O culto no universo fandom: dinâmicas afetivas e sociais em comunidades de fãs no ciberespaço

Abstract

The objetc of this dissertation is to know and understand how happens the manifestation of the cult of fans around a product of contemporary entertainment, as well as the motivations and consequences of such practice. The work is a case study from a virtual community, more precisely, a forum for discussion of American audiovisual series, Game of Thrones, produced and aired by broadcaster HBO. The research presents and discusses different concepts of fans, cult, virtual community, fandom culture, material culture, fantasy genre, aesthetic experience, complexity and narrative strategy. It guide itself by the methodological perspective of the materiality of communication. From an issue raised by the fans themselves, this work also seeks to confirm or refute the hypothesis that the break with the classical narrative model, known as the Hero's Journey , widely used by Hollywood in the 80s and 90s, could contribute to maintenance and/or resurgence of the cult around the audiovisual work analyzed. For this purpose, the data gathered from the observations made in the field are also shown, as well as what they represent. Finally, are brought new phenomena, experiences and insights as possibilities for further research in future studies