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Southern Communication Journal
ISSN: 1041-794x (Print) 1930-3203 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.doczj.com/doc/fa3236795.html,/loi/rsjc20Hitching a Ride on a Star: Celebrity, Fandom, and Identification on the World Wide Web
Charles Soukup
To cite this article: Charles Soukup (2006) Hitching a Ride on a Star: Celebrity, Fandom, and Identification on the World Wide Web, Southern Communication Journal, 71:4, 319-337, DOI:10.1080/10417940601000410
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Hitching a Ride on a Star:Celebrity,Fandom,and Identification on the World Wide Web
Charles Soukup This analysis examines the communicative characteristics of ‘‘fansites’’or World Wide Web sites designed and maintained by fans that emphasize the images,stories,and dis-cussions related to a particular celebrity.Via complex identification processes,the World Wide Web allows media consumers to more substantially influence the meanings of media texts and use the iconography of celebrities to more ‘‘visibly’’participate in public discourse.The detailed ethnographic observations uncovered three general themes within the fansites:(a)a dialogue with the ‘‘artist’’and the fan community,(b)‘‘controlling’’the representation of the celebrity,and (c)personal identification with the celebrity.Con-clusions explore the role of fandom in contemporary media production =reception and new forms of public discourse within virtual communities.Almost since the first occurrences of publicly disseminated moving pictures and sounds,viewers and listeners have been fascinated with the performers depicted in mass media.From television to motion pictures to popular music,the last century was filled with an adoration of celebrities.Today,iconic images of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe,Elvis Presley,and Michael Jordan pervade our collective,cultural
consciousness.A quick glance at television and print media indicates an almost end-less variety of celebrity-related programs and periodicals including E!True Hollywood Story ,Entertainment Tonight ,People Magazine,and Us Magazine.Fans spend their free time vacationing at Graceland,collecting autographed baseball cards,and reading biographies of actors.In short,a substantial number of people spend Charles Soukup,School of Communication,University of Northern Colorado.The author is grateful to Christina Foust for her insights on earlier drafts of this article.A previous version of this manuscript was presented at the 2003Western States Communication Association Annual Convention,Salt Lake City,UT.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to the author at School of Communication,University of Northern Colorado,1265Candelaria Hall,Greeley,CO 80639.E-mail:charles.soukup@https://www.doczj.com/doc/fa3236795.html, Southern Communication Journal
Vol.71,No.4,December 2006,pp.
319–337
ISSN 1041-794x (print)#2006Southern States Communication Association
DOI:10.1080/10417940601000410
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a considerable amount of time talking about and thinking about their favorite musi-cians,actors,and athletes (Ferris,2001).In response to the tremendous role celebri-ties play in contemporary culture,entire bodies of literature have developed emphasizing ‘‘fandom’’(e.g.,Harris &Alexander,1998)and viewers’psychological and social experiences with celebrities (e.g.,Rubin &McHugh,1987).As digital tech-nologies and the World Wide We
b expand the scope and sophistication of mediated communication,fame and celebrity seem to increase in cultural relevance,signifi-cance,and influence.
Unfortunately,few scholars have examined the connections between fandom,the World Wide Web,and contemporary celebrity culture—connections that may rep-resent a fundamental shift in everyday meaning-making and systematic represen-tation in a media-dominated culture.This analysis explores a symptomatic and significant example of these connections:The fan Web site or ‘‘fansite.’’Based upon detailed examinations of celebrity-oriented ‘‘areas’’within web portals such as Yahoo,Netscape,and Lycos,Web sites created and maintained by nonprofessional web designers (i.e.,Web design is not their ‘‘day job’’)that emphasize the images,stories,and discussions related to a particular celebrity number in the thousands (and might number in the tens of thousands ).For instance,in January of 2005,in the Yahoo web portal,Britney Spears had 35fansites listed,Madonna had 18fansites listed,Johnny Depp had 18fansites listed,Richard Dean Anderson (AKA television’s ‘‘MacGyver’’)had four fansites listed,and Judi Dench had two fansites listed.These fansites emphasize celebrities as divergent as film actors,musicians,athletes,and even fictional characters (e.g.,Fox Mulder and Homer Simpson).In almost all cases,these Web sites provide little to no financial benefit for the fan;the benefits seem to be primarily symbolic,rhetorical,and =or communal.Further,when devoting hours to creating a Web site,a Web site that literally could emphasize any topic or issue ,thou-sands of Internet users choose to design a Web site devoted to a celebrity.
In order to examine the theoretical and cultural significance of fansites,I argue that fansites involve complex processes of identification.As I elaborate below,the concept of identification is at the intersection of a number of contemporary com-munication processes closely associated with fansites—media consumption,fandom,and virtual communities.More specifically,scholars have found that identification plays an important role in fans’(parasocial)relationships with celebrities,the expanding and increasingly substantial role of fandom in contemporary media pro-duction and reception,and the unique forms of ‘‘celebrity-oriented’’public discourse in virtual communities.Further,in the following analysis,I argue that via the identi-fication processes associated with fansites,fans can significantly influence the mean-ings,uses,and even production =distribution of media texts and manipulate the complex iconography of celebrities to ‘‘visibly’’participate in public discourse.In order to explore these issues,first,I examine the previous scholarship associated with the identification processes of media consumption,fandom,and virtual communi-ties.I then describe the three themes discovered in the ethnographic analysis of fan-sites:(a)a dialogue with the ‘‘artist’’and the fan community,(b)‘‘controlling’’the representation of the celebrity,and (c)personal identification with the celebrity.320The Southern Communication Journal
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Next,I offer conclusions concerning new digital forms of fan production,distri-bution,and interpretation and the tremendous investment of meaning into the iconic representation of celebrities within contemporary culture.Finally,I examine the contribution of the manuscript for the theoretical understanding of identification.
