(no subject)
Jul. 11th, 2003 04:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmLivejournal, among other things, raises a lot of issues, for many of us I think, about "friendship" and "fans". It's the nature of the whole, "On the Internet, Anyone Can Be a Celebrity, Well, Kind Of" thing that is further complicated by the irritatingly named "friends" lists. For me, wanting to achieve the type of success that conveys fame, there's an additional level of peculiarity in matter, which has to do mainly with wondering if there's a balance between Not Being an Asshole and "If you wanna be a star, you better behave like one."
People toss the word fan around casually. We say things like "I'm your number one fan!" to cheer our friends, and throw support towards people we know more casually through this and other mediums. All of which makes me wonder what the criteria are for certain things, and how those things interact.
That is to say -- at what point do I know any of you?
At what point are you a friend?
What is a fan?
And if you're a fan can you ever be my friend?
And if you're my friend, do you have any business being a fan?
Is fan a word used too casually or too seriously?
How to role-models and aspiration fit into the fannish equation?
And where is media and image-making going in a world where everyone isn't famous for fifteen minutes, but everyone is famous in the eyes of fifteen people?
I don't bloody know. And I don't know that knowing the answers (presuming there are clear cut ones) would solve the non-specific dilemma I find in all this.
When people tell me they are my fan (just to be clear, this is yet to be another more than the occassional Internet occurance or related to my writing), I often respond with an incredulous "Why?" which makes me sound like an asshole. It is, among other things, not my business and can seem like and be fishing for compliments, which is bad. On the other hand, it is helpful to know what it is that I do that matters to people, so I can look at those things more closely. I remain uncomfortable saying merely "Thank you" because while probably appropriately gracious creates a power dynamic of distance, where notations of worth are conducted in only one direction. Similarly, the impulse to respond to someone liking or approving of their perception of some facet of myself, with an invitation to friendship ranges from a good idea to a bad idea to just plain stupid.
Having written this now, it occurs to me that one of the most egregious problems with the notion of fans, in any sense of the word is that our cultural set up for it forces both sides of the equation to be necessarily estranged from each other and unhappy, even as both provide so much to the other.
People toss the word fan around casually. We say things like "I'm your number one fan!" to cheer our friends, and throw support towards people we know more casually through this and other mediums. All of which makes me wonder what the criteria are for certain things, and how those things interact.
That is to say -- at what point do I know any of you?
At what point are you a friend?
What is a fan?
And if you're a fan can you ever be my friend?
And if you're my friend, do you have any business being a fan?
Is fan a word used too casually or too seriously?
How to role-models and aspiration fit into the fannish equation?
And where is media and image-making going in a world where everyone isn't famous for fifteen minutes, but everyone is famous in the eyes of fifteen people?
I don't bloody know. And I don't know that knowing the answers (presuming there are clear cut ones) would solve the non-specific dilemma I find in all this.
When people tell me they are my fan (just to be clear, this is yet to be another more than the occassional Internet occurance or related to my writing), I often respond with an incredulous "Why?" which makes me sound like an asshole. It is, among other things, not my business and can seem like and be fishing for compliments, which is bad. On the other hand, it is helpful to know what it is that I do that matters to people, so I can look at those things more closely. I remain uncomfortable saying merely "Thank you" because while probably appropriately gracious creates a power dynamic of distance, where notations of worth are conducted in only one direction. Similarly, the impulse to respond to someone liking or approving of their perception of some facet of myself, with an invitation to friendship ranges from a good idea to a bad idea to just plain stupid.
Having written this now, it occurs to me that one of the most egregious problems with the notion of fans, in any sense of the word is that our cultural set up for it forces both sides of the equation to be necessarily estranged from each other and unhappy, even as both provide so much to the other.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-07-11 02:47 pm (UTC)A fan is a person who knows you primarilly from your public works. That being performances, recordings, etc..etc.. If you buy the CD, see the play, buy the book, and like it - you are a fan. Fans get their books signed, write " I love your work " letters , and go see you when you read at B&N.
A friend is someone who knows you personally, either before or during your public life. These are people hwo know you becasue they are a part of your personal life more so than your public life. They are the ones you have steak frites with at 2 am, have coffee with when they are in town, go to a play/opera/movie with. The ones who come over to your house for dinner with other friends, to celebrate the fact that you jsut finished your latest book - and they are tehre to celebrate you not being locked in the den hunched over the word processor - not the new book. A friend is the one you call at 4 am when you are out of coffe and have 5 more chapters to write and you want to bitch because its too hot to go out and get more.
Can a fan convert to a friend? If you let them. If you want them to. If they show qualities that indicate to you that they would make a good friend.
Can a friend convert into a fan? Absolutely. When they loose sight of who you are privately for who you are publically.
As for the LJ - Having two is a good idea. One for " fans " and one for friends. Give the fan one a catchy name, and keep the friend one private.
Jsut IMHO.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-11 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-11 03:03 pm (UTC)Heh.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-11 03:17 pm (UTC)Ok , call it a wild hunch.
perfect
Date: 2003-07-12 08:17 am (UTC)