Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to investigate how the popular male K-pop group BTS has influenced seven people, to motivate them to a better mental health and new life path in Sweden. The study examines purple dreams that represents mine and six other individuals’ stories that has found similar motivation from Korean popular culture. The method used in this study are autoethnography, my own prior memories and qualitative methods in the form of three interviews and three written stories. The theoretical perspective in the study consists of Blumer's interactionism, which provides a closer insight into how a fandom as a whole community acts and reacts in its inner workings.

The results show that the informants experience an improvement in their mental state through this community. It also showed that communication between fans has helped improve mood, providing fans with a community to help fulfill some goals on the road to their dreams. It emerged in the interviews and stories that fans, and idols play a significant role in the BTS community. The community's experience show that culture and interaction are important to people's lifestyles and have contributed to better mental health.