Identification and Popular Media
In general,Burke (1973)described identification as ‘‘one’s material and mental ways of placing oneself as a person in the groups and movements’’or ‘‘one’s ways of seeing one’s reflection in the social mirror’’(p.227).For Burke,the rhetorical processes of identification are complex and varied and are closely related to consubstantiality:‘‘in being identified with B,A is ‘substantially one’with a person other than himself’’(Burke,1969,p.21).Because humans are inherently separated from one another (i.e.,‘‘division’’),only through rhetoric can we experience unity or identification.In addition to being central to rhetorical processes,identification has also been described as ritualistic and communal.Philipsen (1993)advocated understanding ritual in terms of conventionalized performances that pay ‘‘homage to a sacred object’’(p.108).Further,‘‘ritual is a form for enacting and expressing a participant’s close identification with the symbolic code of a group’’(p.109).Therefore,based upon the theoretical discussion of Burke and Philipsen,humans are ‘‘bound’’together by identification via the symbolic processes of rhetors as well as the ritualis-tic practices of cultural participants.
More specifically,the concept of identification has been examined in a number of ways by media researchers.Cohen (2001)described the identification processes of media consumption as ‘‘audience member’s experience reception and interpretation of the text from the inside,as if the events were happening to them’’(p.245).Further,the identification experienced via media consumption is often directly tied to a specific media character in which ‘‘an audience member assumes the identity,goals,and perspective of a character’’(p.261).In addition to these ‘‘vicarious’’experiences felt while interacting with a media text (Soukup,2002),this analysis also emphasizes the identification processes associated with the ritualized ‘‘fan’’practices that foster group associations.In fact,the ‘‘psychological’’or cognitive processes of identification that are experienced while ‘‘interacting’’with the text are often accompanied by ritualistic social practices of identification.For instance,ethno-graphic research suggests that strong empathy and emulation of the values and beliefs of the celebrity (such as Elvis)can develop into an involvement in a social network or community of shared values exemplified by the celebrity (Benson &Brown,2002).Media Consumption and Identification with Celebrities
Media researchers have examined the role of identification in media consumers’‘‘uses and gratifications.’’Viewers are drawn to the celebrities of television and film in order to fulfill needs such as relaxation and entertainment (Conway &Rubin,Fansites and Celebrities 321
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1991).Researchers have applied the concept of identification to media uses and grat-ifications in two ways:the role of identification with a ‘‘group’’or ‘‘in-group mem-bership’’(Harwood,1999)and as ‘‘sharing a character’s perspective and vicariously participating in the character’s experiences when viewing’’(Eyal &Rubin,2003,p.80).For example,a large portion of parasocial interaction research has emphasized television viewers’uses and gratifications as related to the development of relation-ships with media performers (e.g.,Perse,1990;Rubin &McHugh,1987).Horton and Wohl (1956)originally observed that viewers and listeners of early television and radio seemed to connect intensely with performers,creating an imaginary relationship.These psychological connections,or one-sided interpersonal relation-ships ‘‘that television viewers establish with media characters’’(Rubin and McHugh,1987,p.280),can emerge,at least in part,from media consumers’identification (or from the related concepts of similarity,attraction,and liking)with media characters (e.g.,see Eyal &Rubin,2003and Rubin &Step,2000).Further,celebrities and media producers foster parasocial relationships (and forms of identification)with conventionalized production techniques.As Meyrowitz (1986)originally theorized,media producers use para-proxemics (camera movement =angles and physical cues)to develop the perception of intimacy.Much like the processes of identification,according to Meyrowitz,camera techniques can ‘‘align’’the viewer with specific characters.For instance,audience members become ‘‘aligned’’with characters who ‘‘break the fourth wall’’(look directly at the camera)and thus develop parasocial relationships (Auter,1992).Nonetheless,the experiences of media consu-mers and =or ‘‘fans’’are not always in isolation;rather,a fan often experiences media characters and celebrities within communities of other fans.These communal identi-fication processes are typically characterized as ‘‘fandom.’’Fandom and Identification Within Contemporary Media Production and Reception Broadly,fandom is communal and often built upon a shared identification with a media object or celebrity.1The ritualized ‘‘sacred object’’of the media text represents and,in the case of celebrity fandom,personifies the ‘‘sub-stances’’of identification.Fiske (1992)described the ‘‘boundaries between the community of fans and the rest
of the world’’that are ‘‘strongly marked and patrolled’’(pp.34–35).This identifi-cation,both with the object of fandom (e.g.,a celebrity)and the community of fans,is central to the experience of fandom.Jenkins (1992)detailed ethnographic account of fan cultures described the complex and highly communal ways that fans gather around shared media texts.In fact,an emerging group of scholars is striving to understand fandom from the point-of-view of the fan.As Lewis (1992)stated,‘‘perhaps only the fan can appreciate the depth of feeling,the gratifications,the importance for coping with everyday life that fandom represents’’(p.1).Specifically,as explored further below,fans within these communities,such as the fans of The X-Files ,often experience pleasure from actively producing and negotiating the mean-ings of media texts (Wooley,2001).
