상호문화 유기체로서의 팬덤 문화: BTS A.R.M.Y를 중심으로

This study aims to explore the significance of the actions of BTS’s fan club A.R.M.Y in the context where BTS has been established as representative example of the globalization of Korean popular culture. A.R.M.Y did not remain mere cultural consumers blindly enthusiastic about the artists they supported, but also acted as agents of cultural practice and transformation. For a while, fandom culture has tended to be captured by the gazes of both extremes. It has been denigrated as a culture of immature passion or revered as a folk culture of subversion and resistance. However, this study focuses on the nature of A.R.M.Y as a cultural actor. As an actor that encompasses cultural diversity and visualizes the vitality of culture, A.R.M.Y becomes another evolved version of fandom culture. Th e power of A.R.M.Y’s fandom culture behind BTS’s success was also recognized early on by foreign media. A.R.M.Y’s approach to the enjoyment of popular art is characterized by expanding the narrative of enjoyment while returning the pleasure of viewing back to society. In doing so, it becomes an actor of cultural exchange and creation, and this study intends to call A.R.M.Y an intercultural organism. It would be likely to be perceived that the A.R.M.Y can be understood as a fl uid intercultural organism that seeks to thicken the layer of BTS art and communicate with the world by accepting, appreciating, understanding, reinterpreting, and sharing their interpretations to expand the scope of their thinking and practice.