This thing started, really, as a joke.

Early last year I was supposed to submit a proposal for my dissertation, and I was too busy to properly come up with something. As I was rushing to meet the deadline I thought: wouldn’t it be funny if I write about Chinese pop idols, their often angry fans and pompous reality shows to graduate an extremely serious programme about social justice and development?

Turns out, my supervisor was a huge fan of this idea. What a sport.

It’s after he green-lighted it that I started to panic: I didn’t know what I got myself into. Hell, it was a sink-or-swim situation. If I pull it together and absolutely smash this long-ass dissertation, it’d actually be an original piece of research and stand out amongst my peers. But if I can’t make my case then, well, I’m kind of doomed.

Three months into me frantically salvaging my grades from a whim, I forgot to be scared. I was truly immersed in communications and fan studies as a discipline. Being a fan and a research enthusiast (read: nerd), I often find myself witnessing events online that are new, important and yet to be examined.

One thought remains at last.

I need to write everything down.

So, here we are.

And thank you for stopping by.

e

2022.12