Preorder my new book! Recently, Taylor Swift has been facing some heat from fans over persistent rumors that she’s dating Matt Healy, the lead singer of British group The 1975. I know nothing about any of this - I think I can name a single song by the 1975 and maybe five by Swift - but it strikes me as a sign of our parasocial times, when fans have such a massive sense of entitlement that they think they can dictate to an adult who she can and can’t date, entitlement driven by the understandable but false sense that they in some sense share a personal relationship with her. Of course, as is so often the case, these fans have leveraged quasi-political complaints to do so - Healy apparently has said some offensive things in the past, though what’s considered offensive is now so loose that it’s always hard for me to tell how legitimate these claims are. Well, I’m afraid it’s not enough for fans to vet who Swift takes as a boyfriend, they’re now also picking her friends for her.
I think the deference to fans is a result of pareto distribution - the 20% of fans who are the most absolutely insane probably account for 80% of the income she receives. These would be people who buy all the merch, special releases of her stuff, etc.
Not saying that it's good, but there's a reason that businesses put up with a lot of crap from their most devoted 20% of customers - if they don't they lose our in a hugely disproportionate way.
I felt like a similar dynamic played out with the recent John Mulaney special. Mulaney wasn't just a comedian that had a drug problem, which led to the dissolution of his marriage. He was a Wife Guy who had committed a moral crime against his fans. I was just blown away by how many people would name-drop his ex-wife's name in comments or reviews. What the hell? Was the special funny or not? I don't care how bad you feel for his ex. Way too many people were personally invested in a marriage that was none of their business.
If your gonna cover her fan behavior you need to take a look at how she mobilized them in the fight for her music rights with the scooter Braun debacle. Some artists develop a two way street with their fans and are more susceptible to the ensuing toxicity. Lena I think is more due to politics.
"the parasocial era prompts the worst behavior from fans and celebrities alike." and .... "It was inevitable that technological changes would outpace the cultural evolution necessary to absorb them. "
The first part seemed to be always there, but simmering in the geographic corners of the planet. My sister had a Donny Osmand superfan friend in the 70s who seemed nuts, even to me as a 7yr old... But the second part, put us all in some weird Twilight Zone/Black Mirror episode with the volume cranked up to 1,100.
More on topic, I was just talking to a friend about how strange it is that our culture seems to push everyone to try to be at least mini-celebrities. You're expected to live your life publicly, and it changes the way you approach everything you do - instead of experiencing your life, you're more like a director, framing and contextualizing shots and text in real time to create an illusory persona for others to interact with. The ultimate dream is that you can gain a large following of people interested in your constructed persona.
It's like Erving Goffman gone off the rails - while there's an element of performance in all human interaction, now there is an element of mass performance in all human interactions. And it's turned real relationships into fandoms and fandoms into bizarre parasocial monstrosities.
I can't name any Taylor Swift songs, she's just not my thing, but if she told these people "if you think you own me, fuck right off.", I'd buy one of her albums. (and then probably give it to my niece or something).
I'm one of those original Metallica fans who think Metallica stopped making good music right before the black album. However, I respect that they do what they want and not what I want. Their old albums aren't going anywhere.
Has anyone seen Adam Curtis's documentary "Century of the Self"? "Being what we buy" was a concept and practice intentionally manufactured by Freud's nephew (pairing products with psychological needs) and it is arguably one of the most profoundly influential decisions of modern life.
I agree that artists shouldn't always do what fans want (or, more precisely, that they should do what fans don't know they want yet instead of what fans explicitly say they want).
However, I also think that kind of attitude can be used to excuse poor writing. I'm thinking in particular of how the writers of "Game of Thrones" became so enamored with "subverting viewer expectations" that in the last two seasons the viewer expectations they subverted started to include things like "making logical sense" and "paying off things that are built up."
"Now, if I was Taylor Swift - worth half a billion, got a dozen Grammys, celebrated as an icon, and now 33 years old - I would just tell angry fans to fuck off."
