Actor or ambassador? The star persona of Jackie Chan in social media

The advent of social media has profoundly altered star construction. While ordinary fans are allowed to produce and circulate texts and images of stars on the Web, stars and their personnel also join the cyber fan circuit to exercise persona management and manipulation. This essay explores the online persona of Jackie Chan, a celebrated transnational Chinese star whose stardom has expanded from cinema to goodwill, on the photo-sharing site named Flickr. Through the analysis of three photo albums on Flickr, I argue that fans as well as Chan's publicity teams participate in cyber discourse, redressing any ill-reputed images and promoting a preferred persona that presents Chan as a cosmopolitical martial arts star and ambassador. This collaborative constructing of Chan's online persona exemplifies a new star-fan dynamic, causing his star image to oscillate between nationalistic allegiance and cosmopolitical consciousness.