#i was parasocially furious with both of them

[reallyhardy]

Sorry what’s up w the Ethan slater stuff? I know him only from your posts / SpongeBob stuff

HI HELLO please buckle in

yep -- the same guy from the spongebob musical, and my posts abut the spongebob musical.

he blew up completely and now the general public knows him as 'ariana grande's new boyfriend' - their relationship seems to have started off the back of co-starring in the upcoming wicked musical film adaptation.

it's just been like. a monkey's paw curling sort of a way for him to get catapulted to fame, as i had always really enjoyed him as a performer (as spongebob, yes, but also in the other roles i'd seen him in,) and my biggest hope back around 2017 was that he would continue in and be really successful in theatre, get a lot of broadway roles, maybe take on some existing parts i thought he'd really suit, like seymour in little shop or ogie in waitress.......... but instead he booked the role of boq from wicked in a massive hollywood film production instead, where he met ariana grande. THE ariana grande.

and then yeah. at some point, he and grande broke up with their respective partners, (slater leaving both his wife AND newborn son) jumped into a new relationship, and now the whole wider internet knows who he is but certainly not for the right reasons.

there's been speculation regarding whether or not grande and slater had cheated on their previous partners before their relationship began with various sources coming out of the woodwork saying "yes they did" and others saying "no they didn't" -- humans are all perfectly capable of making stuff up, the media especially, so i simply don't know who to trust and i admit it had completely shattered my whole good impression of him - PLUS it gave the wider internet an absolutely awful first impression of him, resulting in, yeah, the (frankly, unflattering, sometimes downright cruel) memes of him popping up on twitter and, as i discovered yesterday, in non-theatre youtubers' videos who would literally never have heard of him if not for the slater-grande romance 🥲

FULL COVERAGE of the situation as it was happening can all be found on the lovely @notasimpleslater's blog under the tag 'ozgate' if you want to delve deeper!

[pookietsunoda]

The Evolution of Red Bull's YouTube: A Parasocial Deep Dive

To explain this insane media crit essay I accidentally started, I was wondering to myself why Formula One seems to have a lot of personality-driven social media promo content. Some people have commented that the drivers are marketed a lot like Kpop stars (or pop singers or influencers generally), where relatable media content builds up an audience that gets emotionally attached to the celebrity as a person, not just their work. I wanted to trace the roots of this style of content and see how it evolved, using Red Bull as a case study because of their current strong social media presence and my hypothesis that their status as an extreme sports sponsor assisted them in making content focused on individual athletes.

Abstract/ Summary: Red Bull's earliest videos in the early 2010s largely do not focus on the drivers as people and are mostly montage-type content with occasional formal interviews. Then, Daniel Ricciardo begins to treat the camera in a more friendly and casual way, giving himself a greater sense of relatability/ seeming more accessible to fans. Red Bull correspondingly begins to feature more silly and unscripted content, which intensifies once Verstappen joins the team and begins riffing off of Ricciardo. We see a growth in personality-focused and "challenge" type content with banter towards the end of Ricciardo's time at Red Bull, which continues with Gasly, Albon, and Perez and brings us to today. Currently, YouTube provides a seemingly casual and relatable look at the drivers, largely through humorous challenges, and feeds our expectations that drivers are accessible and come off as authentic to us as fans.

I started with Red Bull because they seem to have their social media content game on lock, with high budget and creative video challenges that also do a good job at showcasing the personalities of their drivers. I theorized that the reason they excelled at this social media marketing strategy was because Red Bull (the energy drink brand) sponsors a lot of extreme athletes, who are in solo sports or sports with very small teams-- thus, it would make sense for them to promote their sponsored athletes with personality-focused content. (This turned out to probably not be true, but we will get to that.)

Part (Multi Twenty) One: The Old Men

During this time period (early 2010s), any driver-focused videos are pretty short and often more focused on visually appealing montages. Mark Webber and or Sebastian Vettel will be filmed doing some fun activity and then maybe speaking to a reporter about the outing in a relatively polished, professional manner. The premise of these videos is similar to the content we see today-- ex. Seb shears a sheep, Mark and Seb have a beach filler episode-- but the way they are edited is much different. The drivers' interactions with each other are not included in the video, and there is not much focus on their personalities.

The most popular videos at this time are glossy stunt type content. There are also more quotidian things like simulator runs, news interviews, and track walks. Also some wacky highlights include a random pop music video and cringe parody martial arts short-- of which Vettel is in both, for some reason. But this disproves part of the hypothesis-- Red Bull did not start making personality focused content. Their experience as an extreme sports sponsor likely gave them experience in making stunt videos, but not content focused on driver personalities.

Part 2: 2 Dan, 2 Furious

The style of content doesn't immediately change when Ricciardo joins the team in 2014, beyond him getting roped into doing a bunch of travel vlogs, which are also more on the slick montage side even though he does get to crack some jokes at times. More cool stunts, more media interviews. When Daniil Kvyat arrives, the style of content shifts a little to focus more on the interactions between the two drivers, ex. the 2015 season preview and some shorts. There are also early inklings of the sillier modern content with some challenges and a sketch.

Then comes... the 2015 Christmas video, the first of many Red Bull Christmas videos. This one is unabashedly silly and also seems largely unscripted, representing a pretty clear break in content style. Crucially, we hear and see the drivers talking and interacting with EACH OTHER instead of just talking to a reporter off to the side, which is honestly a huge reason why today's silly driver content is so enjoyable and seems more authentic. Kvyat does a pretty traditional, scripted-sounding holiday greeting (which, fair enough, English isn't his first language and this is in line with most of the previous marketing videos), but Ricciardo is very casual and tells the camera among other things to have a "pimpin' good time"-- like a friend, rather than a formal acquaintance. Much more in line with today's style of content except it's shorter. However, this style is not initially popular, gaining only 34k views-- way less than stunt content from the same time like the F1 Car vs Rugby Team matchup that gets 2 million views.

Part 3: Rise of the Unserious Kings

By 2016, Ricciardo is very comfortable with the camera and being goofy, eventually with a smooth faced, slightly feral baby Verstappen in tow. The channel starts experimenting with silly short-form challenges that include some seemingly genuine reactions. In this travel video, they include clips with audio of Ricciardo joking around to people they meet, and Ricciardo even talks directly into the camera, saying he's not sure if he's supposed to say this, but pokes fun at himself for sweating with nerves over some air turbulence.

DANNY RIC IS POSSIBLY THE NEXUS BEING OF THIS STYLE OF CONTENT. (And the *pairing* of Ricciardo and Verstappen changed Red Bull media marketing, if not that of F1 teams in general.)

Ricciardo has begun not only relating directly to the camera, treating it as proxy for the fan viewer, but consciously trying to give it (and therefore us) an "unfiltered/ authentic" look into his own life and the lives of F1 drivers. He relates to the camera/viewer in a much more personal and friendly manner, acting like we are his friends and building that parasocial connection. Even in more conventional video types like explaining racing kit, Ricciardo is casual and humorous, a style that seems to garner lots of views for these videos (the racing kit one is at 1.5mil).

The previous more formal style of video, whether drivers talk to an offscreen interviewer or into the camera, gives us more distance-- treating viewers as strangers who should be treated with respect but are not owed intimacy. Ex. this short clip of Max in 2016 after his maiden win with Red Bull: he talks to the camera and speaks directly to fans, but in a more formal way. (Not saying this is bad! He's basically a kid and this is what most driver content was like up to this point. Besides, we as strangers do not necessarily deserve to know everything about a celebrity!)

Additionally, the pairing of Ricciardo and Verstappen seems to be a comedy gold mine. (How many clips of these two being chaotic have you seen?) Max may not seem quite as comfortable talking directly to the camera, which makes sense because it's kind of awkward. However, it's a lot less intimidating to be casual and silly to another flesh and blood person, merely in front of the camera-- especially if that person is Danny Ric who is going to give you material to riff off of. (Thus, why interactions between drivers are so generative of authentic-seeming, personality based content).

Max takes to the assignment of matching Ricciardo's energy with enthusiasm. Take, for example, the durian-opening challenge and the biking track tour (featuring Max making a bunch of silly vrooming noises as he speeds ahead of Daniel). The 2017 Christmas video shows how well Max and Daniel riff off each other, letting viewers see that Max has a silly personality as well ("Ki ki ki!!" "Aye aye aye!!" *Max dabs on the camera* *they throw fake food at each other and cackle*). During 2018, Red Bull starts solidifying the style of personality-focused challenge content that makes up much of their channel now, though it's interspersed between travel content without much talking and some more glossy stunt/ travel videos.