By just ignoring her fans while letting them mortgage their houses to buy a concert ticket isn't Swift doing exactly that?
I think the deference to fans is a result of pareto distribution - the 20% of fans who are the most absolutely insane probably account for 80% of the income she receives. These would be people who buy all the merch, special releases of her stuff, etc.
Not saying that it's good, but there's a reason that businesses put up with a lot of crap from their most devoted 20% of customers - if they don't they lose our in a hugely disproportionate way.
This is the best High Dudgeon bit of writing I've seen in a long time. Keep it up.
I felt like a similar dynamic played out with the recent John Mulaney special. Mulaney wasn't just a comedian that had a drug problem, which led to the dissolution of his marriage. He was a Wife Guy who had committed a moral crime against his fans. I was just blown away by how many people would name-drop his ex-wife's name in comments or reviews. What the hell? Was the special funny or not? I don't care how bad you feel for his ex. Way too many people were personally invested in a marriage that was none of their business.
If your gonna cover her fan behavior you need to take a look at how she mobilized them in the fight for her music rights with the scooter Braun debacle. Some artists develop a two way street with their fans and are more susceptible to the ensuing toxicity. Lena I think is more due to politics.
"the parasocial era prompts the worst behavior from fans and celebrities alike." and .... "It was inevitable that technological changes would outpace the cultural evolution necessary to absorb them. "
The first part seemed to be always there, but simmering in the geographic corners of the planet. My sister had a Donny Osmand superfan friend in the 70s who seemed nuts, even to me as a 7yr old... But the second part, put us all in some weird Twilight Zone/Black Mirror episode with the volume cranked up to 1,100.
More on topic, I was just talking to a friend about how strange it is that our culture seems to push everyone to try to be at least mini-celebrities. You're expected to live your life publicly, and it changes the way you approach everything you do - instead of experiencing your life, you're more like a director, framing and contextualizing shots and text in real time to create an illusory persona for others to interact with. The ultimate dream is that you can gain a large following of people interested in your constructed persona.
It's like Erving Goffman gone off the rails - while there's an element of performance in all human interaction, now there is an element of mass performance in all human interactions. And it's turned real relationships into fandoms and fandoms into bizarre parasocial monstrosities.
I can't name any Taylor Swift songs, she's just not my thing, but if she told these people "if you think you own me, fuck right off.", I'd buy one of her albums. (and then probably give it to my niece or something).
I'm one of those original Metallica fans who think Metallica stopped making good music right before the black album. However, I respect that they do what they want and not what I want. Their old albums aren't going anywhere.
Has anyone seen Adam Curtis's documentary "Century of the Self"? "Being what we buy" was a concept and practice intentionally manufactured by Freud's nephew (pairing products with psychological needs) and it is arguably one of the most profoundly influential decisions of modern life.
I always feel so smug when I think about how lucky I am not to be one of these permanently alienated public figures with no personal life whatsoever.
Human beings are designed for small bands of a few dozen hunter gatherers. Add massive populations and social media and this is the shit you get.
What did Lena Dunham do that was so objectionable?
I agree that artists shouldn't always do what fans want (or, more precisely, that they should do what fans don't know they want yet instead of what fans explicitly say they want).
However, I also think that kind of attitude can be used to excuse poor writing. I'm thinking in particular of how the writers of "Game of Thrones" became so enamored with "subverting viewer expectations" that in the last two seasons the viewer expectations they subverted started to include things like "making logical sense" and "paying off things that are built up."
Last sentence reads: "They don’t that know you (or I) exist, and they never will." Should be, "They don't *know that*...".
"Now, if I was Taylor Swift - worth half a billion, got a dozen Grammys, celebrated as an icon, and now 33 years old - I would just tell angry fans to fuck off."
By just ignoring her fans while letting them mortgage their houses to buy a concert ticket isn't Swift doing exactly that?
I don't hate any of these people.
I do ignore them.