In June, I went to a concert with a friend. Through the pounding music and flashing lights, a thought entered my mind: that very morning, I had seen multiple articles and Instagram posts about the performing artist. Not about their music or tour, but rather about a model he had recently been spotted with. I had clicked on the links interestedly while eating breakfast, greedily drinking in the latest insight into his personal life. Watching him perform in front of me, I was trying to correlate this man sweating and singing passionately with the man womanizing glamorous models in the articles. Why should I have even been concerned about what he was doing in his personal life when he was here making music, doing his job. Next to me, a girl held a sign saying “MARRY ME” spelled out in large, handwritten letters. Had fans always been this crazy about their idols?
Apparently, yes. Christmas, 1841: The young, handsome, concert pianist Franz Liszt arrived in Berlin to kick off his wildly successful European tour, starting the hysteria later coined “Lisztomania.” The intense fan frenzy towards him would manifest in fans fighting over his handkerchiefs, gloves, locks of hair and even his coffee dregs. If a string on his piano broke, they would eagerly swarm around the stage in the hopes of fashioning it into a bracelet. A lady-in-waiting even put one of his used cigar stumps into a diamond locket so she could wear it as she performed her duties around court.
The 1960s was the age of Beatlemania. John Lennon famously claimed that the band was “more popular than Jesus.” Fans besieged their hotels to steal used pillowcases, and blocked entire streets —even jumping in front of vehicles — to see the band. As the Beatles toured the United States, Japan and the Philippines, it got worse and worse. Frustrated, the band decided to quit touring and only release studio tracks. The global popularity of the Beatles was, of course, attributed to the rise in televisions and records. As technology progresses, it seems, so does popularity — and the number of crazed fans.
In more recent years, the boy band One Direction reached soaring heights with chart-breaking records and albums — which came with a price. From making shrines for members’ vomit to trying to sell Harry Styles’ breath, fans’ behavior kept getting more insane. But perhaps the scariest part was the complete lack of privacy afforded to the band members. Rabid fans would hack into security cameras of airports and hotel elevators to catch a glimpse of their idols. While Liszt’s fans were limited to the audience of his live performances, fans on different continents and time zones could be following and tracking One Direction’s events and movements at all times, truly immersing themselves into their lives. This is largely due to the rise of social media like Twitter and Instagram.
In each of these cases, the overzealous passion of many of the fans can be attributed to the concept of parasocial relationships. A parasocial relationship is defined as a one-sided relationship formed when one party extends energy, interest and time and the other person doesn’t know they exist. First coined in 1956, the relationships involve a commitment to a public figure where fans view celebrities as friends, confidantes and, in some cases, lovers. The one-sided intimacy has become extremely, and even worryingly, normalized in the last few years, especially considering the ease with which celebrities can connect with their fans on social media.
Recently, Taylor Swift had been rumored to be in a relationship with singer Matty Healy, who has made several controversial statements, such as making racist remarks about rapper Ice Spice. But what really blew me away was the reaction of Swift’s fanbase. Some of her fans penned an open letter criticizing her for being in the relationship, in which they wrote “we urge you to reflect on the impact of your own and your associates’ behavior.” Taylor Swift is, first and foremost, a singer and performer. If she chooses to date anyone as a grown woman, that remains a part of her personal life. She has the agency to choose who to date — being a public figure and performer is her job, and everybody needs work-life balance. I like to compare it to how your boss should only criticize the work you do in the office — and has no say in regards to how you lead your personal life. This letter reads as a formal, self-important version of something I would tell my best friend if they were dating someone I disliked. Some may argue that as a public figure, Swift has a responsibility to her fans to make good decisions and use her platform for good. Do I personally agree with Matty Healy’s comments? No. But Swift’s job is to make music, not be a role model, and fans are not entitled to have her date someone who fits their political ideology.
Interestingly, Swift and Healy never went public with their short-lived relationship. All the public details about it came from inside sources or them being photographed together by fans or paparazzi. I believe that this lack of privacy and rise of social media to a point where one blurry picture can set the Internet and fanbases aflame is what is fueling the rise of parasocial relationships. Fans are not content only with a celebrities’ professional work — they are hungry to know details about stars’ personal lives. And while this phenomenon doesn’t seem to be anything new, what is new is the sheer amount of access they’re getting to celebrities’ lives. With celebrities tweeting their everyday thoughts and movements, going on Instagram lives, giving countless interviews and being photographed doing even the most mundane of activities, this nearly 24/7 access into their world creates a false sense of intimacy with fans. Being able to direct message and comment on a celebrity’s posts furthers the sensation that the relationship is interactive. According to a study conducted by the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, increased internet dependency leads to increased parasocial relations. While in pre-internet years, parasocial relationships were focused on singers or television stars, recently they can be formed with a much wider array of people: gamers, vloggers, Twitch streamers, reality television stars and more.
COVID-19 and social isolation have only exacerbated the issue. According to another study in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, people’s parasocial relationships grew stronger during the pandemic. “Increased exposure to real-life friends through screen media may blur the lines between the social and parasocial, increasing the value of parasocial relationships during social distancing,” researchers concluded. For some fans, the one-sided parasocial relationship provides relief from everyday, strained complementary relationships they had to maintain. That’s not to say that all parasocial relationships are negative. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology found parasocial relationships may help young people form their identities and develop autonomy. Fans can gain support from the relationships, and it can help them shape their own personality.
Unfortunately, unhealthy parasocial relationships are slowly becoming the new norm. In South Korea, for example, there are obsessive fans of Korean idols known as “sasaengs” who heavily stalk idols and sometimes commit criminal offenses to get attention and recognition. A parasocial relationship is classified as unhealthy when fans prioritize their idols over real-world relationships and responsibilities. Many sasaengs drop out of school, sleep in internet cafes and even turn to prostitution to fund their stalking. There is even a $600-a-day “sasaeng taxi” operation which follows idols to their scheduled activities and appointments, often breaking speed limits and causing car accidents. There have also been many cases of sasaengs invading idols’ homes, tapping their phones, selling their personal information online and harassing their families.
The demographic most likely to develop parasocial relationships are adolescents or teenagers, more so if they have experienced bullying. A common reason they get into parasocial relationships is for connection, belonging, social interaction or physical attraction to the idol in question. Many times, disappointment in a certain decision their idol takes leads to a “parasocial breakup.” With the normalization of invasion of privacy and “stan” culture on social media, young teens are extremely vulnerable to parasocial relationships which can very quickly turn harmful for both the idol and the fan.
Not all fans are in parasocial relationships with their idols — I certainly think that I wasn’t. However, hungering to know details about their personal lives along with all the increased connectivity today makes it a slippery slope. Seeing the singer perform at the concert, the thought in my head was, “Wow. He’s really just a guy, rather than the idolized version of him on a pedestal that his fans put all over social media.” Just a guy, doing his job on stage — and what he did off stage was really not my business (Within reason! Not saying we should support murderers or something). And while it’s much easier said than done, unhealthy parasocial relationships can be avoided by focusing more on the art than the artist. While most parasocial relationships are not really harmful, with today’s technology and media it is increasingly easy to fall into a harmful one — especially with its wrongful normalization in our culture.
Statement Columnist Myrra Arya can be reached at myrra@umich.edu