Redistributing Japanese Television Dorama: The Shadow Economies and Communities around Online Fan Distribution of Japanese Media

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.