Initiative Post (Week 8)
This week’s discussion of ‘fandoms’ and ‘audiences’ had me constantly coming back to the negative connotations associated with these words. No question about it, sometimes fans can suck.
A good example of this would be the fan drama regarding popular British youtube bloggers, Zoe Sugg and boyfriend, Alfie Deyes.
Back in December of 2015, the pair who have made a career of posting videos of themselves on Youtube, took to Twitter to request privacy from fans who repeatedly turn up at their house.
One Twitter user said: “Welcome to the famous life. Didn’t you see this coming at all?” Sugg replied saying the couple didn’t set out to become famous and “it is also not something we should have to put up with.”
Though this online fandom doesn’t align itself with any sort of tv show, movie, book or any other type of fictional universe, fans of Zoe and Alfie are sometimes on another level, undoubtedly loyal and occasionally extreme, thinking that after the many years of watching them online, they know them personally.
What a lot of people outside of the Youtube world fail to understand, is that its fan culture is unlike almost any other fandom in the world. Young people develop a much deeper bond with the creators they watch, based on a slightly fabricated sense of connection and relatability. Youtubers appear just as ‘ordinary’ people living normal lives, with some added glitz and glamour that seems to be pulled straight from a teenager’s wildest dreams.
Hence, when ‘Zalfie’ followers aren’t able to wait in hour-long lines to meet the Youtube stars themselves, paying them a visit at their own house seems to be the next best option.
It’s a problem that seems to have lessened since the couple posted their grievances on twitter, though it’s hard to imagine it will go away forever, especially with their home address being released to the public since.
One can only hope that the unfavourable significance of the word ‘fan’ does not become increasingly exaggerated due to this sort of incident, an unfortunate misconception of where the line is drawn with celebrity obsession.
Alfie Deyes: