Feeling like BuzzFeed News' new #FreeBritney article, and parasocial relationships, placed me in a weird box ☹️

[sparrowhawk]

@Jordan Miller are you a cancer (zodiac)? i am. oversensitivity is a thing for me (us?) BUT...I don't feel like you're being overly sensitive. as a journalism major...this article was clearly written with bias (like nearly every article nowadays is) and without consideration. ya technically speaking, we don't have interpersonal typical "relationships" with celebrities, but to say that means the relationship between celebrity and fan is "one-sided" is extremely reductive and basically casts everyone who stans a singer/actor/etc as a somehow mentally ill person. 

it's a reach for several reasons. to reduce the relationship between an artist and their fans to simply "parasocial" is ridiculous. an artist like britney creates with the intent of sharing and being understood or heard in some way and on some level, thus forming a bond or connection with her audience. a parasocial celebrity relationship would be stanning and obsessing over someone like emily d*ickinson (really? we are editing out poet's names now.......) - she never wanted the fame, died before her **** was published and never knew the world would idolize it. asked her sister to burn her poems and never publish them. never thought sissy would do the complete opposite (so it goes - "family" doesn't mean they are exempt from exploiting you...) that's completely different than a currently active artist and performer churning out material with the intent of mass consumption, concerts, meet and greets, etc.

 

long story short dude - tune this one out. it was written by someone who failed to do their journalistic homework (big surprise nowadays, hardy har har) and opted instead for a passive aggressive op-ed that slights the people he interviewed. leave it in the dust.  

[Brat]

It might seem like a one sided relationship but Jordan,  you need to realize that Breatheheavy has definitely built a community not just for Britney but pop music lovers 

[Brat]

Just now, sparrowhawk said:

@Jordan Miller are you a cancer (zodiac)? i am. oversensitivity is a thing for me (us?) BUT...I don't feel like you're being overly sensitive. as a journalism major...this article was clearly written with bias (like nearly every article nowadays is) and without consideration. ya technically speaking, we don't have interpersonal typical "relationships" with celebrities, but to say that means the relationship between celebrity and fan is "one-sided" is extremely reductive and basically casts everyone who stans a singer/actor/etc as a somehow mentally ill person. 

it's a reach for several reasons. to reduce the relationship between an artist and their fans to simple "parasocial" is ridiculous. an artist like britney creates with the intent of sharing, thus forming a bond or connection with her audience. a parasocial celebrity relationship would be someone like emily ****inson - she never wanted the fame, died before her **** was published and never knew the world would idolize it. that's completely different than a currently active artist and performer churning out material with the intent of mass consumption, concerts, meet and greets, etc.

 

long story short dude - tune this one out. it was written by someone who failed to do their journalistic homework (big surprise nowadays, hardy har har) and opted instead for a passive aggressive op-ed that slights the people he interviewed. leave it in the dust.  

Emily’s last name is censored 

[Luxuriou$]

15 minutes ago, Isla said:

What did he do? I thought he was a Britney fan, he's written quite a few positive articles about her before.

Im just calling him where he at to cut this bull$hit  He's a super fan, his twitter is all about Britney.

[MintChocoLatte]

the amount of times stans have to listen to someone ranting to them about paRasOciAl relationships I swear. as a kpop stan I should start charging a dollar every time someone tries to psycho analyze me. there's a really weird stigma attached to genuinely caring for an artist and it's always automatically assumed it's 100% unhealthy and i'm really tired of it. especially because it's also always implied the artist themselves couldn't care any less and while that's true for a lot of artists, it's not true at all for others. this just goes hand in hand with music stans (minus rock stans for some reason) in general getting treated like obsessed kids and I need it to stop honestly.

[Watch Me Work It]

Yeah I don't like the tone of the article, maybe you could reach out and talk about your reception of it, it does feel negative.

I understand the concept of "parasocial relationships", but I don't think it's what happening here or the movement in general. I feel like it's the new term for "conspiracy theorists", but since it's no longer a conspiracy (Britney confirmed everything in court), they now attack us for... caring about her? Many of us grew up with her, obviously we care about her

I understand that not many people want to engage in fandoms or care to this extent about a famous person, but they also have to remember that this situation, this cship, is an exceptional situation for a celebrity.

[JessicaS89]

I got weird vibes from that article too. I'm very relieved to know that I'm not the only one who thinks so. And besides, Buzzfeed isn't real journalism, it's just a site/app filled with silly quizzes that you take when you're bored or in the loo.

[Peter Pan]

Don’t let it get to you. You’ve done great things. A lot of people have one sided feelings/relationship with people. Nothing wrong with it as long as you’re not dependent on it. 

We’ve all been extra/extreme/vocal about Britney’s situation but look where it brought us. The movement got bigger and bigger. I also feel a lot of us are gonna be fine after Britney is free. Personally I’m very vocal about FreeBritney but once Britney is free and decides to retire, I’ll be sad offcours, but life goes on. Britney is a big part of my life but definitely not the only part. 

