Following <i>The Untamed</i> : Emerging Themes Among Spanish-Speaking Fandom

Since its initial release in 2019, the c-drama Chén Qíng Lìng (陈情令 / The Untamed) has resonated well-beyond its intended Chinese audience. Current research has delved into the series evolution and dissemination from a variety of angles, such as translation, queer studies, and intercultural reception. The present study aims to contribute to this growing work of research by conducting an exploratory study of emerging themes among the Spanish-speaking fandom. Considering the size and diversity of this community, as well as the increasing dissemination of Chinese popular culture as a form of soft power, the intersection of both themes presents itself as a site ripe for academic discourse. To better understand how fans engage and respond to The Untamed , web scraping tools were first used to download comments from WeTV's Spanish YouTube channel and conduct a systematic qualitative analysis of their content. The main emergent themes then formed the basis for a questionnaire which guided twelve semi-structured in-depth interviews with Latin American fans of the series and a professional translator. Findings indicate a diverse international community eagerly engaging (often for the first time) with Chinese fantasy, notwithstanding language barriers and cultural (dis)connections. Streaming platform access and translation quality emerged as significant themes, along with a range of personal tactics to overcome initial confusion with the material, and diverging stances on queer content representation. These observations align the consumption of Chinese dramas by Spanish-speaking fans with the notion of pop cosmopolitanism as a viable path to encourage global consciousness.