When Good Fans Go Bad

Being a part of two very different fan communities - Robin Hood and Richard Armitage, I am exposed to different levels of fan worship all the time. It's something that fascinates me how I can look at something/someone objectively and see good or bad points and yet another person can never see the bad only the good and in some instances flame anyone who dares suggest their chosen idol/topic is less than perfect.

I came across an article on WikiPedia that actually discusses the various stages of fan worship and actually gives it a name - Celebrity Worship Syndrome (CWS). There are 3 stages:

Mild affliction

People with mild affliction have a passion for talking about their chosen celebrity. They will pursue an interest in one celebrity and denigrate competing stars.

Someone with mild affliction would say, "My friends and I like to discuss what my favourite celebrity has done" and "Learning the life story of my favourite celebrity is a lot of fun." Psychologists found that people with mild affliction were generally extroverts.

Moderate affliction

People with moderate affliction were found to have an intense personal relationship with their idol.

Someone with moderate affliction would say, "I consider my favourite celebrity to be my soul mate" and "I have frequent thoughts about my celebrity, even when I don't want to."

Intense affliction

The third group were found to generally be solitary, impulsive, anti-social and have insensitive traits.

Psychologists enlightened that Hardcore CWS sufferers feel that they have a special bond with their idol. However, their bond is more intense than that of a sufferer with mild affliction. They believe their idol knows them personally and are prepared to do anything for their idol, even sacrifice their life.

Someone with Hardcore CWS would say, "If I were lucky enough to meet my favourite celebrity , and he/she asked me to do something illegal as a favour I would probably do it" and "If someone gave me several thousands dollars(pounds) to do with as I please, I would consider spending it on a personal possession once used by my favourite celebrity."

Researchers indicate that their form of CWS is borderline pathological.

I find it quite interesting that despite running fan websites and forums, I actually only come under the heading of mild affliction and even then I don't meet the criteria entirely, not being one for slagging off other actors because they are not Richard. It actually really annoys me when people do, as by my very great and public annoyance with some RA fans slagging off Jonas Armstrong, because in a series called Robin Hood in which he plays Robin Hood he gets more screen time than Richard who doesn't play Robin Hood.

With regards to moderate affliction, well I don't think RA is my soulmate, and I'm more likely to have sudden thoughts about a bloke I like in real life than RA.

Definitely not Intense Affliction. I would not do anything illegal for RA, neither do I feel I have a specila bond and if someone gave me thousands of pounds I'd buy a new car.

Unfortunately on several occasions in the Richard Armitage Community I have come across behaviour that borders on Intense Affliction.

Examples

On hearing her favourite actor may be gay or in a relationship, one fan confessed she couldn't stop crying. On seeing a picture of this actor with another woman, she couldn't believe how others were happy he seemed to be happy in a relationship with someone and again wanted to cry as it was bad he may have a girlfriend.

Very Scary Mary behaviour IMO. This is very much in the realms of "if he didn't have a girlfriend, he would be with me, if he knew me"

Some people write fan letters to their chosen celebrity - done it myself. However, some people write continuously, somehow that suggests to me, they consider they have some relationship with the person. Hmm Yes - in their head and nowhere else. This obviously would put them in the second category of CWS.

I find it very sad and very odd that some fans just can't see the difference especially when actors are concerned between playing a role on screen and how they actually are in real life. They may be nice in real life but who knows, not a fan, despite some thinking they do. The operative word here is Actor - i.e even the 'real' persona they present through interviews and public appearances, is their public persona, not necessarily how they are in private. Sad that some fans just fail to recognise this again it suggests they believe they have some 'connection' or relationship with the celebrity.

I think it sad and a little scary that some fans put all their emotional energy into someone they don't know and it is a little scary I'm sure for the celebrity to have to deal with this behaviour.

You can read the whole Wikipedia article on CWS here