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Although they acknowledge the unique experiences associated with fan communi-ties,scholars have also emphasized the ‘‘cultural economy’’of fandom (Fiske,1992).In a capitalist,media-dominated society,the fan is encouraged to collect,to produce,and to consume media and media-related products.The fan is not merely a ‘‘viewer’’but also an active and knowledgeable producer of ‘‘cultural capital.’’For instance,in the case of cult movie fan communities (e.g.,fans of ‘‘low brow’’films like monster movies and beach party musicals)the ‘‘value of membership within these subcultures is based on a sense of exclusivity’’that is formed in opposition to the dominant or ‘‘mainstream’’(Jancovich,2002,p.318).In this regard,Fiske described the fan as an ‘‘excessive reader’’(p.46).The fans’experiences often extend well beyond the con-ventionalized parameters of media texts and involve highly communal and creative practices.For example,Jenkins (2000)examined fans of the Star Trek franchise:The popularity of Star Trek has motivated a wide range of cultural productions and creative reworking of program materials:from children’s backyard play to adult interaction games,from needlework to elaborate costumes,from private fantasies to computer programming.This ability to transform personal reaction into social interaction,spectator culture into participatory culture,is one of the central char-acteristics of fandom.(p.451)This participatory experience between the fan and the media text has been primarily within a community of other fans or ‘‘excessive readers.’’Before the 1990s,the opportunities for constructing widely disseminated and high quality texts from a fan’s point-of-view were tremendously limited due to the expense (both in terms of production equipment and copyrights)and time required to write and publish a novel or newsletter (Jones,2003).Today,digital technology and the World Wide Web offer many opportunities to actively participate in fan communities.Jenkins (2000)argued that the participatory interpretation of the fan is in direct contrast to the fixed meaning of the text.The ‘‘author’’(in this case,the celebrity)does not control the meanings attributed to his =her text (in this case,her =his persona or public image).Rather than merely reacting to media texts,the fan can actively cre-ate publicly mediated texts =messages that construct meanings associated with the cel-ebrity via web-based discourse.The fan can participate in a public discourse that creates the meanings and personae of celebrities.In fact,the World Wide Web includes thousands of forums for Internet users to express their opinions about
media texts.
Identification and Celebrity Within Virtual Communities
The concept of ‘‘virtual communities’’offers a tool to understand the communicative significance of fan interaction via digital technology.The phrase ‘‘virtual com-munity’’has been used to describe the formation of social collectivities via computer networks (Jones,1997).In the 1990s,tens of thousands of virtual communities were formed on the World Wide Web in mediated contexts such as chatrooms,bulletin board systems,and multiuser domains (Castells,2000).Because virtual communities are,by definition,not bound to a particular place,it is especially significant to build Fansites and Celebrities 323
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identification in virtual communities.Fernback (1999)argued that virtual communi-ties are ‘‘communities of meaning’’characterized by commonalities of values,ident-ity,and association.Baym (2000)described a ‘‘sense of within-group similarity’’that forms via discourse in virtual communities (p.115).These new ‘‘communities’’have conventionalized ‘‘group-specific forms of expression’’(Baym,1995,p.152).Stated a slightly different way,the identification is with the ‘‘sacred object’’or the highly specialized topics and practices that interest the community’s members.These unique communicative opportunities are often quite attractive to Internet users.From social support for coping with relatively rare diseases to discussions concerning marginalized political opinions,much of the discourse in the communities of the World Wide Web is defined narrowly,rather than broadly.Specifically,virtual fan communities emphasize the sacred object of a celebrity or media text.Tremendously popular celebrities =texts such as Julia Roberts or Star Wars ,as well as remarkably obscure musicians,actors,and even scholars,bring fans together across time and space via new technology.As Bird (2002)stated,‘‘fans [in virtual communities]are less ‘bound’to each other and more tied to the object of their fanaticism’’(p.36).The communicative ties between members of these ‘‘virtual’’communities are sometimes quite loose,but the shared identification ‘‘binds’’(albeit loosely)these individuals together.Previously,researchers have explored the emergence of virtual communities emphasizing particular popular cultural texts such as the music of Phish (Watson,1997)and soap operas (Baym,2000)and the television show Dr.Quinn Medicine Woman (Bird,2002).Although scholars have examined the (virtual)community development surrounding media texts,the fans’public self-expression concerning specific celebrities via fansites remains unstudied.
The World Wide Web offers new ways to disseminate fan-oriented texts,create identification within fan communities and,presumably,create unique associations between fans and celebrities.While it appears that the identification processes asso-ciated with fansites on the World Wide Web further intensify the role of celebrities in everyday life by altering the relationship between fandom and media production =reception and affording new forms of public discourse,these issues remain unexa-mined.Given that fansites number in the thousands and mark an important shift in the fans’experiences with celebrities and media texts,an investigation into the meanings associated with the identification processes of fan-based Web sites is of substantial merit.An Ethnographic Analysis of Fansites
In general,according to Van Maanen (1988),one of the primary concerns of ethnography is to provide ‘‘a rich,concrete,complex,and hence truthful account of the social world being studied’’(p.3).More specifically,as an advocate for the ethnographic analysis of media audiences,Ang (1996)argued:
To be sure,one of the important contributions made by ethnographic studies of reception is exactly the ‘‘signing,’’‘‘reading’’and ‘‘symbolizing’’—the
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documenting,the putting into tangible discourse—of the fragmented,invisible,marginal tactics by which media audiences symbolically appropriate a world not of their own making.(p.243)In line with the movement toward understanding the active social =symbolic practices of audiences,methodologically,I enlisted the interpretive =ethnographic research tra-dition for the analysis of fansites.The ethnographic tradition (Creswell,1998)pro-vided a means to observe and to record the self-expressions of the fansite designers.Like previous ethnographic analyses of virtual communities (Baym,2000;Kendall,2002),I was particularly interested in the communicative practices or performances of the online participants.After weeks of analyzing and recording characteristics of hundreds of fansites in my fieldnotes (the examples below were categorized by Yahoo and Lycos celebrity-oriented areas located at http:==https://www.doczj.com/doc/fa3236795.html, =Entertainment =and http:==https://www.doczj.com/doc/fa3236795.html, =celebrities =),trends and patterns emerged inductively.I derived conclusions from the recurring themes and patterns discovered within the fan Web sites.Then,in order to confirm these preliminary conclusions,I established email cor-respondences with 15fansite designers.I contacted dozens of fansite designers via email (on fansites,typically,designers offer their email addresses for any questions or comments).Fifteen fansite designers replied to my email and provided feedback concerning their experiences designing and maintaining a celebrity-oriented Web site.These fans described their motivations for designing the fansites as well as their general experiences maintaining the fansites.Structural Patterns:Orientation to Fansite Design The Web sites were typically designed with a particular interactive organization or ‘‘interface.’’On the front page of most fansites,above or below photographic images of the celebrity,was a menu of hyperlinks indicating the sections or areas of the Web site.The front page of ‘‘Tribute to Marlon Brando’’(‘‘Tribute to Marlon Brando,’’2003)provided a representative example:To the right of an image of Marlon Bran-do’s face were hyperlinks to a biography,a filmography,quotes,a gallery (of photo-graphs),and links (to Brando discussion forums and Web sites).While fansites sometimes had idiosyncratic designs,the menu on the front page often followed this pattern involving a ‘‘Filmography’’or ‘‘Discography’’(i.e.,a list of ‘‘works’’by the
celebrity),a fan-created biography or timeline for the celebrity,a gallery of photo-graphs of the celebrity,and links to discussion forums and other celebrity-related fansites.The overwhelming majority of fansites analyzed for this project used this general ‘‘template.’’From this general design,a number of particular patterns or themes emerged.