Part 4: A.D. (After Daniel)

After Daniel's departure, this challenge style continues with Gasly and then Albon. Red Bull also starts pulling in people from Toro Rosso to do crossover challenge episodes on location where they compete against each other, like much of today's videos on the Red Bull main channel. Ex. Albon and Kvyat face off against Verstappen and Gasly in a set of lumberjacking challenges in Canada, including a good bit of back and forth banter, which turns out to be a pretty popular video (1mil views).

Videos from Max and Alex's driver pairing era are almost entirely focused on their kind of chaotic interactions with each other. The challenges are higher production value but also silly in concept, such as the two designing their own custom box carts, allowing them to show off their artistic skills (or lack thereof) and name them stupid things. The 2019 Christmas video is also a gem. I haven't watched a ton of videos from this time, but it seems almost entirely absent of the the montages to background music or formal interview style from previous years. There is still of course some glossy stunt content, like the famed zero gravity pitstop.

And then covid! After which the content is split between the Oracle Red Bull Racing channel and the Red Bull main channel. The racing specific channel has the same news interviews and sim runs peppered with some more lowkey challenges and videos focusing on individual drivers, whereas the more famous high-effort and locationally themed videos are on the Red Bull main channel. (Ex. this 2021 Austria-themed video of Verstappen and Perez versus Gasly and Tsunoda partaking in many silly activities, including wearing lederhosen and boat racing, overseen by Red Bull's resident Darth Palpatine-esque figure Helmut Marko.)

Conclusion

Today's F1 promo content largely aims to give viewers a more goofy and "unfiltered" idea of what the drivers are like as people, allowing people to get more attached to specific drivers and form parasocial connections with them. Yet it was not always so! We don't start seeing more dialogue-heavy videos that strive to provide a more casual and "authentic" look into the Red Bull drivers until midway through Daniel Ricciardo's career as he starts treating the camera like a friend, seemingly giving us backstage access to what the drivers are "really" like. Through a more casual style of speaking to viewers and a focus on interactions between drivers, Red Bull social media is able to provide an avenue for drivers to show a more casual and relatable side to themselves.

Red Bull's previous focus on highflying stunts, travel montages, and limited or formal instances of driver dialogue portray the drivers as larger-than-life badasses who live big and ultimately unknowable lives to us commoners. This newer, more intimate style of video tries to do the opposite-- yes, the drivers live these crazy lives, but they put their pants (or racing suits) on one leg at a time too! They are unserious and relatable and (seemingly) knowable to us, allowing us normal people to get attached to them. You must first be known in order to be loved, and if fans love your drivers, it's good for business!

This shift largely seems to mirror the decline of celebrity mystique and the rise of celebrity relatability. Ex. Beyonce's been famous since the 90s and is (as is her right) private about her personal life, which in part fuels her idol status but also is frustrating to some of her fans. Meanwhile, younger celebrities like Selena Gomez or Emma Chamberlain built their brand off of being chronically online and (seemingly) unfiltered.

Future directions of study-- comparing other teams' channels. Danny Ric may have been partially to blame for Red Bull's shift in content, but I would like to do a deep dive into other teams as well.

Note: I put "authentic," "real," etc in quotes because at the end of the day, we are still strangers seeing a piece of media and do not actually know what public figures are actually like as people! Also disclaimer, I'm not really a fan of Red Bull as an institution given their questionable response to Christian Horner's misconduct allegations-- this investigation is more out of them being a good case study.

[headspace-hotel]

I'm probably gonna regret attaching my name to this but I slept on it and I'm still really upset but now more coherent (so please delete this if it's unwelcome).

First of all I'm really sorry you're dealing w this shit. I hope you're taking care of yourself rn.

Second of all.... holy fuck Inneskeeper has handled this horribly. I'm trying to extend the benefit of the doubt and say he just needs time, we all do, but it's very hard when he's been acting as though a day is enough time for everyone to get over the fear he spread.

It's really upsetting to see him bring up both his schizophrenia and his career as reasons why he was upset without ever actually uttering the words "I'm sorry, I was wrong." without needing to read between the lines.

It's a really concerning trend I've noticed reappearing now that actual celebrities and just plain old popular users are becoming more open with their mental health, that "I was having a psychotic break/I was having a manic episode/I was blah-de-blah" somehow taking the place of an actual apology. As if explaining it means you no longer have to take action or responsibility.

Especially given he was bringing up his profession during all this. As a professional especially he has a responsibility. I know "this is tumblr" but this is TUMBLR. People don't fact-check. You have sway. Especially as a professional.

He could've made the post unrebloggable, but if he did I haven't seen it. He could've pinned a post that actually contained information/a retraction/a quick apology and explanation, instead we got "I'm taking a break". He edited the post, but given part of his defense was that reblog chains are uncontrollable an edit you would not see unless you clicked back to his blog is...

I'm really hoping that once he comes back he'll say something. Because I know parasocial relationship and all that but I really did respect him, as someone transgender and with some of my specific mental illnesses in a field I'm deeply interested in.

But now I'm just... tired. He spread that same cycle of panic and delusion to everyone who read that post. Here I was thinking that I just got my dog back from the vet and now she and everyone else I love was going to die, that the apocalypse was coming.

Until I did the googling he as an actual ecologist did not do. As if me taking a tumblr post and freaking is less acceptable than him taking a twitter post and freaking.

I don't want to cancel him or bully him. I don't doubt that he's gotten some ableist nonsense, because the internet sucks. But he really hurt a lot of people and did a lot of damage. All I want is him to plainly say "I'm sorry, I did it because [x/y/z] but it was still wrong and I hurt people. Here is some actual information. I'm going to log off." Without a billion asterisks.

And honestly maybe apologize for siccing people on you but frankly given how hard my opinion of him has tanked I'm not gonna hold my breath.

I'm fine. The block button is a wonderful thing.

My feelings are mixed. Yes, I see that it would be terrifying to have your mental illness warp your perception of an event, but...you're not the only mentally ill person on Earth, and it's no less terrifying to be triggered into an episode by false information.

I have been asked by several followers to trigger tag #unreality because that kind of thing really messes with them. And the post was framed in a particularly triggering way—encouraging conspiratorial thinking by saying that there's a "media blackout" and that the official sources are downplaying the severity.

The post is still circulating as of this morning, and the misleading version is still hitting people's dashes and suckering people in. Why would you not just make it unrebloggable?

I don't know. I really don't know what to think of the whole thing.

The Twitter OP makes me honestly furious, claiming that "the cops" "blew it up" when it was first responders putting their lives in danger to stop the burning train cars from exploding. It's so frustrating to see people acting like they're calling it a "controlled burn" to cover up idiotic mismanagement. The crews that responded to this accident at great potential risk to their lives don't deserve to be called cops and slandered for making the best decision they could have possibly made.

In general it's worrying how folks on social media are responding—by encouraging paranoia and mistrust by attributing malice or idiocy to the people trying to manage the accident.

Folks say "fuck cops" but they can't distinguish cops from firefighters and hazardous materials crews working to save lives. That's scary to me.

I don't think we know enough yet to ascertain the causes of the accident, but I want to caution against looking for a specific party to blame as being at fault, because...these things can happen even when we do everything right. As long as we use these hazardous chemicals to make things, this is always a possibility.

And it's not necessarily a "preventable" failure of society that we make and use PVC, either. One of the causes of how widespread plastics are is that they are genuinely useful materials with properties that no other materials have. PVC pipe is what probably makes the plumbing in your house. Before PVC, there was copper, which is incredibly expensive, has a tendency to burst with temperature changes, and corrodes and reacts with various chemicals.

And the sad fact is, environmental disasters like this happen a lot. Many of them worse than this.

Not too far from where I live, there was a case where tons of radioactive waste were dumped into a municipal landfill. This radioactive waste was being handled by workers who didn't know what it was and had no protection. This was a case of malicious dodging of regulations. Mining coal creates radioactive and toxic waste that is constantly mismanaged. I was doing reports on local environmental news for my geology class a while back and many of the coal mines in Eastern Kentucky have a hundredfold violations of environmental and safety regulations, and companies usually dodge responsibility.

I hope this incident inspires people to think and talk about environmental regulations and rights of workers in the rail industry. What with the railroad strikes going on, I think it's worth considering that this is why we need to look out for the welfare of rail workers—you want the people handling the shipment of hazardous chemicals to be well rested and well protected.

