[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-142957-105":59,"doc-detail-142957-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","mcdreamy-is-mcdead-fan-responses-to-a-parasocial-breakup","McDreamy is McDead - Fan Responses to a Parasocial Breakup","","Grounded in scholarship on post-object fandom, parasocial breakups, and parasocial grief, this study examines tweets responding to the death of a long-running, central character on Grey’s Anatomy. A theory-driven thematic analysis identifies five major themes: emotional expressions of grief, recovery and coping, advocating, not wanting to watch, and memorializing, each with related subthemes. Findings indicate these fan responses to a parasocial breakup—especially parasocial death—go beyond prior research and can disrupt fans’ everyday lives.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/mcdreamy-is-mcdead-fan-responses-to-a-parasocial-breakup/142957/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/mcdreamy-is-mcdead-fan-responses-to-a-parasocial-breakup/142957.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Jiven","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-05","2026-08-25",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What research question does the study address?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The study explores how fans react to a beloved character’s death by analyzing related tweets through thematic analysis.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How did the analysis identify fan response patterns?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Using theory-driven thematic analysis, the research organized responses into five major themes, each containing multiple subthemes.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What themes emerged from the fan tweets?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The five themes are emotional expressions of grief, recovery and coping, advocating, not wanting to watch, and memorializing.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},142957,1787691911,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144},1099513958607,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/100002390cf8733938c?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1778829742770036399","St. Norbert College  \nDigital Commons @ St. Norbert College  \nFaculty Creative and Scholarly Works  \n6-1-2020  \nMcDreamy is McDead: Fan Responses to a Parasocial Breakup Valerie Kretz  \nFollow this and additional works at: [https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/faculty_staff_works](https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/faculty_staff_works)  \nAuthor Accepted Manuscript  \nMcDreamy is McDead: Fan Responses to a Parasocial Breakup  \nValerie Ellen Kretz  \nCommunication and Media Studies, St. Norbert College, De Pere, Wisconsin, USA ORCID: 0000-0002-0178-4236  \n100 Grant Street Boyle Hall 352 De Pere, WI 54115 Phone: 920-403-2906 [Valerie.Kretz@snc.edu](Valerie.Kretz@snc.edu)  \nValerie Kretz (PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison) is an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at St. Norbert College. Her research focuses on entertainment media and relationships, both interpersonal and parasocial.  \nSuggested Citation:  \nKretz, V. E. (2020). McDreamy is McDead: Fan responses to a parasocial break-up. The Journal of Fandom Studies, 8(2), 147-163. [https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00014_1](https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00014_1)  \nFan Responses to a Parasocial Breakup 2  \nAbstract  \nGrounded in scholarship regarding post-object fandom, parasocial breakups, and parasocial grief, this research explored tweets regarding the death of a long-running, central character on the TV show Grey’s Anatomy. A theory-driven thematic analysis revealed five major themes including: emotional expressions of grief, recovery and coping, advocating, not wanting to watch, and memorializing, each encompassing various subthemes. Fans expressed these responses with varying levels of intensity. The results suggest that there are fan responses to a parasocial breakup, especially a parasocial death, not suggested in prior studies that should be examined in future research. Furthermore, a parasocial breakup can be a powerful experience for fans even disrupting their everyday lives.  \nKeywords: post-object fandom, parasocial relationships, television, thematic analysis  \nFan Responses to a Parasocial Breakup 3  \nMcDreamy is McDead: Fan Responses to a Parasocial Breakup  \nFew television shows have the staying power of Grey’s Anatomy. In September 2017, the medical drama began its fourteenth season, making it the longest-running scripted series on ABC (Goldberg 2017) . Grey’s Anatomy enjoys this longevity because of its devoted viewers. The show’s 13th season was ranked in the Top 10 of all scripted series on broadcast and cable amongst a coveted younger demographic (Bianco 2017), and it has received numerous awards including five People’s Choice Awards for favorite TV drama (IMDb 2018) . Fans are further engaged with the show on social media. Grey’s Anatomy has over 23 million likes on Facebook and over 4 million followers on Twitter. Week after week fans tune in order to catch up with the staff of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. In fact, the show’s likeable and multi-faceted characters have been regarded as one ofits strengths from the start (Smith 2005) . While the ensemble cast has changed over the years, there are characters that have been featured on the show from the beginning. Dr. Derek Shepherd was one such character. Derek Shepherd, a.k.a.‘McDreamy,’appeared in season 1, episode 1 of Grey’s Anatomy, which aired in March 2005, and he was killed in season 11, episode 21, which aired in April 2015. Over 10 years, Derek appeared in nearly every one of Grey’s Anatomy’s 241 episodes to that point. He was one of the show’s main characters and part of a romantic storyline (between him and Meredith Grey) that was at the center of the show. He was also seemingly invincible, having survived life-threatening situations including being shot and in a plane crash. Given these factors, it is unsurprising that his death was considered shocking (Blickley 2015) to the episode’s 9.5 million viewers (Baron 2015) and that many took to social media to respond (Kimble 2015) . The purpose of t","cbCaiqBPBPzXob8J","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqBPBPzXob8J","pdf",483253,31,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction and Purpose\n## Context: Grey’s Anatomy and McDreamy’s Death\n# Parasocial Relationships, Breakups, and Grief during Post-Object Fandom\n## Post-object fandom and dormancy\n## “Big” and “small” endings in fandom","[{\"question\":\"What research question does the study address?\",\"answer\":\"The study explores how fans react to a beloved character’s death by analyzing related tweets through thematic analysis.\"},{\"question\":\"How did the analysis identify fan response patterns?\",\"answer\":\"Using theory-driven thematic analysis, the research organized responses into five major themes, each containing multiple subthemes.\"},{\"question\":\"What themes emerged from the fan tweets?\",\"answer\":\"The five themes are emotional expressions of grief, recovery and coping, advocating, not wanting to watch, and memorializing.\"}]","McDreamy is McDead - Fan Responses to a Parasocial Breakup | PDF",78]