The fanatics of celebrity worship
Print Edition
SHANGHAI white-collar worker Donna Li said she really hated the movie “Captain America 3: Civil War.” So much, in fact, that for the past three weeks, she has been bashing the film’s producer and direction in online rants.
But the truly odd thing about her behavior is her spending 350 yuan (US$53) to buy tickets to see the movie four times. The reason: she idolizes its star Robert Downey Jr.
“I hate what the movie does to Iron Man, and the storyline doesn’t make any sense,” she told Shanghai Daily, gritting her teeth.
But as long as Downey is on screen, she said, she will watch a movie repeatedly.
Li is what is known in cyber-parlance as a “fan.” The development of the Internet and social media has spawned a generation of people who actively follow the lives and buy the products of those they idolize. No longer does the word carry the pejorative connotation of an obsessive person who doesn’t have a life.
Before the era of social media, China’s perhaps best-known example of “fan” was a woman named Yang Lijuan, born in Gansu Province in 1978.
She became a fanatic follower of Hong Kong singer and actor Andy Lau. Such was her obsession that she stopped going to school or work for 13 years, sequestering herself in a personal collection of information and photos of her idol, and dreaming of the day she would meet him in person.
Her case provoked nationwide headlines in 2007 after Yang actually did get to meet Lau. Much to her chagrin, he treated her as just another fan. Yang’s father subsequently committed suicide in Hong Kong, leaving a note blaming Lau for treating his daughter so badly.
In the years when Yang Lijuan was pursuing her obsession, it was pretty hard to collect information and photos of idols, much less meet them up close and personal. Social media has changed all that.
Both inside and outside of China, celebrities are becoming fixtures on social media. Fans can intimately follow the lives of their favorite actors, actresses, singers and sports stars. Sometimes they can even talk to them online.
At Comic-Con events and other conventions, fans can easily get autographs, photo opportunities and even private meetings with the stars.
The motivating factor greasing the wheels of fandom is money.
On Weibo, one of China’s largest social media platforms, thousands of celebrities constantly update their sites and interact with fans. It’s a goldmine for the website.
Weibo has set up page listing myriad celebrities and ranking them according to popularity. A fan can give a “virtual flower” to their favorite idol for free once a day. After that, it costs 2 yuan per bloom. The most popular celebrities may be inundated with more than 110,000 virtual flowers a week.
At the top of the floral tributes are the three teenage members of the Mandarin band TFBoys, whose extensive fan base is largely women of all ages.
“I don’t know why I do this, to be honest, and I know it sounds ridiculous,” said Frances Cai, 26, a bank employee who adores TFBoys. “I have spent around 200 yuan sending flowers and I am probably not the biggest spender. I just want the boys in the band at the top of the list of favorites.”
Being a “true fan” goes beyond just viral bouquets. It also means one has to buy CDs and DVDs, go to concerts, and purchase posters, calendars and other paraphernalia inscribed with the band members’ names.
“In fandom, your devotion is judged by how much money you spend on them,” Cai said. “If you just download songs online but don’t buy any CDs, then you are not a ‘true fan’ and people will look down on you.”
Conventions are the biggest money-spinners. Fans of South Korean actor Song Joong-ki recently paid a record 1,080 yuan at the gate for admission to meet and greet their idol. Scalpers outside were hawking tickets for as high as 6,800 yuan.
After starring in the drama “Descendants of the Sun,” Song became one of the most popular actors in China. His fan base here is huge.
Sometimes foreign stars come to China. Sometimes fans have to travel abroad to get up close to their idols.
For the past four years, Shanghai white-collar worker Louise Wang has gone to Europe to see her favorite cast from the haunting American TV series “Supernatural.”
She has spent around 5,000 euros (US$5,592) on admissions, autographs, photo opportunities and the chance to meet the cast in person.
“It was actually much more than that,” said Wang. “The bigger cost was airline tickets, hotels, traveling around, dining and shopping in Europe.”
Wang said every year about 1,000 people from all over the world go to Europe to attend the “Supernatural” convention. She will be attending a fan convention in Hawaii in November and plans to attend the European event again next May.
“I was never a ‘fan’ during my teenage years,” she said. “I started falling for actors when I was in my mid-20s. By that time, I didn’t have to depend on my parents for pocket money and could spend what I wanted on celebrities. The money outflow was like tap water.”
The fan world is so large and so lucrative that sometimes fans devise schemes to make money from other fans.
Self-initiated products, including fanfiction and fanart magazines, are popular both online and at non-official fandom conventions.
“It is quite easy to make money as long as you know a workshop that can turn pictures or photos into products,” said Sylvia Huang, who has been in the fandom business for five years.
Huang’s business covers several fandoms of hit American TV shows and movie series, such as “Supernatural” and the “Marvel” movies. As an amateur artist, she creates fanart works by herself and contracts with workshops to turn the art into merchandise.
Her online shop on taobao.com sells hundreds of goods every day, earning her more than her actual daytime job. Her secret is to tune the products to the latest releases of shows and movies.
“I know that self-made fan products are in a legal gray zone of intellectual property, but I haven’t encountered any problems yet,” she said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
