A Study on the Performativity of a Personal Media Creator ‘HanguoDongdong’

This study analyzed in terms of performance how Korean one-person media creator ‘Hanguo Dongdong’ which is based on various Chinese pop cultures, interacts with Chinese users and forms empathy. Through this, it was intended to expand one-person media research focused on economic perspectives and media aspects to creators as the subject of behavior. At the same time, we tried to elucidate the dynamic mechanism of interaction between creators-contents-users. First of all, looking at the characteristics of ‘Hanguo Dongdong’ in terms of content, ‘Hanguo Dongdong’ is often remade existing content based on the living culture of both Korea and China, and among them, the main user is Chinese. In terms of creators, ‘Hanguo Dongdong’ weakens the cultural boundaries of the two countries and serves as a ‘borderman’ connecting the two countries. To this end, first, it forms a dual cultural identity, second, plays the role of a ‘friendly friend’, third, plays a role of representing Korea, and fourth, dismantles the distorted representation of Korea and China. Through the above actions, ‘Hanguo Dongdong’ has the performance of cultural boundary-crossing and boundary-spanning between the two countries. Chinese fans of ‘Hanguo Dongdong’ who are users of one-person media while also another subject, watch videos, press ‘Like’, comment, subscribe, and participate in the fan community. Expressing empathy for performances such as speech and commentary in the content of ‘Hanguo Dongdong’ they connected emotions divided into ethnic groups and countries through active performances such as ‘mirror reflection’ looking back on their culture and society, ‘talking’ with creators, and ‘hospitality’ with subscriptions and sponsors.