Topic 7: The effects of being a fan on teenagers

- Nora

The concept of fans and fandoms

Phương Anh: A fan is an enthusiastic admirer and devotee of a celebrity, writer, or a sports
team, though really, you could be a fan of anything – book series, television shows, movies, etc.

Fandoms are the communities of fans who all admire and support the person/group the fandom is
centred around. Fandoms are typically used for actors, artists or performers. Take for an example
a fandom for EXO, a K-Pop group, or a fandom for Harry Potter.

The positives of being a fan

Quân: Being a part of a fandom gives you a greater sense of belonging and purpose with life.
You develop the belief that you are deeply cared for by others, this creates a willingness to
endure life’s challenges. Especially, if you have a degrading mental health or is depressed, being
in a space where there is love and admiration for your favourite artist. Feeling as though you are
a part of a “tribe” is not always easy, but finding groups of people with whom you share
common interests is a starting point. It’s not surprising that so many people are drawn to
fandoms for that reason alone: it creates a common ground in an otherwise divisive and
disconnected world.

Trang: Dr. Laurel Steinberg, a psychotherapist and professor of psychology at Columbia

University told states: “Belonging to a fandom group helps adolescents connect to other like-
minded youths on social media throughout the year, as well as at concert events. Feeling like you
are part of a group can help one define his/her identity and give a sense of purpose to what might
be an otherwise routine lifestyle.”

She went on to say, “Connecting with people over shared passions and interests is good for
mental and emotional health because it helps to create a fraternity-like or family-like sense of
security. It's also generally fun to scheme and get excited about something with others, and gives
them a subject to talk about that they know will always be well received.”

During adolescence, teens are going through a time where they are forming their identity in the
world. It is normal and healthy for teens to align and connect more and more with their peers
than their parents. This is a wonderful process that helps teens learn how to rely less on their
parents and more on themselves for healthy decision-making as they become adults, this is called
process individuation.

Quân: In conclusion, by being a part of a fandom you have a sense of belonging and
community. You're not out-casted in your community for liking something because, in fandoms,
you're all there for your favourite celebrities and/or ones you support. Having a sense of
belonging makes you feel whole and happier with your life, and not alienated or lonely. It gives
you a greater purpose and a crutch to keep you hanging on to life. You think, "I will try to make
my life better to maybe finally be able to see [celebrity X's] tours or music shows."

The negatives of being a fan

Ngân: What happens when being a fan is the ONLY thing keeping you onto life? What
happens if it is the only thing you are willing to wake up and get out of bed from? The only thing
you will think and obsess about at every waking moment of your days? This is the spawn of
obsessive fans; or a subgroup of them known as 'sasaengs'.

A sasaeng, or sasaeng fan, is an obsessive fan that stalks or engages in other behavior that
invades the privacy of celebrities, specifically Korean idols, drama actors or other public figures.
The term sasaeng comes from the Korean words sa meaning ‘private’ and saeng meaning ‘life’,
in reference to the fans' intrusion into celebrities' private lives, and the term is mostly used
domestically in South Korea as well as other parts of Asia. 

According to the estimates of celebrity managers in the Korean media, popular Korean
celebrities may have ‘between 500 and 1,000 sasaeng fans’, and be actively followed by about
100 sasaeng fans every day. Sasaeng fans are described as often being female, aged 13 to 22, and
driven to commit what in some cases may amount to borderline criminal acts in order to gain
attention from celebrities. Examples of such acts include seeking out celebrities at their dorms or
homes, stealing their personal belongings or information, harassing family members, and sending
idols inappropriate gifts such as lingerie.

Ngọc: They typically will follow Korean celebrities, most of the time K-Pop (Korean pop)
artists and singers, also called 'k-pop idols'. A sasaeng will typically gravitate to their favourite
idol out of a group (also called biases) and exclusively stalk/follow them. As depravity has no
limitations, sasaeng fans are willing to do anything and grasp their hands on anything that relates
to their idol. Examples of this include, but are not limited to: following them onto flights and
arriving at the airports which they come to by buying illegal information, illegal flights, illegal
photos, what-have-you given by airplane attendants or a network of other sasaengs, stalking their
homes or production studios, breaking and entering into their homes, and tracking their idols by
putting spy cameras in fan gifts like plushies. By seeing their idols on the plane, they are trapped
in an enclosed space for hours on end, the place where they are most vulnerable to sasaengs.
That’s what makes it attractive for sasaengs.

There are many examples of infamous sasaeng fans; one of them being Rion, a sasaeng who
started her ‘career’ at the tender age of 16, though she is now currently 22 years old. She has
assaulted Suho, the leader of EXO multiple times. She even has her own fan-site called
Moncheri, and she is still continuing to stalk him.

According to the information provided by EXO-L (the fan-base of EXO), Rion always shows her
affection in a disturbing way towards Suho. She once sent a napkin with kiss marks on it,
followed the male idol in almost all events, and often spewed vulgar and erotic words at
Suho. Rion even begged EXO's leader... to have sex with him, she is undoubtedly shameless and
a disgusting obsessive creep. Suho himself is also aware of the existence of Rion (I mean who
wouldn’t be?), and is extremely annoyed when she takes pictures of him at events and repeatedly
refuses gifts from her.

Ngân: This is only just one example of sasaeng fans when really there are tons of them who
uses much more subtle ways of disturbing idols’ privacies; from buying private information like
their and their families’ phone numbers, their locations, home addresses, random videos, or 18+
media, although, some of these might be fake. These people are normally on Instagram, having
their own small and exclusive groups to share predatory information like this.

Sasaengs and their sasaeng-ery

Ngân: From an interview by Sherliza Moe (a Youtuber) with an ex-sasaeng: “I pretty much
deluded myself into a non-existing relationship with the members.”

This stems from the marketing tactic done by most, if not all K-Pop music labels. They try to sell
their idols as naïve/pure and make the celebrity-fan dynamic in a way where it seems like you’re
in a relationship with the idol, even though it’s non-existent. It’s like your idol is always there for
you, you’re their one and only, and their precious, precious fan, but that is as far from reality as
can be. In summary, don’t create parasocial relationships with people you know nothing about,
as their entire existence can be fabricated.

The same ex-sasaeng in the video said that obsessing over BTS’s life was the only way she could
even wake up and get up from bed to go on with her live –in a sense. But would she really be
‘living’ if she was thinking about the boys from BTS and obsessing about it in every moment of
her life? I feel it important to note that she had been suffering from severe depression. She felt
like she had lost hope in her own life so instead went on to obsess over the lives of other people.

Although this may not apply to other sasaengs, it provides an insight to the ‘reasoning’ behind
their behaviours. This, of course, isn’t the case for every sasaeng; they could very well just be
deluded into believing that they are entitled to having a relationship with their idols or know
everything about their lives.