Chinese video platforms Danmaku and establishment of network subculture of generation Z on the example of Bilibili.com

For citation: Jin Han. Chinese video platforms Danmaku and establishment of network subculture of generation Z on the example of Bilibili.com // Mediascope. 2021. 3. Available at: http://www.mediascope.ru/2725

DOI: 10.30547/mediascope.3.2021.10

© Jin Han, PhD alumnus, Chair of New Media and Communication Theory, Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia), jin.han2017@yandex.ru

Abstract

In this article, the characteristics of the Danmaku video platform, its videos, and commentary texts are analyzed using case studies, textual analysis, and content analysis theory to investigate the mechanisms of Generation Z cyber subculture construction on the new media platform Bilibili.com. The results show that the style of young people's online subculture represented by the Chinese media platform Bilibili.com is a metaphor for social change and new social values. Modern media platforms have proven to be such a space for youth groups to find their style, create cultural communities and participate in cultural practices, and have become a kind of heterotopias for the rapid expansion of youth subcultural groups. In the virtual community, the young generation follows a certain style using humorous expressions, modern aesthetic concepts, and diversity of interests, and creates new cultural symbols through bricolage, appropriation, and homologation of existing ones, expressing a gentle resistance to mainstream culture.

Keywords: new media platforms, Danmaku, cyber subculture, Generation Z

Notes

Dream land of Generation Z. Available at: https://www.bilibili.com/blackboard/aboutUs.html. (accessed: 11.01.2021).

Quest Mobile. QuestMobile中国移动互联网2020半年大报告 [QuestMobile. Kitayskiy Mobil'nyy Internet 2020. Polugodovoy otchet]. (In Chinese). Available at: https://www.questmobile.com.cn/research/report-new/118 (accessed: 10.02.2020).

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