This talk examines an instance where digital fandom operates as a site of participatory meaning-making and collective intimacy through a discourse analysis of comments responding to the YouTube short based on Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters titled Do NOT Interrupt Our Mukbang! Drawing on a corpus of nearly 1,800 comments, the study explores how fans collaboratively negotiate humour, identity, and cultural knowledge in response to a global popular culture phenomenon. Utilising the concepts of participatory culture, parasocial interaction, and interdiscursivity, the analysis demonstrates how online fandoms blur boundaries between fiction and reality, animated characters and real-world idols, and entertainment and everyday life.

Andrew Ross is an Associate Professor at the University of Canberra, Australia. His research focuses on the use of (multimodal) critical discourse analysis in social media discourse. His work has appeared in Language & Communication, New Media & Society, Communication and Sport, Poetics, and World Englishes. His most recent books are Innovations and Challenges in Socia Media Discourse Analysis (2025, Routledge – with Michele Zappavigna) and Understanding the Language of Virtual Interaction: Communities, Knowledge and Authority (2025, Cambridge University Press – with Antonio Reyes). Andrew also serves as Associate Editor for the journal Discourse, Context & Media.