Dangai fandoms under crossfire: The making of queer love in a permeable and convergent media ecology

Abstract

Dangai web series burgeoned in the People's Republic of China in the late 2010s and introduced mainstream audiences to a brand of semihomoerotic media culture. We develop an ecological analysis of dangai production by surveying the four processes of online literature creation, entertainment production, censorship and regulation, and fan participation. We propose two arguments on media convergence/permeability and on queer fandom disruption. First, permeability and convergence characterize the production processes around dangai, with heterogeneous fandoms communicating intersystematically. Diverse, interconnected networks of fans serve as the infrastructure for dangai circulation among different audiences and uphold an interpretative framework prioritizing participation. Second, the broad circulation of dangai in different fields of cultural production opens an apolitical pathway for queer media representation to gain legitimacy. This pathway hinges on the tension between state control and pleasure-driven participation rather than ideological claims of identity politics.