Imag(in)ing the post-national television fan: Counter-flows and hybrid ambivalence in Dramaworld

Abstract

In 2016, Viki.com and Netflix added the web drama Dramaworld to their libraries. The move represents a digital and transnational shift in programming and production. Co-produced by China's Jetavana Entertainment, South Korea's EnterMedia, and the US's Third Culture Content, Dramaworld signals the escalation of post-national television production. The show emerges where the splash of the ‘Korean Wave’ has flowed apart from and against flows of US-mediated domination, creating new possibilities for hybrid media. It simultaneously challenges cultural imperialism with the force of Korean soft power while also constructing the White female fan as the desired audience. This example of transnational co-production uses the global fan to mediate and reconfigure the shifting power relations between the US and Korea, thus providing a window into the ideological work performed by global media.

Keywords

Co-production hybridity post-national television global fan web series Whiteness

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