[etoilesbienne]

hey, you can 100% ignore this if responding brings up too much pain, but ; ; i just want to tell you i relate so fucking hard, i haven’t really seen anyone else expressing pain to the extent that i personally feel it so i started wondering if i was alone in it, but—it hurts. it hurts so fucking bad. i haven’t been able to stop crying for the days since it happened, and there’s just a constant pain in my chest. it’s just real, genuine grief. it feels like losing people that you loved, getting furious on their behalf because of how they were treated. i didn’t think i would have to say goodbye, both to people who made me so happy and to one of the biggest reasons that i watched qsmp. maybe another reason it’s different because we talked to them often in pomme and dapper time, that it feels so much like losing people you cared about, but losing ramón hurts like hell too. i don’t know, i haven’t had this kind of grief and crying in a long time. i thought maybe that level of emotion was parasocial and “weird”, but knowing i’m not alone eases that thought a bit, i guess. people who primarily watch other pov’s telling us it’s okay to take a break do not understand that there is no break to be had. it’s over, just like that. it’s worse thinking about how other people don’t really seem to understand or feel the extent of what’s happening and think it’s just criticism that comes from being a “hater”, not from hurt, and it makes me feel crazy too. sorry for the wall of text, but i promise we’re not crazy, and that your pain is justified and you’re always welcome to talk to me about it if you want to, i’m here.

ive taken all day looking at this message and looking at fandom content, and i just... yeah. it's hard. everything about this situation sucks with the inaction all of us are stuck in. I don't know what the move forward should be. I don't know how I can make this positive for myself anymore. I'd love to share headcanons aus story ideas, all that stuff while my main streamer is on break, but I don't know if he ever plans to be returning to the server, and the eggs I cared so much about just being gone. Where do I go from there. It's like real actual grief because it feels so unfair and so preventable and it hurts so much to keep. It's so unfair how they got treated. I'm tired of being told to take a break to deal with the grief because there is nothing to come back to. qsmp was my break. It's how I would relax after spending so long on archaeology and anthropology work. I understood it. It was fun. It just hurts.

Thank you for the message though, I hope its okay to post publicly

[dojae-huh]

Yeah, I totally agree, if even DY was mad at fans after their reaction to JH scandal (itawon), what would it be for the members to see the faces of the people that made their friend lose his dreams? And even worse, the same people who send funeral flowers to him

The parasocial relationship fans have with idols needs to stop, the idols need to start drawing the line

The most Doyoung could allowed himself back then was to not write on bubble for several days. He was so furious during the live and had troubles MCing, neos barely knew what to do.

It's not just Jaehyun. Haechan is attacked a lot, other neos, and Do is constantly online and on socmed, he sees the comments.

Doyoung liked both Lucas (almost adopted him) and Seunghan (was ready to be a good hyung), he lost them as well.

It seemd, attempts to change things are being done. More idols tell about their relationships, for example (SM tried with Karina). Half the time it still backfires awfully. It will take a long time...

[minorfamilysupremacy]

Not an ask I just want to thank you because like most of us, I am also a grown adult who often can't keep updated on most things and honestly hearing that Bible is acting childish ..kinda makes sense and also I too am pissed off and over BOC

this post is for the handful of anons in my inbox and also @claudiasharon, who wanted to know what the fuck is going on:

while you're most assuredly welcome, i want to be clear that whenever i post about this shit, i am not enjoying the callout aspect of it. callout posts got us into the original mess and as a general rule, i loathe them. i'm just a hurt and furious former stan who got taken for a ride by several shitheads, and bible scrambling to revise history like we all got collective amnesia or are too fucking stupid to remember things that happened all of two years ago makes me even angrier.

his most recent claim, in an interview that hasn't been released yet -- only the promo is out -- is this (subtitles are in the promo, not fan-translated):

yes, everyone, as usual, bible is the true victim, and fucking pond even moreso, despite the fact that BOC has since produced a reality show, a movie, and two television shows (as well as one they made and then just never released, i guess? sorry wuju), and bible himself had 50 engagements the year build's career went to hell. it's a wonder he can do the interview with the boss' boot shoved so far down his throat, in all honesty.

he is also making up sob stories, complete with crocodile tears, about growing up poor (he grew up rich and went to an international school) and almost failing at his dream and letting the family down (he admittedly struggled with acting, but was a working model and studying engineering, an extremely lucrative field, so it's not like the family would have starved without KP).

it is insane how obtuse, callous, and audacious this fucking shit is. first off, we have eyes. we saw your fucking interviews and your quotes and the parasocial dweebs on twitter probably have your five-year record of bowel movements timed to the second. (of course, my information is coming from parasocial dweebs on twitter, so.) secondly, what the literal fuck is wrong with you? are you really looking at the guy who got his career destroyed, almost driven to suicide, had years' worth of dirty laundry leaked at a deliberately-slow trickle to instill maximum damage, and going, 'well, actually, pond and i had it worse :('

pond chose to sit and wring his hands uselessly over a situation he could have prevented in the first place had he banned sucking and fucking between coworkers at the outset. you continue to flap your jaws ceaselessly and try to rewrite history -- 'nuh uh! i NEVER cared about build!' -- like the internet isn't forever and a whole hell of a lot of people can't pull receipts at the drop of a hat. you are an unprofessional, mean-spirited, heartless, dishonest, unbelievably noxious cunt masquerading as a human being. you continue baiting the bear that is social media and then whining when the bear takes your arm off. both of you SHUT THE FUCK UP about build. SHUT THE FUCK UP. he is out of your lives. he is doing nothing to you. he has not mentioned your fucking name once since he apologized for the last set of leaks, while you have been spiraling into the image of a middle-aged dad who's been divorced since 2013 but still can't get over how his bitch ex-wife wronged him.

and even without build in the picture, you come off like a spoiled little brat. when your heinous show finished (and thank god it has), the first thing you did was run to social media to bitch about the ending and how much you hated it. couldn't even be professional for five fucking minutes, huh? you think you're some kind of golden god because you're the boss' current fave and you're sleeping with his niece on the DL? (by the way, homie, your subterfuge with that one is about as well-kept a secret as harvey weinstein was. we all know you're fucking and have been for ages.)

newsflash, shitbag! pond cares about you inasmuch as you're of utility to him! as long as you behave yourself and playact as his personal propaganda machine, then you're fine, but do you really think that the second he so much as sniffs a hint of liability on you that he won't drop you like a hot potato? i, for one, fucking hope he does and soon, because watching someone who was once heralded as one of the brightest new talents in BL prostitute themselves for the whims of a greedy, lying narcissist and torch mountains of international goodwill in favor of making a career as a professional victim makes my stomach turn. if you ever take a mike's hard look at yourself and realize what a chump you've been played for, i hope it fucking hurts you like watching you play us for chumps for so long did to us as a fanbase. but i sincerely doubt you will ever wise up, because isn't it more lucrative and convenient to be a soulless ghoul and not have to take accountability for being an asshole?

eat shit, dude. i hope when the ship finally goes down and pond's tied you to the mast, that it was all worth it.

[skaruresonic]

If Flynn was lying or stating things that weren’t true. Wouldn’t That make his fanbase furious with him? Why lie about something that could get him in trouble with his core audience?

He doesn't outright lie, that's what's annoying about it. He lies by omission and obfuscation. He talks out both sides of his mouth to give himself enough plausible deniability to wiggle out of any trouble he's talked himself into. Then there's the fact that he doesn't remember his own words, thus casting major doubt on his ability to relay his interactions with Sega accurately.

Tbh, if saying "send me your ideas and I might pitch them at lore team meetings" doesn't produce so much as a peep, then I honestly don't know what will.

(Well, aside from "Sega doesn't want to use the Freedom Fighters," of course. It's darkly hilarious that people can excuse Flynn using his parasocial pull to potentially commit intellectual property infringement, but draw the line at stating basic facts.)

Disclaimer for those in the back: I don't think he's literal Satan, calm down. I just find his way of conducting himself unprofessional and maybe a little skeevy.

I sincerely hope that flynn is just running his mouth. But I get this feeling that what’s he saying is in fact true. And the reason? If Flynn was lying or stating things that weren’t true. Wouldn’t That make his fanbase furious with him? Why lie about something that could get him in trouble with his core audience? I honestly don’t know. But given how things in life work out sometimes. I have a gut feeling that Flynn is telling the truth, and it won’t be pretty.

Flynn Stans lack any critical thinking skills. You'd have to lack them to swallow his characterizations unquestioningly.

[transhawks]

do u feel the reaction to hawks supposedly sticking to endeavor is warranted? idk i feel like no one is giving hawks a bit of understanding like his approach is wrong, but its not as if his own abuse hasnt lead him to idolize endeavor

Here are my thoughts, and I don’t think there’s gonna be any validation for either argument here. 