A ‘‘Dialogue’’with the ‘‘Artist’’and the Fan Community
Fansite designers consistently described their motivation for creating the Web site as a means to ‘‘share’’information and collections with other fans.As one fansite designer Fansites and Celebrities
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stated,‘‘Because I have been a fan of [the singer and entertainer]2since I was around twelve years old and have collected lots of memorabilia on him.I just wanted to share these things,some are rare photos,with other fans.’’Fansite designers lamented that they ‘‘tried to find sites on the net [devoted to the respected actor].The results were not that good.’’Thus,the fansite designer 3created the Web site as a ‘‘public service’’to other fans.The sections or areas of the fansites also emphasized the ‘‘integration’’and interaction between fans who identify with the same celebrity.For instance,a Dr.Dre fansite had a large ‘‘forum’’section including fan postings and a number of links to Dr.Dre and hip hop-related sites on the web.Similarly,a fansite dedicated to Robin Williams had an extensive bulletin board with hundreds of postings from fans of the comedian.These discussion forums and links represent the fansites’function as an integrated ‘‘web’’of fans of a celebrity,or,by definition,a virtual community.As the designer of a fansite for a popular actress stated:You see,I live in Poland and this web site gave me a lot as far as talking with strange people from Indonesia for example.Plus,almost 5years ago I met a guy who lives in New Jersey,he is a big fan and we started what was at the beginning a collaboration (he was sending me photos of her,etc.and I was putting them on the site)and now after all this time is a friendship.This site gave me a very good friend and a chance to talk with many people from many different places all over the world.This is the coolest thing—meeting new people.Like other Internet users,the fansite designers experienced pleasure from the creation of social networks or ‘‘virtual communities’’(in this case,fan communities)via identification across space and time.Much like other forms of virtual communities,these social ties can be loose or tight—ranging from fleeting encounters while ‘‘surfing’’the web to enduring relationships in which participants consistently return to the same Web site.Regardless of the strength (or weakness)of these bonds,the connection is built upon a mutual identification with the celebrity.This identifi-cation is perhaps best represented when the fans explicitly define their ‘‘object’’of identification.For example,fansites included lists with titles like,‘‘You know you are a fan of Natalie Portman when ...’’A fansite for Peter Gabriel (‘‘Solsburyhill,’’2005)listed a number of these characteristics such as:You will stop whatever you’re doing,shush all conversation,just to hear if that’s Pete on the radio ....You believe ‘‘I Go Swimming’’is comparable to Shake-
speare’s finest sonnets in lyrical beauty ...You buy the German editions of PG’s CDs in Germany ...You believe the 10minute version of ‘‘In Your Eyes’’on Secret World Live is far too short.
