This is a very conceptual and slightly intellectual post. I have been pondering this topic for a long time and I finally have some words for the ideas. It's been eating at me the last week and a half, so I'm writing this post to get the thoughts from my brain to someplace tangible so I can keep developing my theory.
I think I began thinking about this topic in the fall of 2010 when I went to my first YouTube meetup. You can read that post here, but I talked about what it was like to meet people I had been watching online for years in person (point #2 in the post, it is a trainwreck from my first few days of blogging ever-what a throwback). They seemed to be the same in person as they were in their videos, but there was this weird dynamic of me knowing so much about them from what they share publicly (like a college major or relationship status) and them having no clue who I am because I am not a public figure the way they are. But it was as if they had jumped out of my computer screen and were suddenly standing right in front of me, and it was really cool.
Fast forward three years, and 3/5 of those YouTubers have been brought forth as manipulative and abusive humans. And when all of this news broke, it got me thinking about that strange dynamic of knowing vs. not knowing and how that creates a power dynamic in which the person who is known, the "celebrity," has power because the "fan" has an obvious affection for the person and/or the work that they do. But when the "celebrities" are producing all of their own content in a way that any "fan" could also produce content, where is the transition point that places them in these categories rather than having them just be people who are humans occupying the same space? I don't mean this in an exclusively romantic/sexual situation, which is the dialogue around the YouTube abuse situation and is covered really well at http://uplifttogether.tumblr.com/. I am thinking about it in the most innocent sense-having friendly conversations with people whose work you admire or personalities gel with your own. When does the power dynamic shift so that you can just be friends?
I've had a few more experiences where this idea has been floating around. In college, I worked on a pro-wrestling style show for all four years. The premise surrounding professional wrestling, or wrestling entertainment, is that the audience is as much of a character as the wrestlers themselves. As they get involved in the matches with cheering or chanting or booing or calling out to help the wrestlers they prefer, they become part of the performance. Later in college, I learned about immersive theater, where the physical boundaries between performer and audience member are deconstructed. When you can literally touch the performer, what does that do to the performer-audience relationship? The traditional structure is gone and you are completely absorbed by the world of the production.
And how does this all tie together? When there is a performer-audience dynamic, be it in a theater, a wrestling arena, a concert, or over the internet, the performer is an object to the audience. But here's where the esoteric sociology/performance studies stuff kicks in: every individual is constantly putting on a performance of self for the world to observe. So we are all constantly performers and audience members; however, there are scenarios where this is more heightened than others.
I can think of two examples at the extremes of the spectrum. The first is the more obvious sort of performer-audience scenario, one where this is the explicit dynamic and the associated etiquette is in place. At a Broadway show, the audience sits in their assigned seats, reacts appropriately to the content, and takes in what the actors are doing without thinking about the humanity of the individuals because they are focused on the story unfolding in front of them. This dynamic is flipped when the audience members wait to meet the actors at the stage door. At this point, the actors are not their characters, no longer objects in the story, and the audience is confronted with their subjectivity rather than the simple view through the fourth wall of them as an object. The etiquette moves from a highly structured interaction to two humans having a conversation, but the actor holds a degree of celebrity status to the audience member or fan.
My second example is far more mundane. I was recently working on a show where all the actors and run crew were teens. At a certain point, I suddenly felt watched and judged and like I had a starring role in someone's headcanon. It was really weird. And then I realized that I had reached the age and status of being interesting and cool without trying to be any of those things. Somehow I had become one of those people who I had once looked up to, those camp counselors who were five years older than me who I adamantly denied were anything other than human to me even though they were, the "celebrity" of the adult professionals on this production. I still don't know how to feel about it. It is really cool to be that person the teens look up to, but it is also crazy because I still feel like I have so much to learn. My approach is to just be human around them, to behave normally and interact with them as equals. I think it's working.
[It was also a bit jarring because (and I don't know how this nonsense developed) I always expect people not to remember me. It's the Harriet Jones thing from Doctor Who: "yes, we know who you are." Except instead of taking it in stride the way the character does (since it is literally every single conversation), I am internally shocked and confused at what made me memorable (this goes for people who I've met in ordinary circumstances and for people who I connect with in unconventional ways). And I need to get over it because I'm not in an environment where people meet thirty new people every day and therefore forget every single one of them. I am unique and memorable and I can be confident about it! I'm trying to live my life unapologetically, which, to me, means permission to take risks because I have no reason to apologize for following my gut and existing.]
So, the real question is, when does the line between celebrity and fan go away? Can I communicate the barrier out of existence? Can a person who is a subject to me in the "off" state be an object to me in the "on" state? Do I become an object as an audience member to the performer having a subjective experience? And how do we wield our celebrity power responsibly?
I'm still working on this. I think I really want communication to be a solution to this problem of power. That if we are honest enough and normal enough, that division begins to weaken. By normal, I mean our selves rather than a character or persona we put on. But that deepens this question of subjects, objects, and the scale of celebrity to one of interactions to what the essence of identity is, and that's a post for another day. For now, I'm just going to keep thinking on this idea and make sure I respond to these gradients in a responsible way whether I am the fan or the celebrity. It's just about all I can do.
Today is awesome because I have the privilege of going home at the end of the day for the first time in many weeks.
No comments:
Post a Comment