For one thing, I’ve seen far more people saying that Hawks’s feelings towards Endeavor are warranted due to him being an abuse victim and that it’s wrong to call him an apologist than I’ve seen people calling him an abuse apologist. That might be me looking at the tags. My own views are these: much like with Dabi, things are simply, “this explains it”. It does not ‘excuse’ - what excuses actions are things we find moral. 

Now, as anyone following me knows, I have extreme leftist sympathies and do not believe in non-violent tactics being upheld as more moral than violent ones. Thus, some of the disruptive actions of the league are well in line with my moral values. So, let’s say, Dabi throwing all that stuff in the open during his video? I approved of it. Him burning Shouto to upset his father? Fucked and I hope there’s narrative punishment for it (probably him causing damage to himself).  Similarly, my feelings on Hawks are this: I understand why he idolizes ‘Endeavor’, or the idea of ‘Endeavor’. My whole meta this morning was to explain that his feelings are mostly about himself, in the end. The shining hero Endeavor in his origins is crucial to Hawks’s current of self, and to break that is break him.

BUT.

Hawks is his colleague in a very powerful industry with a lot of social capital. He is not a regular person, but a person with reach and influence and power (though it might be waning). 

Let’s take a different look at this: Endeavor is a powerful public figure exposed for what amounts to forced marriage and domestic violence and child abuse. His whole role in society is to inspire and provide feelings of security and yet in his private life, under the justification of heroism, Endeavor terrorized a woman and her children for twenty years. 

Please understand - if an actor had this much against him, and a colleague of that actor defended them with the reasoning of, “this man means so much to me and has saved my life”, we’d be furious. Or some of us, because the discussions we have in fandom mirror the same ones we have outside fandom when people we like are exposed and accused.  The thing is, the “ideal” of Endeavor has saved Hawks. Endeavor as a person, Enji as a person, has terrorized Rei Todoroki and his children for decades. These are both real things. Where it gets tricky is... does Hawks’s idolization truly outweigh the crimes Enji has committed? Does Endeavor being good in one rather impersonal, honestly parasocial (if we’re talking about him as a kid) relationship with Hawks, outweigh what’s pretty much domestic violence, abuse, likely marital rape? 

Ultimately, I think this discussion is worth it. For years people writing about him have made parallels to the #Metoo movement and Dabi really made the connection by exposing him through social media. When you sit and think about Enji and Hawks and Dabi, fighting past those first impulses to defend your fave, you have to think about what stance you’d take morally.

Do victims deserve to be heard?

Does it matter if the victim is not a good person? 

In fact if the victim later becomes awful, is the abuse justified? 

Or does it really matter if someone terrible was abused?

Do abusers deserve to given chances at power?

If someone is saved from abuse by someone who is an abuser, how is there an reconciliation of those deeds?

Can you admire someone’s work when they’re a terrible person?

Is there a way to still find comfort in that work while acknowledging the harm that person has committed? 

What does it mean for someone to have justice?

We need to ask these questions. They’re important in the world we live in, and through BNHA, we can start thinking about our reactions to when people we admire are exposed to be not good people in real life. 

For my final point, Keigo’s defense, of course, makes sense because Keigo is ... honestly heavily mentally ill. I think his compartmentalization and lack of outward regret for Twice’s murder and lack of reaction to his mother’s circumstances is clear that there’s a lot of issues with Keigo. 

His way of thinking is not healthy; so his reaction to Endeavor is not healthy. I think we can have sympathy for Keigo’s need to keep Endeavor as an inspiration to himself but also agree that the Endeavor Keigo idolizes is a lie, and that it’s unhealthy for Hawks to keep doing so. 

Someone can be wrong and yet very justified in their own terms for that behavior. We can also say that Hawks has a vested interest in keeping the status quo that allows Enji to be a hero, too. And that should be critiqued. Hawks should be criticized for supporting Enji as a hero, even if it makes sense that he does so out of his own trauma which should be acknowledged as the source of his problems. We can say Hawks is wrong for supporting Enji but also acknowledge he’s someone who needs therapy. 

We should stop being afraid over having these discussions. Sometimes people are wrong, and their behavior is wrong, even with a lot of justifications, but you can’t leave it at them being wrong - because before they can be right, they have to be in a better place to understand why they are wrong.  

[mamthew]

My full review of Persona 5: Scramble. Some mostly minor spoilers scattered throughout, though I try to flag them in advance.

When Persona 5: Scramble was announced, my expectations were fairly low. As it was yet another Warriors spinoff of a better-known series, I expected Hyrule Warriors but with Persona characters. I thought we’d get the P5 crew, maybe even a few from P3 or P4, maybe a villain or two, mindlessly tearing through thousands of enemies in essentially interchangeable levels, justified by a threadbare, 6-hour story. The demo, then, blew me away. It was just…the beginning of a sequel to Persona 5, maintaining the locations, presentation, and characters of the original game, but with a beat ‘em up battle system. I began thinking of Scramble as a direct sequel to literally my favorite game of all time, including everything a sequel might entail. 

Having played through almost all of Persona 5: Strikers (I have started but not bothered seriously attempting New Game+ in Merciless difficulty), the game we ended up getting was halfway between those, I think. They managed to recreate the presentation of P5 impeccably, with gorgeous menus, beautiful battle effects, entertaining scene transitions, etc. However, the half of the game that isn’t dungeon-crawling is deceptively scant. The story centers around a road trip across Japan, but each city isn’t nearly as realized as P5’s Tokyo, with only about 3 rooms apiece, and some of the later ones not even getting a hub at all. The hubs really only exist to have shops, with none of the time management, minigames, or relationship building in a mainline Persona game. Still, it’s the only Persona spinoff I’ve played that has a real-life component at all, so I found it refreshing to get to wander Sendai, Okinawa, Osaka, and other towns in a game I’d initially not expected to have any towns at all.

The dungeons are where this game shines, though. They’re actual Persona 5-style dungeons, made occasionally even more dynamic with the addition of platforming and sidescrolling sections reminiscent of Nier Automata. The battle system uses the bones of the system in every warriors game, but slowly builds on it with more and more complexity until it’s not only a unique system, but is honestly one of the more engaging action battle systems I’ve played in a minute, in which you’re constantly trying to time dodges just right for extra hits, which can then open the option to either get in an extra hit with your character, which heals some SP, or switch to another character for an extra hit with them, which increases the rate at which the special gauge increases. As Joker, you have an array of Personas you can switch between on the fly, shifting your moveset, your stats, and your strategy as you go. Each of the other characters has their own gimmick that makes them unique and fun to play and sets them apart from Joker, who otherwise would have access to all their elemental attacks and stat spreads. Strategically placed objects around dungeons can be used to pull off special moves in battles, as well, letting you jump up to chandeliers and drop them on enemies or dive off of walls and tackle enemies. The battle system takes a little too long to actually become complex, but once it actually reaches that point it’s really rewarding. The bosses, too, are fun, with designs deserving of the Persona name and strategies that make full use of the environments. You can even replay them at different difficulty levels as the game goes on. I’ve never played a Koei Tecmo game with this much polish, and the battle system makes me hope the Warriors team goes to try an actual Platinum-style character action game. I think they’d knock it out of the park.

I’m a little split on the story of this game. The bones of the story are good. The characters are all written perfectly, and seeing them interact again was enough that I actually teared up a bit when I first booted up the game. I enjoy the new characters, and they work well with the party. The pacing is solid and it has a good emotional core. The villains are decent for the most part, and the ending is pretty satisfying. Several of the villains directly correlate to specific party members, too, which gives us further insight into those party members, and lets us watch as they see themselves in someone else and recognize where that other person broke off from their path. The game is in part about trauma and the ways it drives individuals to lash out at a world they’ve always believed to be cold and unforgiving, which could be a powerful message if done well. In this game, though, it’s not done very well at all. The ultimate message – if this game could be said to have one – is that individuals without support networks are driven by trauma to make bad decisions. That’s not…necessarily untrue, but it’s not…necessarily true, either. This message is probably at its worst when the game gets into inadvertently ableist territory with a character near the end, who -spoilers until the end of the paragraph- tries to essentially enslave mankind because her dissociation due to trauma convinces her that she has no emotions and therefore the species as a whole should have no emotions either. It’s…frankly a really gross bookend on a game that, until that point, had managed to avoid most of the issues with male gaze and homophobia that the original game had.

