‘Look What You Made Me Do’: A Study on the Individualized Fan Culture of Filipino Taylor Swift Fans
Abstract
Tolentino, K. (2019). ‘Look What You Made Me Do’: A Study on the Individualized Fan Culture of Filipino Taylor Swift Fans, Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis, University of the Philippines Diliman.
“Media provide young people with symbolic resources for constructing or expressing their own identities (Chittenden, 2013).” The study acknowledges the power of media and its contribution to the development of an individual. This includes how fans do not practice fan culture only as a form of hobby, but rather allowing an external force to create an impact in their lives. In particular, this study shows how an international artist, Taylor Swift, was able to reach out to our country, contributing to the prominent fan culture in the Philippines.
In several in-depth interviews with Filipino Taylor Swift fans, the study reveals how the gap between foreign media and fans are bridged through the connection formed through media consumption. With this in mind, the research viewed the personal lives of individual Filipino Taylor Swift fans as they were able to develop self-esteem, identity, and empowerment, through the continuous consumption of Taylor Swift’s content.
Keywords: self-esteem, fan culture, identity, music, Taylor Swift