On Obsessing about Celebrities

Concepts from J. Reid Meloy, Lorraine Sheridan, & Jens Hoffman (eds), Stalking,
Threatening, and Attacking Public Figures (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008).
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J. Reid Meloy, Kris Mohandie, and Mila Green, "A Forensic Investigation of Those Who
Stalk Celebrities," 37-54.
Behaviors that define an effective performer also increase chances of fan
stalking because some fans interpret these behaviors as personal liking rather
than as professional persona.
These behaviors include:
• Making direct eye contact with the viewer.
• Appearing to establish a one-to-one relationship that invokes pleasant feelings in
the viewer.
• Not portraying a fictional character.
• Using personality and hints of personal data to encourage audience to relate to the
target and find him/her likable.
Study covered female newscasters, but the may results apply to other performers who
"play themselves" and "male" in the excerpt below could be replaced with "female."
All these behaviors are quite benign when experienced by the mentally healthy
viewer. However, for the lone (and likely lonely) male viewer with a history of
failed relationships*, a strong sense of entitlement, and difficulty discriminating
between reality and fantasy, such an invitation, although communicated
electronically and not meant specifically for him, can become a compulsion to
pursue (p. 49).
*Unsatisfactory relationships might be as apt as failed ones.
**
Frederick S. Calhoun & Stephen W. Weston, "On Public Figure Howlers," 105-122.
"Howlers" have a pattern of inappropriate communications with the celebrity
target but rarely go as far as in-person stalking.
Authors categorize three types of "binding" (as opposed to "sinister," i.e., threatening)
howlers. Some inappropriate communicators match the profile of the CALLOW howler
who doesn't know what communication patterns are socially appropriate and who will
respond to education. However, behaviors are more extreme for the RELATIONAL howler:
• Fixate on a celebrity, particularly his "glamorous" activities.
• Competition to be the "biggest fan" and conversely, taking criticisms of behaviors
as attacks on the quality of one's fan loyalty.
• Justify desire to continue communicating at celeb on grounds that communication
creates a mutual bond. Insist that there is a true mutual relationship.

Taken to extremes, this becomes the DELUSIONAL howler who's sure there is a real
relationship and that those tweets happen because he wants to tell her personally
about his day.
Celebrity Relationship—Prelim Lecture Notes 1
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Celebrity Relationship—Prelim Lecture Notes 2

John Maltby & David Giles, "Toward the Measurement and Profiling of Celebrity Worship,"
271-286.
There is a different behavior cluster and motivational pattern behind the fan
behavior we expect as normal versus the behaviors that are driving the "these
fans are crazy" meme.
Fan enthusiasms are often assumed to fit into the low-level ENTERTAINMENT-SOCIAL
model of fandom, defined by keeping up with the news, enjoying conversation about the
celebrity, and making friends within fandom. Some fandoms come closer to the mid-level
INTENSE-PERSONAL model of fandom, characterized by:
• Feeling that at a personal meeting, the celeb would instantly recognize his
"biggest fan."
• Using celeb-following as an escape from life.
• Considering the favorite celeb to be "practically perfect in every way."
• Insisting that she shares with the celeb "a special bond that cannot be described in
words."
• Claiming that to know him is to love him.
• Claiming to feel a deep, personal impact from events in the celeb's life, as if he
was a close friend or lover (p. 282).
Not a few fans go right over the edge to high-level BORDERLINE-PATHOLOGICAL fandom,
defined by:
• Being willing to die for favorite celebrity.
• Being willing to do something illegal if favorite celebrity asked.
• Feeling that fan would be welcome in celebrity's home.
• Having frequent thoughts about celeb even when not trying to.
• Feeling "compelled to learn the personal habits" of favorite celebrity.
• Believing celeb would personally provide help/rescue if needed (p. 283).
These researchers used for other personality scales to measure celebrity worship,
confirming that objective observers find these behaviors kind of whacked:
• Sending over 100 letters or emails.
• Having a "huge" collection of material related to celebrity, including but not limited
to extensive video of media appearances.
• Feeling no one understands feelings for celeb.
• Being willing to travel thousands of miles to see celeb. (I'm assuming there's some
practical distinction between doing this for a one-off appearance and doing this for
50 appearances.)
• Feeling entitled to flirt with celeb.
• Disliking celeb's romantic partner.
• Having intimate fantasies about celeb.
• Believing that stalking is justified, even needed by the celeb.

Celebrity Relationship—Prelim Lecture Notes 3

INTENSE-PERSONAL fans are not necessarily open to reason.
• Celebrity Worship in general correlates with being dependent, conforming, and no
more than average in smarts. (People with higher cognitive functioning grasp that
being a performer is a job.)
• Intense-personal celebrity worshippers are low in cognitive flexibility: they won't
consider options and are unwilling to be flexible; also, they fixate on a single
performer.
**
Brian H. Spitzberg and William R. Cupach, "Fanning the Flames of Fandom: Celebrity
Worship, Parasocial Interaction, and Stalking," 287-321.
INTENSE-PERSONAL Celebrity Worship correlates with all sorts of troublesome
qualities.
These include:
• Narcissism [possibly due to its tendency to coexist with Borderline Personality
Disorder, which is basically people who run around being histrionic for no good
reason]
• Neurotic coping styles
• Preoccupied attachment style (clinging, self-doubting, worried, pressing affection
on the target)
• Anxiety and depression
• Thin boundaries
To summarize:
Collectively, the celebrity worshipper appears to be a person who is insecure yet
desperate for attachment, and is relatively incapable of reasonably maintaining
normative boundaries between the "real" and the "mediated" world (p. 291).
Obsessions are likely linked to the fan's perception of self-worth.
Relational goal pursuit works like this:
1. A lower-order goal (contact with the celeb) becomes cognitively linked with a
higher-order goal (e.g., self-worth).
2. As progress toward achieving the lower-order goal is impeded, the fan ruminates
about the importance of connecting with the celebrity.
3. To rationalize excessive pursuit, the fan insists that the celebrity wants to be
pursued and discounts evidence from the celebrity that he doesn't, as well as
evidence that pursuit might be harmful to the celeb.
Authors believe that repeated and firm rejections lead to the fans' withdrawing unless
said fan is dangerously narcissistic.
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Celebrity Relationship—Prelim Lecture Notes 4