In the discussion forums,fans often expressed their interpretations of the celeb-rity’s work =art.In these instances,the fansite appeared to be the work of a ‘‘serious fan’’of a ‘‘serious artist.’’In some respects,the fan was in a dialogue with the ‘‘artist.’’For instance,fansites dedicated to the creators of science fiction franchises such as Gene Roddenberry (the producer of Star Trek )or Chris Carter (the producer of The X-Files )strongly emphasized the detailed interpretation of the television pro-grams’‘‘meanings.’’The Gene Roddenberry Memorial Society (‘‘Gene Roddenberry Memorial,’’n.d.)described its purpose as ‘‘Dedicated to the beliefs and ideals of the
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creator of the Star Trek universe,with the goal of paying tribute to the dreamer while experiencing the dream.’’On the Chris Carter Web sites,fans analyzed the themes and symbols of The X-Files episode by episode.In these situations,the fan appears to be actively constructing meaning and refusing to ‘‘accept’’the dominant interpret-ation of the media text.Rather than (relatively)passively reading the text as ‘‘intended’’by the producers or interpreted by mainstream critics,these fans offer unique,alternative,and sometimes quite elaborate readings of the text.By actively reinterpreting the text,the fan is creative and empowered.Perhaps in the most dra-matic example,a fansite dedicated to the musician Moby had a page of remixed songs (originally recorded by Moby)posted by fans.In a number of similar examples,fans rewrote or wrote new versions of songs by artists like David Bowie and Bob Dylan.For instance,a John Lennon fan wrote a new,‘‘updated’’version of the song ‘‘God’’(Askarov,n.d.):We don’t believe in magic,we don’t believe in I-ching We don’t believe in Bible,we don’t believe in tarot we don’t believe in Annan,we don’t believe in Jesus we don’t believe in skinheads,we don’t believe in Buddha we don’t believe in Blair,we don’t believe in Gita we don’t believe in Putin,we don’t believe in Bush we don’t believe in Britney,we don’t believe in Timberlake we still believe in Beatles,we just believe in him Yoko and him and that’s reality The dream is over what could he say?the dream is over yesterday he was the Dreamweaver,but now he’s reborn he was the Walrus,but now he’s John and so dear friends we’ll just have to carry on the dream is over.Representing Fiske’s (1992)excessive readers,the fans had literally altered the artists’work and recreated the media text.The fan was not simply ‘‘interpreting’’the media text,the fan so deeply ‘‘knew’’the meaning of the text,he or she could appropriately alter the text itself and publicly disseminate the new text to the virtual community.Further,fansites often provide extensive information about an artist and her =his art.For example,a fansite dedicated to singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant compiled all of her song lyrics,interviews,awards,and biographical information.The emphasis
was ‘‘informing’’web surfers about the ‘‘news’’related to the celebrity.Entire fansites (such as an Alanis Morissette site)were dedicated to this purpose.The selected ‘‘information’’about the celebrity clearly intends to attract additional fans to the celebrity.In these cases,the ‘‘audience’’for the fansite is the casual web browser who may have a moderate interest in Alanis Morissette or Natalie Merchant but is not yet a full-fledged fan.In effect,the fansite serves as a ‘‘proselytizer’’to the uncon-verted,people who may not recognize the unique qualities of the celebrity.Stated another way,these fans consistently explained why others should also identify with this specific celebrity.
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to show why her work deserves appreciation,and hopefully convince them to think likewise.’’This was especially evident with ‘‘lesser known’’celebrities.As a way to encourage new fans to ‘‘discover’’the celebrity (such as a fansite for the comedic actor Tim Curry),web designers included ‘‘new and upcoming projects’’that listed new films,compact discs,and television appearances of the celebrity.As the front page of a fansite for actor Steve Buscemi stated,‘‘I am sure that if you came to this site as a fan,as you peruse its contents and learn more about Steve,his career,his interests and his aspirations,your esteem and appreciation can only grow’’(Vander-Werf,2004).The fansite designer viewed himself or herself as an advocate for the cel-ebrity by nurturing a fan community.Much like a ‘‘friend’’in a social network,the fan so strongly identified with the celebrity that he or she provided the celebrity ‘‘sup-port’’and advocacy.In these cases,a strong parasocial relationship (nurtured by feel-ings of identification,liking,and attraction)appears to contribute to the fans’desire to construct a celebrity Web site.Further,the fansite builds a virtual community—a community bound by a common identification or ‘‘parasocial’’fascination with a celebrity.‘‘Controlling’’the Representation of the Celebrity The fansites often indicated a desire to control how the celebrity (or the celebrity’s work)is perceived and represented.For instance,a fansite emphasizing the singer Marvin Gaye offered extensive interpretations of Gaye’s albums.Similarly,an Al Pacino fansite reviewed and ranked each of Al Pacino’s films.Its review of Carlito’s Way stated,‘‘The Best is difficult to choose between this one,GF I [The Godfather I ],&Scarface .But with the voice overs narrating the scenes,great acting by ALL the characters,and a fantastic ending make this my favorite of all.An underrated classic’’(Bacile,n.d.).In addition,fansites dedicated to musicians,like a Tom Petty fansite,often provided ‘‘reviews’’of recent concerts.As the administrator of a Paul Simon fansite stated,‘‘All the material used on the site is intended to educate’’(‘‘Lasers in the Jungle,’’2003).As the ‘‘professor’’of knowledge about the celebrity,the fansite designer is given special privilege and influence.As one fansite designer said,‘‘I’m more than just an anonymous ‘ordinary’fan.People go out of their way to contact
me,and ask questions like I’m an authority.’’In these cases,the identification is intensified—the fan emerges as an unofficial ‘‘representative’’of the specific celebrity.This ranking,reviewing,and interpreting of media texts evokes Fiske’s (1992)analysis of autodidacts.As Fiske stated,the ‘‘dividends’’of obtaining extensive knowledge about popular culture ‘‘lie in the pleasures and esteem of one’s peers in a community of taste rather than those of one’s social betters’’(p.34).While many fans may never have social status economically or politically,fans obtain status in the fan community as an arbiter of taste and quality.The fansite provides an ideal means of disseminating the knowledge,or in Fiske’s terminology,‘‘popular cultural capital,’’the fan has acquired.Simultaneously,by promoting a virtual community of highly knowledgeable fans,digital technology ‘‘raises the stakes’’for the autodidacts—more
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fans with more knowledge inevitably make status more competitive and more diffi-cult to acquire.Perhaps,in a digital environment,status lies not merely in compiling information and knowledge but also in the control over the celebrity’s representation.Not only can fans influence interpretations of media texts via the World Wide Web but fans can also influence representation.Photograph galleries indicate that the designers of fansites ‘‘capture’’images of the celebrity and distribute their images to others.Virtually all fansites have ‘‘picture galleries’’that include dozens,if not hundreds,of photographs of the celebrity that are gathered from around the World Wide Web or digitally scanned into the Web site.Particularly,fansites for female ‘‘sex symbols’’such as Farrah Fawcett often have extensive collections of photographs.To an extent,these images represent the sexual arousal produced by an attractive celebrity.Nonetheless,less ‘‘sexualized’’celebrities also usually had photo galleries.For instance,fansites for actors Tommy Lee Jones and Stockard Channing included extensive picture galleries.These collections of photographs literally ‘‘represent’’the celebrity’s body.Via photograph galleries,the designer of the fansite has,to an extent,the means to control the physical representation of the celebrity via the inclusion or exclusion of specific photographs.These fans are not merely interpreting the celebrity via existing media texts,they are also actively creating new texts.
