Fans, Media, and the Legacy of Liam Payne:

This thesis investigates how digital fan communities engage in practices of mourning, memory-making, and media critique in response to the death of singer-songwriter Liam Payne. The study is situated within the broader framework of participatory culture, parasocial grieving, affect theory, and media framing, to answer the research question: how do fan communities, as participatory cultures, preserve the (digital) legacy of deceased celebrity Liam Payne, and how do their efforts interact with their perceptions and responses to media coverage? Using a qualitative research design combining online ethnography with thematic analysis, this study examines 500 Tweets and 30 TikToks posted between October 2024 and May 2025. These posts were collected through freshly made accounts to minimise the influence of the algorithm and ensure minimal filter bias. Through iterative coding in ATLAS.ti, four key themes emerged: grief and emotional expression, legacy and memory, media and narrative response, and fan community practices. The analysis explores both the cultural and emotional significance of these fan actions. Findings reveal that fans engage in diverse forms of digital mourning, including tribute art, coordinated hashtag campaigns, symbolic rituals, and affective storytelling. These acts serve as digital lieux de mémoire maintaining Liam's legacy through creative, emotional, and communal expressions (Nora, 1989, p. 7). This thesis also highlights the significance of parasocial relationships and how grief felt by fans mirrors traditional mourning processes, even when not publicly or socially acknowledged, illustrating the concept of disenfranchised grief (Harju, 2014, p. 124). Importantly, fan responses were not just expressions of emotion, but also active counter-narratives against dominant media portrayals. Using platforms such as X and TikTok, fans challenged media frames around Liam's death, particularly those that sensationalised or misrepresented his personal struggles. In doing so, they demonstrated Jenkins' notion of fans as active participants in shaping cultural narratives (Jenkins, 2018, pp. 13-14). Ultimately, this study sheds lights on how fan communities respond to loss in a mediatised and globally connected world. It reveals a broader transformation within the topics of memory and grief, where emotional expression, community belonging, and narrative control converge within participatory cultures.