Every message in this game, though, is too individual-focused to function as a real message or social commentary. It even undercuts the sharp themes in the original by showing people in similar positions of power as the original villains just…choosing not to fall to corruption and consequently avoiding all of the problems that would arise from their power discrepancy. For a spoilery example until the end of the paragraph, the villain in Persona 5 who’s a CEO is a villain because his need to make profit drives him to exploit his workers, paying them less and working them more. The villain in Strikers who’s a CEO is a villain because his father was abusive and that led him to think people must be controlled. One is a real-world problem applicable to any CEO. The other is a story that exists only in the fictional realm.

This wouldn’t be such a glaring issue if Persona games – and especially Persona 5 – weren’t known for their social commentary. That’s not limited to the main games, either. Persona 4 Dancing was a rhythm game with a story about parasocial relationships and the pressures they place on public figures. Strikers ostensibly touches on parasocial relationships, but doesn’t…really have anything to say about them.

The game does try to make a statement sometimes, but everything it tries to say is disjointed, at odds with the previous game, or inapplicable to real life. The villains’ deeds don’t really have much similarity to each other, either, unlike in 5, and it’s stated outright that several of them would not hold any power at all without the supernatural world, which both prevents their stories from saying anything about the real world, and flies in the face of the purpose of Persona as a series. The supernatural worlds in Persona games are the collective unconscious, which means that the worlds are used to give the characters and the player visual representations of abstract concepts. The Palaces in Persona 5 are not the sources of the villains’ power; that comes from regular old societal hierarchies. The characters in Persona 4 were experiencing their inner turmoil before they were sucked into the TV world, and the midnight channel only made manifest what was already there and unseen. Conversely, the first two villains in Strikers are only in the public eye because they use supernatural means to make people like them. That the supernatural means involve smart phones doesn’t say anything about technology, because that’s not how technology actually works. In a follow-up to a game that was as furious at the world and desperate for change as Persona 5 was, it’s a glaring departure for the characters to just…befriend “the good cop,” or -spoilers again- push the mayor who’s based on Margaret Fucking Thatcher to run again but do things the “right way” this time.

That being said, I’m not actually that upset with this game. I have a lot to say about its missteps because I have a lot to say about Persona 5, but the gameplay is legitimately fun, and I do really love seeing the characters again. I’m more bemused than upset with the game’s fumbling of…the thing that made me fall in love with Persona 5 to begin with. Part of that is because the game is still so solid and fun, and the characters are written so well that I can overlook the issues. Even deeper, though, is that the last few years has radicalized so many people that the statements made in Persona 5 are simply…more visible in the mainstream than they were when it released. Late show hosts rage about the exploitation of waged workers. Video game streamers remark on the cruel arbitrariness of the current system. Shows about cops are being pushed to justify their existence to an increasingly disillusioned public. I think if Persona 5 released today, it wouldn’t have the same impact it did in 2017. To my mind, the game no longer carries the responsibility it once did. So this game is fun and doesn’t really matter, and that’s actually okay.

But if Persona 6 isn’t a return to form, I’ll take it back.

[seafleece]

as someone who loves to read fics for BOTH of these ships, i'm inclined to believe that BeauJes shippers would have been furious at Liam regardless of what song he chose to represent Caleb's feelings for Jester. Liam sharing that Caleb has a crush doesn't invalidate BeauJes. it's ultimately Laura's/Jester's agency to decide if she likes one, both, or neither of them, and pretending any of these ships are concrete is promoting a fallacious and frankly harmful parasocial investment in the show.

well hey, as someone who really likes beaujes, here’s my personal guarantee that i was fully prepared to ignore whatever song liam picked to describe caleb’s artificially introduced and incurably sad crush on jester, and that my qualm is exactly with that he chose a song by a bi woman that specifically addresses the fears of wlw. you can choose not to believe me— i suspect you might not— but it’s the truth.

now, on god, i’m done.

[doidarespeak]

so my brother is getting kicked out. family i've barely had back in life for a couple years. the only family that treats me, knows and likes me, for me. he can't work, or can only work very specific jobs which he hasn't been able to do, even with his back surgery. fuck the construction company that won't pay him his settlement that got him injured in the first place. he was broke, but his place wasn't kicking him out. a little cash app here and there to keep him afloat. Maybe if i got paid enough i could get moved and get a place so at least I know he was secured and safe in that respect.

and then this dumbass escalated an altercation which sure as shit was him flashing his weapons at someone he shouldn't have, which is the perfect excuse for the complex to kick out a non/low pay tenant.

And I'm furious. I shouldn't be but I am. he was safe! he wasn't in the hot summer sun, he had a roof and his dog and food and water and just had to hold a little while longer and that's out the window. maybe he didn't have the right meds anymore, maybe old anger and paranoia issues popped up. I'm trying to not be angry about it, but i'm pretty sure i have the same issues to.

I'm tired of my set and forget ways, "if it's not my problem forget it, it'll disappear eventually." And i've have had to do this for years, whether because of Jehovah's Witness bull shit or just my own shit personality. And I've been trying so hard to fix this. Just be conversationalist, make new friends, let people ebb and flow out of your life

and it's just been shit. I'm tired of people just ebbing and flowing out. every time i get someone new i want to stick around they end being gone. and i don't want that any more. I want to keep people around, i want people in my life! and my life won't let me have that unless i go to the ends of the earth for people, or I end up pushing them away before I do. I thought stopped pushing people away. thought i ended that when i restarted my life at 24. and it's just not gotten better

I have the same 2-3 people that have a physical, tangible form. not just a good figment at the end of internet forum, and it's like i can't even keep them around. i keep gettign moves delayed, friends going to other countries, and me trying to tamp down parasocial relationships i know are going nowhere. just worry about me and let life take it's course

which brings back here. I've did it before, i don't give much a shit about the rest of my family. they don't want me, they want the fake person i presented to them for years just to survive. But lyman wants me as I am, and i'm in no position to properly help him. So what do i do, set and forget, hope he goes quick or just decides to be on his own, cut him off? Risk us both being homeless and financially ruined trying to get him out of another state? give up my dreams that have been continually dashed again and again and again due to my own mental health and general ineptness. I'm such a dumb person who can't handle anything and any time i think I may be too, any time i think i've made that progress

it gets thrown in the trash

the darkest parts of me i've tried so hard to erase and and destroy, just want him gone, i don't want to worry about him, i just want to run away like any other stupid problem

but i don't want too, but what else can do i do

just a shit tier person through and through i suppose

[lyesattou10-blog1]

Blog essay #3.