In fact,fans sometimes used irony and ‘‘camp’’as a means of satirizing the cel-ebrity—potentially providing an alternative reading of the celebrity.A number of ‘‘I hate ...’’Web sites have emerged (e.g.,‘‘I Hate Puff Daddy’’and ‘‘I Hate Michael Bolton’’).As the titles suggest,these Web sites typically list the many reasons to dis-like the celebrity.On one of the seemingly endless number of ‘‘I Hate Britney Spears’’Web sites,the site designer argued ‘‘Talent is not gyrating on stage while stripping and caterwauling out a song about some stupid teen angst’’(‘‘I Hate Britney,’’n.d.).Similarly,the Web site ‘‘Mugshots of the Rich and Famous’’exclusively posts police photographs of celebrities after they were arrested.
Another case,The Spicoli Page,dedicated to the fictional character Jeff Spicoli in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High ,provided a detailed examination of the cul-tural value and (fictional)history of the ‘‘surfer’’character.Instead of a reverent rep-resentation of the ‘‘art’’of well-respected actor Sean Penn,who portrayed Spicoli early in his career,the fansite designer irreverently and satirically examined the life-style of a fictional character.While these ‘‘fansites’’are exceptional (the vast majority of fansites are earnest homages to celebrities),like other fansite designers,these web-masters are constructing an image for the celebrity (in these cases,a negative image).Further,the fan is offering an interpretation quite different from the manufactured image of the celebrity.This ‘‘struggle over ownership’’(Baym,2000,p.104)is com-mon in fan groups that intensely criticize a media text.But,unlike a ‘‘traditional’’group of fans attempting to influence the writers of a television series,in the case of a fansite,the individual fan is creating an alternative text that reinterprets the cel-ebrity.In other words,unlike fans who rely on elaborate letter writing campaigns in order to influence the writers or producers of a media text,the fan becomes the writer (or ‘‘re-writer’’)of the text,not dependent on the original writers or producers.Via digital technology,the fan can both critique and recreate the public image of the Fansites and Celebrities 329
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celebrity.In many respects,if the celebrity represents the fans’Burkean ‘‘reflection in the social mirror,’’fans can now more actively influence the images that appear in this social mirror.
Personal Identification with the Celebrity
The fansite administrators consistently described a ‘‘moment,’’usually an experience with a popular culture text that ‘‘transformed’’them from a casual audience member into a ‘‘fan.’’Fans described an experience at a concert,watching a film,or reading a personal interview with the celebrity.These transformative experiences represent the intense identification between the designers of fan Web sites and the celebrity of their interest.In a vivid commentary posted on her Web site,a Margaret Cho (the Asian American actress and comedian)fan (who is also Asian American)described her interest in the comedian:
In Margaret’s bits I find a lot of things I can identify with.I think she even feels the same way about origami that I do ....For me,the attraction to Margaret’s comedic stylings was simply because no other comedian on television had the same woes as my brother and I,and as my mother can tell you,I watched a lot of comic shows.(‘‘Tribute to Margaret,’’n.d.)
The identification was often more implicit,with the fansite designer using the cel-ebrity as a way of identifying and representing her =his values and interests.As Caughey (1986)concluded,fans’experiences represent a complex process of identi-fication in which ‘‘the media figure’s values and plans are incorporated into the fan’s social behavior’’(p.241).In effect,the celebrity becomes her =his conduit of self-expression.For instance,an Oprah Winfrey fansite involved elaborate explications of Oprah’s values through descriptions of her charitable works.The site contained information about Random Acts of Kindness,Gifts from the Heart,and Oprah’s Book Club—each of which was profiled on The Oprah Winfrey Show .Similarly,a Richard Gere fansite described (in great detail)Gere’s political and religious affiliations.Instead of designing a personal Web site about themselves that expressed their worldview and political positions,fansite designers chose to align themselves with
a celebrity.The fansites expressed personal values and beliefs via the iconic figure of the celebrity.In other words,instead of stating ‘‘I feel that people should read more,’’the designer of a fansite directly or indirectly states,‘‘I feel like Oprah about literacy.’’As a means of self-expression,the fan can use the iconic representation of the celebrity to promote particular cultural values as well as identify with an existing fan community built around those cultural values.For example,fans used the icon-ography of Michael Jordan to represent the value of a strong work ethic and the icon-ography of Nicolas Cage to represent the value of risk-taking and experimentation.Implicitly or explicitly,the fan is promoting (or,in Philipsen’s,1993,words,‘‘paying homage to the sacred object’’—p.108)the values represented in the celebrity’s persona.
