“Black Guy Reacts to BTS for the First Time”: Provocations from a Black ARMY

In her personal essay “‘Black Guy Reacts to BTS for the First Time’: Provocations from a Black ARMY,” Jheanelle Brown examines another form of fan-created transmedia–the reaction video. In the past decade, YouTube reaction videos have become a popular mode of fan production. For those versed in YouTube, “Black guy reacts to BTS for the first time” is a tried-and-true method for gaining followers and creating buzz around a channel because of the strength and commitment of BTS’s fandom, ARMY. Videos such as these have a built-in audience and guaranteed response. Recognizing that BTS does not lean on performative Blackness through gesture, AAVE (African American Vernacular English), or dress, while at the same time being critically aware of BTS’s debt to Black music, Brown explores how reaction videos made by cis-hetero Black men might provide a space for validation, solace, and dialogue about race, authenticity, and aesthetics.