The​ ​human​ ​mind​ ​is​ ​truly​ ​boggling,​ ​to​ ​be​ ​invested​ ​as​ ​an​ ​audience​ ​is​ ​truly​ ​a​ ​research worthy​ ​of​ ​conducting.​ ​Audience​ ​members​ ​have​ ​different​ ​behaviors​ ​to​ ​different​ ​media​ ​texts. Some​ ​audience​ ​members​ ​influence​ ​their​ ​social​ ​life​ ​throughout​ ​different​ ​media​ ​texts​ ​such​ ​as television​ ​series​ ​or​ ​radio​ ​channels​ ​while​ ​others​ ​use​ ​it​ ​as​ ​leisure​ ​time​ ​to​ ​waste​ ​time.​ ​Many viewers​ ​have​ ​a​ ​fix​ ​schedule​ ​every​ ​week​ ​knowing​ ​what​ ​media​ ​text​ ​they​ ​are​ ​going​ ​to​ ​view​ ​and when​ ​they​ ​are​ ​going​ ​to​ ​view​ ​it.​ ​As​ ​stated​ ​in​ ​the​ ​course​ ​book​ ​for​ ​example​ ​they​ ​explained​ ​that “Our​ ​media​ ​choices​ ​and​ ​interpretations​ ​can​ ​be​ ​shaped​ ​by​ ​our​ ​immediate​ ​physical​ ​and​ ​social environment”​ ​(Sullivan​ ​173).​ ​This​ ​statement​ ​correlates​ ​a​ ​lot​ ​with​ ​my​ ​own​ ​social​ ​environment​ ​as previously​ ​stated​ ​in​ ​the​ ​two​ ​first​ ​blog​ ​posts​ ​my​ ​experience​ ​as​ ​a​ ​sport​ ​fanatic​ ​is​ ​influenced​ ​by​ ​the environment​ ​I​ ​grew​ ​up​ ​in​ ​whether​ ​it​ ​was​ ​through​ ​family,​ ​friends​ ​or​ ​the​ ​type​ ​of​ ​social​ ​gatherings​ ​I would​ ​attend.​ ​However​ ​now​ ​with​ ​technology​ ​being​ ​advanced​ ​viewing​ ​media​ ​contents​ ​have become​ ​much​ ​easier​ ​to​ ​access​ ​thanks​ ​to​ ​the​ ​different​ ​outlets​ ​such​ ​as​ ​Youtube,​ ​Facebook​ ​and Twitter​ ​and​ ​also​ ​the​ ​ways​ ​in​ ​which​ ​audience​ ​members​ ​can​ ​interact​ ​with​ ​their​ ​particular​ ​media content​ ​they​ ​are​ ​a​ ​fan​ ​of.​ ​These​ ​outlets​ ​gave​ ​a​ ​new​ ​sense​ ​of​ ​media​ ​fandom​ ​as​ ​various​ ​forums and​ ​blogs​ ​gave​ ​the​ ​opportunity​ ​for​ ​fans​ ​to​ ​engage​ ​as​ ​a​ ​community​ ​and​ ​create​ ​discussions​ ​about the​ ​content​ ​they​ ​are​ ​particularly​ ​subscribed​ ​too.​ ​With​ ​these​ ​outlets​ ​being​ ​available​ ​to​ ​the​ ​public it​ ​led​ ​to​ ​many​ ​fans​ ​being​ ​known​ ​as​ ​nomads​ ​which​ ​is​ ​defined​ ​as​ ​someone​ ​who​ ​“uses​ ​different Media​ ​to​ ​Juxtapose”.​ ​New​ ​advanced​ ​technologies​ ​also​ ​led​ ​to​ ​this​ ​notion​ ​of​ ​having​ ​a​ ​“Parasocial” relationships​ ​with​ ​certain​ ​celebrities​ ​or​ ​athletes.​ ​Even​ ​though​ ​it's​ ​a​ ​one​ ​way​ ​relationship​ ​it​ ​gave the​ ​opportunity​ ​for​ ​fans​ ​interact​ ​with​ ​their​ ​role​ ​models​ ​in​ ​a​ ​different​ ​way.​ ​Through​ ​this​ ​blog​ ​post​ ​I will​ ​be​ ​looking​ ​into​ ​the​ ​different​ ​types​ ​of​ ​fans,​ ​how​ ​audience​ ​members​ ​use​ ​different​ ​media​ ​texts as​ ​rituals,​ ​the​ ​parasocial​ ​relationship​ ​between​ ​sports​ ​athlete​ ​and​ ​an​ ​audience​ ​member​ ​and finally​ ​how​ ​these​ ​media​ ​contexts​ ​are​ ​being​ ​viewed.​ ​All​ ​these​ ​points​ ​will​ ​be​ ​associated​ ​to​ ​my​ ​own personal​ ​experiences.  

Before​ ​talking​ ​into​ ​depth​ ​about​ ​the​ ​different​ ​types​ ​of​ ​fans​ ​it​ ​is​ ​important​ ​to​ ​know​ ​what​ ​is​ ​a fan​ ​and​ ​where​ ​it​ ​originated​ ​from.​ ​When​ ​you​ ​think​ ​of​ ​fan​ ​you​ ​might​ ​think​ ​of​ ​a​ ​fan​ ​of​ ​TV​ ​series, Sports​ ​or​ ​a​ ​particular​ ​music​ ​genre​ ​or​ ​book.​ ​However​ ​before​ ​that​ ​it​ ​had​ ​a​ ​negative​ ​connotation​ ​to it​ ​during​ ​the​ ​17th​ ​century.​ ​It​ ​referred​ ​to​ ​a​ ​religious​ ​devotee,​ ​the​ ​connections​ ​between​ ​fandom and​ ​religion​ ​are​ ​particularly​ ​notable​ ​as​ ​the​ ​usage​ ​of​ ​fanatic​ ​generally​ ​referred​ ​to​ ​an​ ​unwavering, uncritical​ ​belief​ ​in​ ​usually​ ​religious​ ​dogma.​ ​They​ ​referred​ ​the​ ​word​ ​as​ ​an​ ​action​ ​or​ ​speech​ ​“Such as​ ​might​ ​result​ ​from​ ​possession​ ​by​ ​a​ ​deity​ ​or​ ​demon;​ ​frantic,​ ​furious”.(Sullivan,192).​ ​Fans​ ​also have​ ​it’s​ ​own​ ​stereotypes​ ​as​ ​Jenkins​ ​mentioned​ ​that​ ​media​ ​fans​ ​are​ ​often​ ​portrayed​ ​as brainless​ ​consumers,​ ​willing​ ​to​ ​buy​ ​anything​ ​with​ ​a​ ​logo​ ​or​ ​image​ ​of​ ​their​ ​favorite​ ​media program​ ​or​ ​star.​ ​However​ ​fans​ ​wanted​ ​to​ ​challenge​ ​these​ ​negative​ ​stereotypes​ ​by​ ​rather​ ​than audiences​ ​viewing​ ​choices​ ​being​ ​determined​ ​by​ ​corporations,​ ​fans​ ​develop​ ​their​ ​own​ ​sense​ ​of self-identity.​ ​As​ ​stated​ ​in​ ​the​ ​course​ ​book​ ​“Fandom​ ​became​ ​more​ ​than​ ​simple​ ​enthusiasm​ ​for​ ​a TV​ ​program​ ​or​ ​film,​ ​it​ ​was​ ​a​ ​form​ ​of​ ​collective​ ​interpretation​ ​of​ ​popular​ ​culture​ ​that​ ​creates​ ​a powerful​ ​sense​ ​of​ ​group​ ​cohesion”(Sullivan​ ​194).​ ​As​ ​previously​ ​stated​ ​in​ ​the​ ​blogs​ ​coming​ ​from France​ ​soccer​ ​was​ ​the​ ​number​ ​one​ ​sport.​ ​Despite​ ​it​ ​being​ ​the​ ​most​ ​played​ ​sport​ ​in​ ​France​ ​us fans​ ​have​ ​a​ ​negative​ ​stereotype​ ​in​ ​the​ ​eyes​ ​of​ ​non-soccer​ ​fans.​ ​We​ ​were​ ​known​ ​as​ ​chaotic, violent,​ ​social​ ​misfits​ ​and​ ​intellectually​ ​immature.​ ​Soccer​ ​fans​ ​back​ ​in​ ​my​ ​country​ ​are​ ​seen​ ​as people​ ​who​ ​can’t​ ​separate​ ​virtuality​ ​with​ ​reality.​ ​In​ ​other​ ​terms​ ​they​ ​are​ ​known​ ​as​ ​“Hooligans”. Habitus​ ​​defined​ ​as​ ​a​ ​complex​ ​function​ ​of​ ​an​ ​individual's​ ​social,​ ​cultural​ ​and​ ​economic​ ​capital​ ​is a​ ​huge​ ​factor​ ​back​ ​home.​ ​For​ ​example​ ​a​ ​wealthy​ ​individual​ ​will​ ​either​ ​watch​ ​the​ ​game​ ​at​ ​home or​ ​purchase​ ​tickets​ ​at​ ​the​ ​VIP​ ​area​ ​in​ ​the​ ​stadium​ ​because​ ​it​ ​shows​ ​a​ ​clear​ ​distinction​ ​of​ ​the person's​ ​social​ ​status​ ​compared​ ​to​ ​an​ ​individual​ ​who​ ​lives​ ​in​ ​the​ ​inner​ ​streets​ ​as​ ​myself​ ​will​ ​go to​ ​the​ ​nearest​ ​cafe​ ​shop​ ​and​ ​watch​ ​the​ ​game​ ​as​ ​a​ ​community.​ ​Despite​ ​all​ ​these​ ​negative stereotypes​ ​it​ ​is​ ​important​ ​to​ ​know​ ​the​ ​contribution​ ​that​ ​fans​ ​have​ ​in​ ​particular​ ​media​ ​texts.​

