A Study on the Construction of Youth Sub‑cultural Identity in Bilibili Danmaku Interaction (2015‑2025)

This paper uses Randall Collins’ Interactive Ritual Chain Theory to study how young people build sub-cultural identities through danmaku interactions on Bilibili between 2015 and 2025, danmaku interactions can be seen as virtual interactive rituals, young people who take part in these interactions are members of the ACG cultural community, they can get collective emotional solidarity and group cohesion by sending real-time anonymous text comments, this paper finds three ways of identity construction, people can form an imagined community around the same emotional focus, people can get sub-cultural capital through interesting language practices, people can also discuss their identity positions between sub-cultural expression and mainstream cultural participation, the Bilibili danmaku system is a special place for young people to build sub-cultural identities, it has fluid boundaries, multi-layered identities and continuous discussions between sub-cultural authenticity and wider cultural participation.