When did you last catch yourself saving another one of your favourite celebrity’s posts on Instagram? Or are you the type to get caught up in the endless stream of video edits on TikTok and interview videos on YouTube featuring your favourite celebrity? Many of us are guilty of such behaviour — be it an idol, actor, or singer, numerous youngsters have been a part of some sort of ‘fandom’ before. What is it about these celebrities that are so alluring? And more importantly, what exactly is so harmful about stan culture?
Many of us lead extremely mundane lives — show up to school, get home, work on assignments, study for upcoming tests, go to bed — and the cycle repeats. Our primary source of joy and serotonin comes from the relationships we have with our friends, and it is natural to feel some sense of insecurity surrounding the connections we have with our friends, family, and other acquaintances. To elaborate, these relationships are built upon the foundation of empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of one another, which is also established when we get updates and details on celebrities’ lives. This fulfils our desire for an entertaining role model figure to look up to, but the problem arises when this blows out of proportion — think Oli London and his unhealthy obsession with Kpop idol Park Jimin.
Image of Oli London and Park Jimin
We get extremely caught up in our heads when we start to treat our “stans” as friends. Be it another collaboration or newly-spawned controversy, anything and everything relating to celebrities’ lives seems to be just a few clicks away. We start to cling onto this one-sided connection as it is more enjoyable and much easier to preoccupy ourselves with this “relationship” that lacks reciprocation on our end rather than put effort into an actual one. After all, navigating relationships is not exactly an easy task. But the question is, are these connections we form in our head actually meaningful?
Apart from the fact that purposeful conversations are diminished as we start to gossip about celebrities, the truth is that much of what we see on their social media is carefully crafted and tailored towards the algorithm. The only way to thrive on major platforms such as Instagram and YouTube is to pander to the masses. Especially with cancel culture, those with huge followings have to be extra careful about what they post — every word and picture published is a step on thin ice.
Infographic of Instagram Algorithm
As sad as it is, much of a celebrity’s online persona is just another perfectly crafted “post” for their fanbase and another form of escapism that we seek solace in. We find that we only want to support the most “unproblematic” personalities to help ourselves appear “unproblematic” as well, as if we are participating in some noble cause just by following someone that is supposedly altruistic and all good — which begs the question: What actually renders our favourite celebrities unproblematic? Is it simply the lack of mistakes made being published or blown up online?
Not only is such passive behaviour a form of performative activism, I also find it rather regressive that celebrities are dismissed just because they make mistakes like every other person. Being cast into the spotlight, celebrities then have to find the perfect balance between doing what the public wants and being authentic, which is also what the public desires. When placed on such a high pedestal and with such conflicting expectations from the public, it is no surprise that some celebrities do not enjoy fame. As Selena Gomez once said in an interview, celebrities "can't cough without it being trending news."
Image of Selena Gomez avoiding paparazzis
As society progresses from the era of Marilyn Monroe to Kpop idols, we should learn to be more mindful about why and how we contribute to the toxicity of stan culture. Albeit difficult to invoke a mindset change overnight, we need to realise that maybe what we yearn for is more value and meaning in our own lives — for why else would we worship a distant figure on our screens?
Written by: Widyayuki Triyono (22S6D)
Edited by: Lee K-Zen (21S68), Caroline Ong (21A10)
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