Best TV show you have never seen: Maintaining collective identity among the Twitter fandom of Chinese dangai drama Immortality

Abstract

In recent years, Chinese web dramas based on danmei/boys' love novels have gained considerable popularity among English-speaking fandoms inhabiting social media platforms such as Twitter. However, with the current tightening of Chinese censorship on nonheterosexual content portrayed in media, many TV series have been indefinitely shelved, including the already filmed Immortality (n.d.). Despite this abrupt development, the Immortality fandom continues to engage in numerous activities with the purpose of maintaining unity and continuous interest in the series. Through becoming active promoters of other elements of Immortality's transmedia universe and partaking in behaviors meant to establish their superiority over other fandoms, fandom members invoke genuine feelings of belonging and fulfillment. Additionally, this behavior indicates fans' reluctance to part with the established online community and its activities due to the degree of emotional fulfillment found not only in the collective consumption of Immortality but perhaps more so the lack thereof.