​The course​ ​book​ ​provided​ ​an​ ​example​ ​of​ ​a​ ​movie​ ​called​ ​“Rocky​ ​Horror”.​ ​When​ ​the​ ​movie​ ​got released​ ​Local​ ​theaters​ ​complained​ ​that​ ​50​ ​seats​ ​out​ ​of​ ​800​ ​were​ ​occupied.​ ​This​ ​easily​ ​could’ve been​ ​the​ ​end​ ​of​ ​the​ ​movie​ ​however​ ​these​ ​50​ ​people​ ​that​ ​attended​ ​the​ ​screenings​ ​happen​ ​to​ ​be largely​ ​the​ ​same​ ​people.​ ​Bill​ ​Quigley​ ​eventually​ ​took​ ​notice​ ​and​ ​convinced​ ​fox​ ​to​ ​release​ ​it​ ​at one​ ​theatre​ ​at​ ​a​ ​time.​ ​However​ ​the​ ​biggest​ ​draw​ ​wasn’t​ ​the​ ​movie​ ​itself​ ​but​ ​the​ ​fans.​ ​Eventually the​ ​film​ ​became​ ​a​ ​cult​ ​and​ ​grossed​ ​over​ ​100​ ​million​ ​dollars.​ ​This​ ​wouldn’t​ ​be​ ​the​ ​case​ ​without fan​ ​participation.​ ​Relating​ ​to​ ​that​ ​story​ ​back​ ​when​ ​I​ ​lived​ ​France​ ​there​ ​was​ ​a​ ​café​ ​the​ ​suburban area​ ​of​ ​Nice.​ ​The​ ​café​ ​shop​ ​was​ ​newly​ ​open​ ​but​ ​the​ ​problem​ ​was​ ​that​ ​no​ ​one​ ​ever​ ​attended​ ​the shop​ ​other​ ​than​ ​weekends​ ​where​ ​soccer​ ​fans​ ​in​ ​the​ ​area​ ​attended​ ​the​ ​shop​ ​to​ ​watch​ ​games. However​ ​the​ ​fans​ ​that​ ​did​ ​attend​ ​the​ ​shop​ ​were​ ​always​ ​the​ ​same​ ​regulars​ ​to​ ​view​ ​games.​ ​This led​ ​to​ ​the​ ​café​ ​shop​ ​to​ ​bring​ ​in​ ​two​ ​new​ ​TV’s​ ​so​ ​the​ ​shop​ ​can​ ​show​ ​multiple​ ​games​ ​rather​ ​than just​ ​one.​ ​With​ ​the​ ​help​ ​of​ ​fan​ ​participation​ ​the​ ​coffee​ ​shop​ ​became​ ​not​ ​only​ ​the​ ​most​ ​known​ ​one in​ ​the​ ​area​ ​but​ ​one​ ​of​ ​the​ ​most​ ​popular​ ​in​ ​the​ ​whole​ ​city.​ ​This​ ​leads​ ​to​ ​the​ ​four​ ​different​ ​types​ ​of fans.​ ​Below​ ​is​ ​a​ ​ranking​ ​from​ ​passive​ ​fans​ ​to​ ​most​ ​active​ ​fans:  

1. Consumer

 2. Enthiusast

3. Fan

4. Producer

In​ ​the​ ​first​ ​blog​ ​post​ ​I​ ​discussed​ ​how​ ​I​ ​had​ ​to​ ​adapt​ ​to​ ​the​ ​Northern​ ​American​ ​lifestyle​ ​by integrating​ ​new​ ​media​ ​contents​ ​to​ ​my​ ​life.​ ​As​ ​stated​ ​before​ ​soccer​ ​is​ ​the​ ​number​ ​one​ ​sport​ ​in France​ ​which​ ​is​ ​not​ ​the​ ​case​ ​here.​ ​So​ ​I​ ​had​ ​to​ ​explore​ ​new​ ​sports​ ​that​ ​are​ ​not​ ​necessarily popular​ ​in​ ​France.​ ​The​ ​NFL​ ​being​ ​the​ ​number​ ​one​ ​sport​ ​in​ ​the​ ​world​ ​in​ ​terms​ ​of​ ​generating revenues​ ​was​ ​the​ ​sport​ ​I​ ​really​ ​got​ ​into​ ​the​ ​most​ ​since​ ​I​ ​came​ ​two​ ​years​ ​ago.​ ​My​ ​first​ ​game​ ​was at​ ​the​ ​Buffalo​ ​Bills​ ​game​ ​where​ ​I​ ​saw​ ​all​ ​four​ ​types​ ​of​ ​fans.​ ​Myself​ ​was​ ​a​ ​consumer​ ​because​ ​I hadn’t​ ​know​ ​much​ ​of​ ​the​ ​sport​ ​so​ ​I​ ​tagged​ ​along​ ​with​ ​some​ ​friends​ ​who​ ​are​ ​huge​ ​followers​ ​of the​ ​sport.​ ​Once​ ​the​ ​first​ ​game​ ​ended​ ​my​ ​curiosity​ ​of​ ​the​ ​sport​ ​grew​ ​substantially​ ​which eventually​ ​led​ ​to​ ​me​ ​becoming​ ​an​ ​enthusiast​ ​because​ ​once​ ​I​ ​learned​ ​about​ ​the​ ​sport(rules​ ​and regulations)​ ​I​ ​was​ ​able​ ​to​ ​enjoy​ ​the​ ​following​ ​games​ ​I​ ​attended.​ ​Fan​ ​being​ ​a​ ​shorter​ ​term​ ​for “fanatic”​ ​was​ ​the​ ​majority​ ​of​ ​the​ ​stadium.​ ​Devoted​ ​members​ ​in​ ​the​ ​audience​ ​wearing​ ​the​ ​team jerseys,​ ​face​ ​painted​ ​with​ ​the​ ​team​ ​colors​ ​screaming​ ​of​ ​joy​ ​whenever​ ​the​ ​team​ ​scored​ ​a touchdown​ ​or​ ​showing​ ​a​ ​complete​ ​different​ ​side​ ​when​ ​they​ ​lost​ ​the​ ​game.​ ​There​ ​was​ ​one particular​ ​fan​ ​in​ ​attendance​ ​that​ ​was​ ​half​ ​naked,​ ​half​ ​the​ ​body​ ​covered​ ​in​ ​blue​ ​while​ ​the​ ​other half​ ​was​ ​covered​ ​in​ ​red.​ ​For​ ​me​ ​that​ ​was​ ​a​ ​perfect​ ​description​ ​of​ ​a​ ​fan​ ​or​ ​fanatic.​ ​Finally​ ​the producers​ ​were​ ​the​ ​one’s​ ​organizing​ ​the​ ​game​ ​which​ ​in​ ​this​ ​case​ ​was​ ​the​ ​league​ ​and​ ​it’s​ ​staff members.

Moving​ ​forward​ ​to​ ​​rituals​​ ​myself​ ​and​ ​my​ ​family​ ​consume​ ​a​ ​lot​ ​of​ ​television.​ In​ ​the​ ​course we​ ​discussed​ ​how​ ​media​ ​text​ ​can​ ​structure​ ​someone’s​ ​social​ ​life.​ ​In​ ​this​ ​particular​ ​case​ ​I​ ​will​ ​be discussing​ ​our​ ​rituals​ ​with​ ​television.​ ​In​ ​the​ ​book​ ​Dayan​ ​and​ ​Katz​ ​stated​ ​that​ ​“media​ ​events​ ​offer a​ ​kind​ ​of​ ​modern-day​ ​civil​ ​religion​ ​because​ ​of​ ​their​ ​power​ ​to​ ​interrupt​ ​the​ ​patterns​ ​of​ ​everyday life,​ ​making​ ​these​ ​experiences”​(Sullivan,180). Every​ ​four​ ​years​ ​during​ ​the​ ​summer,​ ​one​ ​of​ ​the most​ ​viewed​ ​events in the world ​the​ ​Fifa​ ​world​ ​cup​ ​occurs.​ ​As​ ​soccer​ ​fanatics​ ​we​ ​already​ ​have​ ​a​ ​fix​ ​schedule every​ ​four​ ​years​ ​on​ ​what​ ​games​ ​to​ ​watch​ ​and​ ​where​ ​to​ ​watch​ ​them.​ ​Being​ ​from​ ​Algerian descent​ ​whenever​ ​Algeria​ ​plays​ ​in​ ​the​ ​world​ ​cup​ ​we​ ​always​ ​assemble​ ​the​ ​Algerian​ ​community together​ ​and​ ​rent​ ​a​ ​room​ ​where​ ​we​ ​can​ ​watch​ ​the​ ​games​ ​on​ ​a​ ​big​ ​projector​ ​all​ ​wearing​ ​the team's​ ​colors.​ ​Not​ ​only​ ​it​ ​feels​ ​like​ ​we​ ​are​ ​at​ ​the​ ​stadium​ ​live​ ​but​ ​the​ ​atmosphere​ ​is​ ​something else​ ​especially​ ​with​ ​Algerians.​ ​Whenever​ ​Algeria​ ​gets​ ​eliminated​ ​we​ ​end​ ​up​ ​watching​ ​the games​ ​on​ ​our​ ​television​ ​in​ ​the​ ​living​ ​room​ ​and​ ​use​ ​it​ ​as​ ​a​ ​source​ ​to​ ​start​ ​conversations.​ ​The world​ ​cup​ ​in​ ​a​ ​way​ ​is​ ​like​ ​a​ ​religious​ ​event​ ​for​ ​my​ ​family.​ ​Durkheim’s​ ​notion​ ​that​ ​rituals​ ​serve​ ​to bring​ ​communities​ ​and​ ​societies​ ​together​ ​correlates​ ​perfectly​ ​with​ ​the​ ​world​ ​cup.​ ​For​ ​example Ivory​ ​coast​ ​had​ ​a​ ​civil​ ​war​ ​in​ ​2005.​ ​But​ ​when​ ​the​ ​National​ ​team​ ​qualified​ ​for​ ​the​ ​World​ ​cup​ ​for the​ ​first​ ​time​ ​in​ ​their​ ​lives​ ​it​ ​also​ ​ended​ ​the​ ​civil​ ​war.​ ​Everyone​ ​was​ ​unified​ ​together​ ​and​ ​cheered the​ ​team’s​ ​success.

