Meaghan Luby
Fans and fanatics are the big discussion within the book “Textual Poachers” and it is still a very large issue within our decade. While Trekkies almost trade marked the phenomenon in the 80’s of stereotypical freaked out fans, the focus of this trend setting fan base was collectibles and conventions. Now a days, the modern spin on things is perhaps even more consuming though, more often then not, less tangible as a good amount of being a fan exists on the web.
Oddly relevant, this week is the premier of “Twilight” the movie which is sure to be a big thrill for a majority of girls ages 11 and up. The popular tween book is essentially Harry Potter for the female populace and the vampire movie is a guaranteed smash. However, the way in which these girls and fans have blurred the line between reality and the Twilight universe is slightly worrisome. Actor Rob Patterson plays Edward, the tragic vampire hero in the romantic plot line, and the way he has been treated since filming has been overwhelming to the English actor. He described it “almost like The Beatles in the level of ridiculous”. Females ripping at his clothing, screaming his name and yelling so loudly during interviews and conventions that he simply could not get a word in. He asked “Would you like me to answer questions or just sit here while you yell?” at a latest convention (mirroring the Will S comment of “Get a life” in terms of fan etiquette) and had no response when a woman yelled back “We’re fine just looking at you!”.
His most scary fan moment though was when a small girl around age 7 asked him to bite her, forcing the actor to get more then slightly squeamish at the new role of his life as vampire Edward Cullen. “She had no idea what she was saying, it’s just wrong”.
The web has been buzzing about this movie for months. The books themselves created a stir in blogging sites, fan sites, even spilling into general sites such as Facebook with bumper stickers, flair, and quizzes or Youtube with fan made movies portraying the book and piano songs performed and written as fan’s imagined Edward Cullen’s love songs would sound. When the movie began filming and the fans had more concrete love to fixiate on, things got ridiculous.
“If the Jonas Brothers ever had roles in a Twilight moive, Facebook would literally explode” joked one bumper sticker on the common FB application. The recently popular Disney tween pop/rock band has it’s own share of obsessed fans but, Twilight obsession overwhelms these days. Fan clips, pictures, and newer web sites seem to follow a step by step day in the life of filming and moments since then. Stalker entries such as having discarded items from the trailer of Rob or other actors in the Twilight cast crop up with alarming regularity. Fan’s use youtube to splice images to songs, post bootleg clips of the movie, remix trailers in order to “better highlight Edward”. The internet has become a safe haven for unhealthy obsessions, linking the communities of people who have blurred the lines of fact and fiction at alarming rates.
For example, the website Fanpop.com. You can set up an account and then you simply add yourself into groups of “what you’re a fan of”. I admit to being a member of the website and, while I consider myself a solid fan, some of the material one comes across is veering off into the strange levels of appreciation people have formed for a particular television show, movie, or piece of culture. Within each category of what you’re a fan of, there are several sub groupings in which members contribute to the home page. For example, the popular television show “The Office” fanpop profile page has 6,146 fans in the main group alone (with several subgroups such as “Jim Halpert Makes my life worth living” or “JAM 4 Ever”). The page has tabs at the top of the profile reading “Home, Video, Images, Links, Articles, News, Forum, Picks, Quiz” and under each tag is are more sub categories such as under images, Fan Art, Icons, Photo Shoots, Fan pics, and Pics from the show.
Fan addictions are simply fueled and supported on the web these days rather then looked down upon or even displayed as predominantly as Trekkies. Rather then having to done vampire teeth to prove how commited you are to Edward Cullen, you can simply join 40 groups and splice together a youtube video with your stalkerish pics of Rob’s trailer.
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