Impact of Fan Loyalty in Popular IPs: The Case of Harry Potter
Abstract
In the context of such developed digital media, many old and hot media IPs have been maintaining stable and good fan communities for several years after their initial work had come to an end. The psychological processes that are behind the production of such fan loyalty deserve additional studies. Considering a case of a relatively worldwide popular Harry Potter IP, this paper probes into how fan loyalty in the digital era is created and maintained by forming the constant interactions between fans, texts, platforms, and communities. The paper explores the issues of official ritualization design, interaction between fan communities and aspects of culture reproduction online. It uses a mixed method of both case analysis and textual analysis, which relies on such theories as participatory culture, imagined community and affective energy. Studies have established that digital rites and symbolic systems assist the fans with a starting point of identity creation. Communal communication over an extended period accumulates emotional energy that propels fans to interact at a shallow level, a stage of commitment rather than just an attraction level. In the meantime, the structural conditions that allow the continuity of the fan culture in the long-term are established through the media accessibility of the digital platforms. This paper argues that the result of passive consumption as a factor in the development of fan loyalty is not true, as it is a dynamic process, which is fueled by the agency of fans, constantly triggered and restructured in the environment of the digital platform.
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