When​ ​viewing​ ​a​ ​sports​ ​game​ ​particularly​ ​a​ ​soccer​ ​game​ ​at​ ​this​ ​day​ ​and​ ​age​ ​they​ ​offer various​ ​of​ ​ways​ ​to​ ​watch​ ​games.​ ​You​ ​can​ ​watch​ ​it​ ​at​ ​a​ ​bar​ ​café​ ​shop,​ ​you​ ​can​ ​now​ ​watch​ ​it​ ​at the​ ​movie​ ​theatre​ ​or​ ​at​ ​the​ ​comfort​ ​of​ ​your​ ​own​ ​home.​ ​In​ ​this​ ​case​ ​the​ ​research​ ​study​ ​conducted during​ ​the​ ​world​ ​cup​ ​2010​ ​in​ ​South​ ​Africa​ ​depicted​ ​the​ ​pros​ ​and​ ​cons​ ​of​ ​both​ ​watching​ ​it​ ​at​ ​the movie​ ​theatre​ ​or​ ​at​ ​home.​ ​One​ ​of​ ​the​ ​quotes​ ​red​ ​“Specifically,​ ​the​ ​impact​ ​of​ ​large​ ​screens​ ​in theaters​ ​is​ ​obviously​ ​beneficial​ ​for​ ​the​ ​audience.​ ​As​ ​a​ ​screen​ ​gets​ ​larger,​ ​the​ ​impact​ ​gets greater—the​ ​audience​ ​feels​ ​less​ ​like​ ​TV​ ​watchers,​ ​and​ ​more​ ​like​ ​participants​ ​in​ ​the​ ​action​ ​on the​ ​screen​ ​(Lombard​ ​&​ ​Ditton,​ ​1997;​ ​Reeves​ ​et​ ​al.,​ ​1993).​ ​Reeves​ ​and​ ​colleagues​ ​(1993)​ ​found that​ ​audiences​ ​who​ ​viewed​ ​films​ ​on​ ​a​ ​70-inch​ ​screen​ ​reported​ ​significantly​ ​higher​ ​levels​ ​of presence​ ​with​ ​the​ ​statement​ ​“I​ ​felt​ ​like​ ​I​ ​was​ ​a​ ​part​ ​of​ ​the​ ​action”​ ​than​ ​the​ ​others​ ​who​ ​watched them​ ​on​ ​a​ ​35-inch​ ​screen”​ ​(Kim,​ ​P.393).​ ​In​ ​my​ ​opinion​ ​I​ ​feel​ ​like​ ​watching​ ​it​ ​at​ ​a​ ​movie​ ​theatre actually​ ​ruins​ ​the​ ​moment.​ ​If​ ​it​ ​was​ ​up​ ​to​ ​me​ ​I​ ​would​ ​rather​ ​watch​ ​it​ ​at​ ​the​ ​comfort​ ​of​ ​my​ ​own home​ ​in​ ​the​ ​living​ ​room​ ​alongside​ ​family​ ​members.​ ​There’s​ ​no​ ​luxury​ ​of​ ​having​ ​that​ ​private space​ ​at​ ​the​ ​movies.​ ​At​ ​home​ ​you​ ​have​ ​the​ ​possibility​ ​to​ ​be​ ​as​ ​free​ ​as​ ​you​ ​want.​ ​As​ ​long​ ​as​ ​you have​ ​great​ ​surroundings​ ​the​ ​atmosphere​ ​comes​ ​with​ ​it​ ​and​ ​you​ ​can​ ​have​ ​the​ ​same​ ​feeling​ ​than the​ ​people​ ​that​ ​attended​ ​the​ ​movie​ ​theatre​ ​to​ ​watch​ ​the​ ​games.  However there is an exception. During the 2010 World cup I travelled back home to Algeria for a visit of two weeks. During those first two weeks Algeria were going to play England and Slovenia. It was the first time in 24 years that Algeria qualified. So the government placed large screens around the big cities so the people can watch the game not only as a community but for free. In a third world country when events like these occur especially when the country in question is yours brings a lot of temporary energy to the country. In a way it helps the people forget about the countries problems such as corruption and crime and elevates the spirits of the community. In the picture below there’s an example of people being emotionally invested. Also it shows the impact of what an event can have on people. 

Which​ ​leads​ ​to​ ​my​ ​relationship​ ​with​ ​athletes​ ​that​ ​I​ ​follow.​ ​Para social​ ​relationship​ ​is​ ​when you​ ​have​ ​a​ ​one​ ​sided​ ​relationship​ ​with​ ​an​ ​athlete​ ​or​ ​celebrity​ ​through​ ​social​ ​media.​ ​You​ ​invest your​ ​time,​ ​interest​ ​and​ ​emotional​ ​energy​ ​to​ ​that​ ​particular​ ​persona.​ ​​ ​However​ ​that​ ​persona​ ​is completely​ ​unaware​ ​of​ ​who​ ​you​ ​are.​ ​In​ ​my​ ​case​ ​I​ ​follow​ ​many​ ​sport​ ​figures.​ ​I​ ​engage​ ​in​ ​many conversations​ ​on​ ​these​ ​sport​ ​figures​ ​social​ ​media​ ​page​ ​particularly​ ​on​ ​Instagram​ ​and​ ​Facebook. By​ ​following​ ​these​ ​persona’s​ ​it​ ​allows​ ​be​ ​to​ ​feel​ ​like​ ​I'm​ ​there​ ​when​ ​I’m​ ​really​ ​not.​ ​It’s​ ​crazy​ ​to think​ ​that​ ​they​ ​have​ ​million​ ​of​ ​followers​ ​that​ ​look​ ​up​ ​to​ ​them​ ​when​ ​they​ ​are​ ​completely​ ​unaware of​ ​who​ ​you​ ​are.​ ​Social​ ​media​ ​allows​ ​that​ ​one-sided​ ​relationship​ ​so​ ​fans​ ​can​ ​feel​ ​like​ ​they​ ​have some​ ​sort​ ​of​ ​relation​ ​with​ ​these​ ​celebrities​ ​or​ ​athletes.

 In​ ​conclusion​ ​this​ ​course​ ​allowed​ ​me​ ​to​ ​view​ ​audience​ ​behavior​ ​in​ ​a​ ​whole​ ​new​ ​way. Now​ ​whenever​ ​I​ ​attend​ ​a​ ​sports​ ​game​ ​I'll​ ​be​ ​able​ ​to​ ​depict​ ​which​ ​type​ ​of​ ​fan​ ​they​ ​are,​ ​how​ ​one event​ ​can​ ​unify​ ​thousands​ ​of​ ​people​ ​and​ ​how​ ​it​ ​can​ ​influence​ ​their​ ​own​ ​respective​ ​social​ ​life.​ ​It also​ ​allows​ ​me​ ​to​ ​view​ ​movies​ ​and​ ​TV​ ​series​ ​differently​ ​knowing​ ​that​ ​I​ ​have​ ​a​ ​fix​ ​schedule​ ​on certain​ ​series​ ​or​ ​sporting​ ​events.

References:

Kim, K., Cheong, Y., & Kim, H. (2016).  The influences of sports viewing conditions on enjoyment from watching televised sports: An analysis of the FIFA World Cup audiences in theater vs. home.  Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 60(3), 389“409.

Sullivan, J. (2013). Â Media Audiences: Effects, users, institutions and power.(Chapter 7,8)