Richard yap fandom
ABSTRACT
Hidalgo, C.N.N. (2014). Yap, Yap, and Away! Oral Stories on Becoming a Richard Yap Fan (Unpublished Undergraduate Thesis). University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication, Diliman, Quezon City.
This exploratory study seeks to answer the question “How does one become a
fan?” through the gathering of detailed fandom accounts. Fandom is a subculture based on interpretive activities concerning media texts (Jenkins, 2001). To understand how a fan becomes one, this study was guided by Jacobson’s insight into fandom being a product of the individual and the larger collectivity of fandom (2003).
Using the oral history interview method, I gathered the stories of three Richard Yap fans. Models of role and social identity were used, along with hermeneutic analysis, to discover and give meaning to the processes, themes, and manifestations involved in their fandom.
The data was arranged chronologically, detailing the fans’ foray into fandom. It was discovered that first, being a fan was made easier with the advent of the internet and social media. Second, an individual’s fandom would not exist without the influence of other people. Lastly, fandom is not a one-time decision, but rather, it is a continuous choice maintained by the object of fandom and the fandom group.