[Marcanthony]

It's the "making an opinion without a research" for me

[HairFullOfSecrets]

1 hour ago, Briprin67 said:

I think it’s weird that they put so much emphasis on “Parasocial” relationships and Britney fans… that’s literally every fandom?… also what’s next? Hopefully we will still be supporting her regardless of what happens after she’s free. I just think buzzfeed was trying to make us seem crazy with this part:

“Where it might be problematic for someone is if they had so little sense of self that they used this fandom to create that sense of self,” Rutledge said. “It’s very difficult to move on because [the celebrities] become integral to who you think you are.” 

So stupid, Britney fans are lawyers, doctors, stundents, artists, celebrities and a lot more, they act like we all wake up in the morning in a Britney decorated room and do nothing but think of Britney all day, **** u buzzfeed.

[Isla]

13 minutes ago, Luxuriou$ said:

Im just calling him where he at to cut this bull$hit  He's a super fan, his twitter is all about Britney.

Oh I get it

[BUWYGF]

extremely, EXTREMELY badly written and unprofessional article. Moreover, whoever wrote this believes relationships are a sort of a TRADE, which in itself, is a sign of sociopathic/narcissistic behaviour. So the article tells a lot more about the person that wrote it, than it does about the fanbase or @Jordan Miller.

The journalist who wrote this should first learn that healthy relationships are based on people doing things for each other without expecting ANYTHING in return. Which is exactly what this fanbase is doing: Britney Army is fighting for Britney's freedom without expecting a single thing in return.

If she wants to make more albums after shes free, GREAT.

She wants to take a long break after shes free? Hell yeah!

She wants to retire and disappear completely? YOU GO GIRL DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY!

The article is horrible, fire the journalist. 

[Annabanana]

I don't think she's gonna retire... she may take a break but I think she's still gonna post on social media at least. I do wonder what the obvious clout chasers who built their following on the movement are going to post about once she's free though. 

[thebritmaster]

I actually think the parasocial relationship idea is really interesting. I think it’s nothing new, like in ancient times people had a parasocial relationship with their ruler etc 

[Just_Luv_Me]

I read this article this morning and got a weird vibe from it as well. It came off to me like the author had the idea to write an article about the parasocial relationship as a concept, but using #FreeBritney to illustrate their point was the wrong choice. #FreeBritney involves a very complicated set of circumstances and it can’t really be studied or critiqued as just another pop star fandom movement. Honestly, I had a lot of thoughts about Britney’s situation being the wrong example for that article, so if anyone wants to hear anymore of them just let me know and I’ll write them out.

[Oprah Winfrey.]

2 hours ago, Briprin67 said:

I think it’s weird that they put so much emphasis on “Parasocial” relationships and Britney fans… that’s literally every fandom?… also what’s next? Hopefully we will still be supporting her regardless of what happens after she’s free. I just think buzzfeed was trying to make us seem crazy with this part:

“Where it might be problematic for someone is if they had so little sense of self that they used this fandom to create that sense of self,” Rutledge said. “It’s very difficult to move on because [the celebrities] become integral to who you think you are.” 

It’s like they’re saying Britney sleep crazy and so are the fans

[Jordan Miller]

2 hours ago, Briprin67 said:

I think it’s weird that they put so much emphasis on “Parasocial” relationships and Britney fans… that’s literally every fandom?… also what’s next? Hopefully we will still be supporting her regardless of what happens after she’s free. I just think buzzfeed was trying to make us seem crazy with this part:

“Where it might be problematic for someone is if they had so little sense of self that they used this fandom to create that sense of self,” Rutledge said. “It’s very difficult to move on because [the celebrities] become integral to who you think you are.” 

Yea I find that strange. All fandoms are kinda like this. Why is it being sensationalized in this way? It just felt icky to have it seem like I'm imaging things. Like what the hell? Am I? I get what they're trying to say but the delivery, imo, failed me and fans in general. 

[Jordan Miller]

2 hours ago, Lucian85 said:

 

Wtf are they saying, I don't think anyone here is 'imagining a relationship with Britney' 

I'm aware she doesn't know me, I just genuinely care for her & her story should be shocking to everyone, we're talking about human trafficking 

 

Literally this

"imagining" in the same sentence as them referring to me was not the vibe

[AngelinaSpears]

Just now, Jordan Miller said:

Yea I find that strange. All fandoms are kinda like this. Why is it being sensationalized in this way? It just felt icky to have it seem like I'm imaging things. Like what the hell? Am I? I get what they're trying to say but the delivery, imo, failed me and fans in general. 

You can abolish those restrictions  you put on my posting,come on man!

[Jordan Miller]

2 hours ago, Ghoulia said:

The article’s tone is pretty much bullying the so-called diehard fans. And it seems to be coming from a pseudo-medical stance. It’s the same kind of journalism that supports team con and labeled Brit as a crazy person in 07/08 based on a few isolated snapshots. 
 

The description of the blog’s beginning is just cruel. Jordan was a“…sophomore in high school. With too much energy and not enough activities…” That alone made me think the writer was team Con.

I like what you mentioned about isolated snapshots. Yes. I spoke with the writer for I think 45 minutes to an hour. So there was a lot to draw from. It just feels like there was an angle in mind and they just needed to fill in the blank (the blank this time was... me).