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This symbolic identification was strong enough to expand into a more profound (perceived)connection between the fan and the celebrity.The public and interactive characteristics of digital technology encouraged the perception that the celebrity ‘‘could’’visit the fansite.Webmasters sometimes expressed such a possibility:‘‘I am hoping that [the country musician]will visit someday and like what he sees.’’In other instances,the fan proudly reported that ‘‘[the popular stage performer]has seen my Web site and his comment was,‘Look at the work that went into this.’’’Fansites,such as a Neil Diamond Web site,posted ‘‘backstage’’photographs of the fan with the celebrity.In fact,fansites included narratives of when the fansite designer or other fans have personally encountered celebrities like Robert Downey Jr.,John Mellencamp,and Sting.For instance,one fansite designer described an encounter with Jim Carey at a movie premier in great detail (Sims,2004).Some excerpts from this story included:...I looked up at Jim and I said the following:‘‘I have been wanting to tell you something for the longest time.’’He was smiling at me and said,‘‘Okay.’’I said,‘‘I have recently gone through some very difficult times that I know for fact you can relate to.I was living out of a car with my family earlier this year ...I have been following your career for 12years now and it freaks me out that my life is become parallel to your past.’’He said,‘‘Oh,man.’’Like he was sympathetic.But he looked at me and never looked away.He seemed really interested in what I had to say.I then said,‘‘I have something for you.I have been carrying this around with me for awhile now.’’And I pulled out the letter I had written him earlier this year.I said,‘‘It is only one page.Short,sweet and to the point.’’He said,‘‘That’s okay.’’I said,‘‘Please read this whenever you get a chance.It explains my situation in more detail and it would be nice to vent to someone who I know understands what it is like ...’’Then he put out his hand to shake mine again so I shook it and then we were hugging.As Ferris (2001)concluded in an analysis of fan =celebrity encounters,‘‘Although fans form bonds with celebrities through media consumption,they also seek the mutuality and reciprocity of copresent interactions’’(p.43).Clearly,the fansite is another strat-egy used to foster a perceived mutual interaction between the fan and the celebrity.While it is highly unlikely that the celebrity would actually visit one of his =her spe-cific fansites,the fansite gives the fan an opportunity to publicly express stories and
pictures that reflect a perceived closeness between the fan and the celebrity.As a pub-lic,mediated text,the fansite further reduces the distance between the ‘‘audience’’and the ‘‘performer.’’In some respects,the fan becomes a peer,a fellow performer in the entertainment industry.Thus,via the fansite,the fan feels symbolically ‘‘closer’’to the celebrity.
Discussion
This detailed investigation into fansites has fostered a number of significant conclu-sions concerning the iconic representation of celebrities,the dynamic relationships between audience,text,and performer,and the functions of celebrity for media Fansites and Celebrities 331
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consumers.In particular,these conclusions closely relate to the central issues exam-ined in this analysis:(a)the role of fandom in contemporary media production and reception and (b)new forms of public discourse within virtual communities.The Role of Fandom in Contemporary Media Production and Reception
The discursive practices associated with fansites indicate the continued shift in the distribution and interpretation of popular culture.This analysis demonstrates that producers of popular culture cannot control the meanings,uses,or even the dissemi-nation of their texts in an online context.In extreme cases,the popular cultural text itself can be manipulated and altered by fans reconstructing meaning.This further supports the conceptualization of media audiences as active consumers (and produ-cers)of mass media.Yet,in a digital environment,fans have even more influence over the meanings and interpretations of the media texts with which they (and others)identify.As Jones (2002)argued in his analysis of music and network tech-nologies,‘‘To control the distribution of music is as much an effort to control audi-ence and place as it is to control technology’’(p.229).The decentralization of distribution as well as the means to create digital media texts via personal computers radically alters the fans’experience with popular culture.Now,fans can screen,can reconfigure and can rearrange media texts based upon their own desires and interests.Not surprisingly,when given the opportunity,fans choose to influence the mean-ings of media texts rather than simply accepting the meanings provided by powerful media producers.Further,the pleasure associated with fandom is derived,at least in part,from the fan’s ownership or control over representation and,thus,identification (i.e.,their reflection in the social mirror).Potentially,status for autodidacts may increasingly emphasize fans’creative and influential forms of production within the media system.For instance,the choice to ‘‘advocate’’for a particular celebrity could actually influence the success or failure of the celebrity’s career.If a fan substantially influences a celebrity’s public image,presumably,the fan would have tremendous status within the fan community.As popular culture continues to move into the World Wide Web,the decision making and meaning making associated with rep-resentation will shift toward virtual fan communities.When fans are ‘‘excessive read-ers’’in virtual communities,the opportunities for the production of cultural capital are almost limitless.In the case of fansites,fans can choose to depict celebrities (the object of their identification)as heroic,ridiculous,malevolent,or desirable via pictures,narratives,alternative texts (e.g.,song lyrics,poems,etc.)and interaction with other fans.Future research should more carefully examine fans’decision-mak-ing and meaning-making processes utilized for the purpose of the distribution and interpretation of media texts:How will the uses and meanings associated with popu-lar culture change with the increasingly active recreations and interpretations of fans?In many respects,this may indicate ‘‘a shift in the balance of power that grants more autonomy,control,and legitimate claims to ‘ownership’to fan communities’’(Bielby,Harrington,&Bielby,1999,p.48).The once relatively stable relationships 332The Southern Communication Journal
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between production,distribution,and audience become radically altered in a digital communication environment.
New Forms of Public Discourse Within Virtual Communities
The expanded and cluttered public discourse of a digital context diminishes the ‘‘visi-bility’’of individual participants’expressions.For example,if a web designer created a personal Web site emphasizing himself or herself,the Web site would be relatively ‘‘invisible’’or unseen.Very few web surfers would seek out the personal webpage of an ‘‘ordinary’’person.On the other hand,by associating oneself with a celebrity,the fansite designer is likely to be seen by web surfers and categorized by web portals like Yahoo or Netscape.If an individual produces a fansite,hundreds or even thousands of people will see the Web site.Thus,the expressions of the fansite designer are much more visible in the public discourse,or in more Habermasian terms,the public sphere.If the fan wants to express a political view concerning literacy or globaliza-tion,an excellent way to be seen and heard in this digital public sphere is to link that political view to a celebrity like Oprah Winfrey or Bono.In order to ‘‘matter’’or have consequence,particularly in terms of public discourse,the individual can simply associate herself or himself with a celebrity.
