reading a 116 pg dissertation on one direction and fan culture / rambling about parasocial relationships

☆ i like to look up a lot of things related to pop culture, fan culture, celebrity etc because i find it so interesting; naturally, i've found a dissertation from 2016 that seems to dissect this pretty well (although im only on pg 25)

☆ it's focused on one direction, and fan culture particularly on twitter, and i honestly think its broken down the way these spaces work very well. i should probably warn that this blog entry has no real purpose, just me rambling about fan culture etc. , anyways i want to finish reading this to see if the author has properly predicted the future of fan culture on twitter. i know parasocial relationships have been a topic of interest as of recent, but i feel they're really misunderstood. this isn't a defense of parasocial relationships in any capacity, but they are not inherently damaging. they're very common. this isn't to say they can't become damaging, they definitely can, but most people will, at one point in their lives, be a bit parasocial. but the rise of interest in this topic has felt a little damaging. a lot of misinformation has spread, and at some point the only information on googles front page about them was articles upon articles about kpop and twitch streamers. i've also seen people say they aren't parasocial because they only "feel that way towards fictional characters", but thats still parasocial. . . this is more just things that bother me now so i'll move on, i just want to make it clear that the problem is not parasocial feelings themselves, the problem is how you choose to interact with / assess / and identify them.

☆ now i just wanted to share some songs ab parasocial relationships (or at least, that's how i interpreted them)

 ♡ idle worship - paramore

 " oh, no, i ain't your hero / you're wasting all your faith on me / oh, no, i know where this goes / think it's safe to say your savior doesn't look a thing like me "

♡ dream boy - waterparks

 " build your expectations / saturated and inflated " " build-a-boy / pick your pieces "

♡ you don't know me - ariana grande

 " you want a perfect picture to believe in / then you can't be looking for me then " " and i know, i know, i know you don't like it / you don't, you don't, you don't know where i've been "

♡ no friend - paramore

 " so throw your pedestal of stone in the forgetful sea / as protection from the paper-thin perfection you project on me " " i'd hate to let you down, so i let the waters rise / and drown my dull reflection in the naive expectation in your eyes " " you see a flood-lit form, i see a shirt design / i'm no savior of yours, you're no friend of mine "

that's all. if you guys have any thoughts on parasocial relationships / fan culture / pop culture etc, lmk in the comments of this blog post :) i'm always open to multiple views on these subjects

also apologies in advance if i made any spelling mistakes ♡