Fan Fiction, Content Analysis, Fan Culture, Character Portrayal
Abstract
The objective of this study was to explore the potential differences in readers’ understanding of characterization in Chinese novels, specifically between those who read original novels and those who read fan fiction. This was done through a semantic analysis of readers’ character-related comment texts from both types of novels. The aim was to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of fan creations and the psychological kernel of such recreations. This study employs a content analysis method to investigate users’ perceptions of character portrayals. The initial step involves the selection of user comments from several popular Chinese online novels. These comments are then summarized and organized into a coherent structure. Secondly, the software NVivo was employed to disassemble the statements and calculate the word frequency of the comment texts about the user’s character portrayals. Subsequently, the character portrayals are encoded and sorted, the users’ character cognition after reading the novels is quantitatively analyzed, a character portrayal bias model is constructed, and the model results are applied and verified. By analyzing the reader’s character perception, it is possible to quantitively assess the potential differences in the understanding of character portrayals. This enables a deeper understanding of the psychological causes of fan creation and provides a basis for additional research into the creation of fan content.
