Vox: Swooning, screaming, crying, hiding in dumpsters and climbing through windows and fighting police officers: For decades, young women have done all of the above and more, in pursuit of their teen heartthrobs. Franz Liszt, the 19th-century piano composer whose performances drove women to hysterics, struck the match, but the great teen idols of the 20th century, with their flashing teeth, vulnerable eyes, and crooning music, really fanned the flames of frenzied fandom that characterized midcentury pop music.
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3 comments:
At the end of my freshman year of high school I watched a youtube video of the members of One Direction sitting on some stairs and playing games with each other, and answering fan questions and suddenly I was hooked. Never in my life have I experienced something that ridiculously infatuating in such a short amount of time. This article, and many before it paint the picture of these girls who devote parts of their lives to musicians as crazy, or unstable, and while a more adult me will admit that getting up at 4 am and waiting in the rain for a concert that night was excessive, it was exactly what I needed at the time. These young girls are looking for something to believe in and something to give them a little bit of hope. Sounds dramatic, but ask anyone who went through some sort of band phase and they will tell you that it helped them grow as people. Teen girls are a strong force in the music business and this article is right in saying that they hold a lot of the power, and decide who makes it big and who doesn't, but we still treat them like they have lost their marbles. To this day I still follow what the guys in One Direction are doing, and I know when their birthdays are (I'm not sending them presents, don't worry) and when new music comes out and I still fall back into that obsession a little but I hold the power, my "crazy fan girls" decide whats good and what not, its about time we got that respect.
This was such an interesting article to read. I had no idea that there is so much history behind the fangirl culture in the United States. What's interesting is that the fangirl phenomenon is happening world wide - it's equally as big, if not even more bigger in Asia (more specifically in countries like Japan, Korea and China - no one was able to escape it..). The fangirl culture is so powerful that there are agencies that only take male artists, and one even starts training them when they're still 14 or 15 years old. Many male Japanese idol groups have so many fans that no one can buy tickets for concerts - a lottery system is used where the audiences are drawn randomly out of fan club members. It's interesting to see how unlike the United States, there were no gaps between different groups of people in terms of access, and the drawing system allows everyone to get an equal chance regardless of their economic background. Another interesting difference between western and eastern fangirl culture is that fangirls are a lot more recognized and valued in the east - many artists in Japan (both male and female) are not allowed to have relationships or get married. If they do, their career is over. I personally think this is too extreme, but I think both cultures have things they can learn from each other.
I got through this article thinking, "Wow this is one of the most thought provoking articles I've read in a while", and I come to see that it was written by Carnegie Mellon's own Alexis Chaney. Wow, I am beyond impressed and amazed at her for this, and her brilliant mind. You go girl.
Anyway, commenting on the article itself, they're right. Why are they things girls love regarded as dumb and lesser when the things teen boys like, ie. something like Call of Duty, are okay? Boy bands and the teen idols are just fun. Growing up, i was never really into the teen idols, like Justin Bieber, being more of a hip-hop fan. I had a lot of female idols that were role models like Rihanna and Beyonce. But, I had many friends who loved the Jonas Brothers and one Direction and it always felt like I really missed out on some almost... religious movement. I just didn't get it, but it was a uniting factor for so many girls, and it's jsut plain fun. I know a girl, now 20 years old, who still tracks when the Jonas Brothers are in town in Dallas and will find where they are shopping or eating just to meet them again.
But, for me when the article really hit home is when she began to talk about Drake. i had never really thought I bought into the teen idols, but I am a HUGE Drake fan. And I feel the way girls felt about Elvis. He's unattainable but it really feels like he haas emotions, which is vulnerability and sex appeal.
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