The ‘‘association’’between fans and celebrities has a number of compelling impli-cations.Primarily,this elaborate ‘‘fan identification’’extends previous understand-ings of parasocial relationships.4As Ali (2002)discovered in an analysis of children’s friendship groups,‘‘both boys and girls from all backgrounds formed very complex identifications with stars’’(p.154).While fansite designers certainly experi-ence psychological gratifications from their imagined relationships with celebrities,simultaneously they are investing enormous personal meaning into the public image of a particular celebrity.As the media industry ‘‘constructs’’a public image for the celebrity,these images are used and reinterpreted in unintended ways.In many regards,fansites further exaggerate and alter a sort of ‘‘iconic identification’’with celebrities.In the fansite,the individual celebrity is the point of interest and,more importantly,the referent for meaning.Via photographs and biographical infor-mation,the celebrity’s body and lifestyle are particularly meaningful,especially in terms of individuals’identities,self-expressions,and political discourse.Evidently,people surfing the web find celebrities’lifestyles and bodies particularly complex,meaningful,and significant.In other words,of the endless variety of ideas and nar-ratives available on the World Wide Web,web surfers choose to construct virtual communities around the ‘‘identities’’of celebrities.Essentially,people are ‘‘identify-ing’’with the public ‘‘identities’’of celebrities.Immersed in this elaborate iconogra-phy,it is easy to forget that celebrities are real people with real lives .The celebrity’s personal and ‘‘private’’choices in her =his family life,professional life,and political life are integrated into people’s everyday experiences in profound ways.Further,as people increasingly rely (or overrely)upon media figures to form identity and to express their voice,the compulsive or even addictive use of digital media may emerge.This warrants continued examination.In particular,how will the construction of identity Fansites and Celebrities 333
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evolve as people increasingly identify themselves with the iconic representations of celebrities?Also,how will political discourse evolve as celebrities play a central role in constituting political identities?
Many social critics and scholars,most notably Baudrillard (2000),have lamented the alienation associated with a fragmentation of reality fueled by the emergence of new technology.Though far from a definitive correlation,it seems that as urbaniza-tion,technology,and more generally postmodernism further alienate citizens,the preoccupation with celebrities only seems to intensify.Via identification,celebrities seem to integrate and to connect people in a postmodern context.If this observation is indeed accurate,it seems plausible that community and social networks,and thus cultural meanings,will center more and more on the aforementioned iconic repre-sentations of celebrities.This celebrity adoration is not ‘‘mere kitsch’’but an emerg-ent site of identification within contemporary (virtual)communities.While people may feel disconnected in postindustrial cultures,people are (somewhat ironically)using the machinery of consumer culture (e.g.,identification with images in media products and advertising)to foster social connections that range from quite loose to tightly knit.Virtual communities built around the ‘‘public images’’of celebrities represent a sort of communal simulacrum that may further transform the processes associated with community development and maintenance.Further,scholars should continue to examine the relative strength of the social bonds that form around cel-ebrity identification and the World Wide Web.
Finally,this analysis offers new insights into the theoretical understandings of identification.In addition to the rhetorical processes of social =symbolic influence (Burke,1969)and the ritualistic practices of communities (Philipsen,1993),today,in a media-saturated culture,identification is also the means of overcoming invisi-bility or anonymity.As Gabler (1998)argued,in a culture dominated by entertain-ment,celebrity ‘‘creates value’’(p.203)as celebrity becomes a ‘‘human trademark’’(p.221).The more celebrity an individual acquires,the more cultural value she =he has (and conversely,the more anonymity an individual acquires,the less cultural value she =he has).Through consubstantiation with the celebrity,the fan ‘‘merges’’symbolically obtaining the ‘‘residue’’of the celebrity’s cultural value via identifi-cation.Stated slightly differently,the fan is consciously and deliberately identifying with a highly valued simulacrum (i.e.,the iconographic image of the celebrity).While elements of persuasive influence and communal ritual are certainly present in this process,identification with ‘‘hyperreal simulacra’’largely functions to transcend the most dreaded social position in a celebrity dominated culture:anonymity.
In conclusion,digital technology seems to heighten the cultural importance of fan-dom and celebrities.The complex identification processes of celebrity and fandom are at the intersection of a number of compelling contemporary communication pro-cesses including media production =reception,public discourse,identity,and com-munity development.Further examination of the complexities and absurdities of celebrities and fans will undoubtedly shed light on the complexities and absurdities of contemporary culture.334The Southern Communication Journal
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Notes
[1]The notion of the ‘‘fan’’or ‘‘fanatic’’has complex and varied meanings.Unfortunately,both
in academic and popular publications,fans are sometimes stigmatized as dangerous and pathological.Jensen (1992)stated,‘‘the fan is consistently characterized (referencing the terms’origins)as a potential fanatic.This means that fandom is seen as excessive,bordering on deranged,behavior’’(p.9).As scholars have only recently begun to thoughtfully theorize and to examine the diverse experiences of fandom (Harris &Alexander,1998),the charac-terizations of fans as antisocial ‘‘fanatics’’have been strongly criticized.I am among those who believe the stigmas attached to fandom are inaccurate and fandom should be character-ized as a complex,communal phenomenon with both positive and negative characteristics.[2]
In order to ensure the confidentiality of the email respondents,I have removed all direct references to specific celebrities from their comments.In brackets,as a way to orient the reader,I describe the general characteristics of the celebrities.Unlike the fansite’s public con-tent,these emails were (relatively)private correspondences.
[3]While most fansites analyzed in this project were created and managed by a single fan,in some cases,two or three fans worked together to manage the Web site including the dis-cussion forums.
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