Platformed Television Reception and Feminist Commentary Cultures on Bilibili

This study examines platformed television reception through the case of Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace , a controversial Chinese women-centred gongdou (palace intrigue) drama. Drawing on qualitative analysis of high-traffic videos and comments, this study demonstrates how participatory commentary on Bilibili circulate and vernacularise collective meaning-making around affective ambivalence, moral tension and evaluative shifts. Rooted in the drama’s narrative contradictions, particularly its representation of female agency and mobilisation of victimhood logic, this study explores how critical discourses are structured through the interaction of influencer-led interpretive framing, algorithmic amplification and audience affective engagement. While viewers appropriate influencer frameworks through vernacular and cross-textual critique, interpretive authority remains concentrated among highly visible creators. By foregrounding the interplay between television texts, influencer mediation and platform logics, this study contributes to digital television studies by demonstrating how participatory commentary cultures reshape feminist critique within Chinese digital culture.