusive. “We welcome male fans who love idol dolls. I have excellent male friends online. What I am trying to say is …, it is not only about how many idol-dolls you have. Fans could easily tell who is a fake fan. What really matters is one’s attitude.” Moreover, although male fans do not call themselves “mother fans,” they still feel “flattered” when female fans call them “male mommies.” “I think when they think of us as ‘mothers’ and call us ‘sister,’ they actually think of us as true idol doll lovers, and they treat us as a member of the community,” Dahan (Interviewee 11) said.

In short, fans purchase idol dolls because they can serve as symbols of their fan identity and aesthetic taste, thereby helping them better integrate into the fan community. But having idol dolls is just the first step. To gain recognition from the group, fans should remain authentic and sincere.