RUNNING HEAD: AT THE NEXUS OF POWERLESS AND POWERFUL

Abstract

Discussing teenage girls as active consumers of popular culture, this thesis argues that fangirls are positioned at the nexus of being powerful and powerless as they use their agency to pursue identity construction through Korean popular music and the fandom. This thesis analyses their interactions with Korean popular music and the fandom through consumption, community, and creation. Through these practices, teenage girls are able to navigate and contest power structures while creating their identity and sense of self. This act of finding one s self within popular culture proves important as the identity constructed within fandom spaces informs their sense of self both within and beyond the fandom, extending into everyday life. Additionally, teenage girls are found to have gained other benefits from their investments into Korean popular culture, such as: unique skill sets, self-confidence, and lifelong friends, among others.