Topic 7: The effects of being

a fan on teenagers
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Team 7-
 The concept of
fans and fandoms
01
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 ● 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
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a fandom for Harry Potter.

 The positives of being a
fan
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
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that so many people are drawn to fandoms for

that reason alone.
 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.”
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 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.”
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 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
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individuation.
 On 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."
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 Fandom culture is enriching to its
participants because it affords them the
ability to build upon and even improve their
self-esteem, as well as contribute to sound
mental health. Fans can experience greater
levels of happiness as a result of their
devotion to a figure or franchise. The
happiness they feel serves to act as a
barrier against depression and
estrangement. For example, take being a
fan of a sports team. If the fan is far from
home, identifying with a sports team can
help them feel less estranged, bringing
about a positive sense of self-esteem and
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well-being.
 The relationships fandoms create are fundamental
since participants are not as lonely, helping them
feel more satisfied with their lives compared to those
who are not into things like sports. Fans are also
able to enjoy more access to beneficial resources
such as social support. Access to resources like
social support is facilitated by the other fans who
also participate in the fandom culture. Since they all
share the same passion for an entity or
organization, this creates a built-in connection to
them that allows fans to access beneficial resources.
All in all, a fan's devotion to a subject of their
choosing can lead enhance their self-esteem and
also contribute towards better mental health as a
result of being part of a collective group that shares
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their passions.
 The negatives of being a fan
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 sasaengs
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'.
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 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
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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
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family members, and sending idols inappropriate gifts such as lingerie.

 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
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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
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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.
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 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. She has
assaulted the leader of EXO multiple
times. She even has her own fansite
called Monsheri. The leader of EXO
was once stalked by a girl named Rion
and especially many times he was
sexually assaulted by this girl. It was a
Japanese sasaeng fan, nicknamed
Rion. Surprisingly, this girl started her
crazy fan career at the age of 16 and
used to own the fansite "Moncheri" of
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Suho and Chen. 

 
 she's now currently 22. According to the information provided by EXO-L (the fanbase 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.
 
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 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,
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having their own small and exclusive groups to share predatory information like this.
 
 Due to the way fandom can organize
on social media, fans can affect a
great degree of change in the
content by which they subscribe.
Take what happened before the
release of Marvel's Captain Marvel.
In 2019, internet trolls preemptively
tried to leave negative feedback for
the movie in an attempt to
negatively impact the movie’s
audience rating before it came out.
Their efforts made Rotten Tomatoes,
the website these reviews took place
on, decide to disable comments for a
movie until it is released.
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 Here, fans of the Marvel community
tried to ensure the movie's failure,
and they did so by assembling and
masse on Rotten Tomatoes to give it
bad reviews. The implication here is
that had these fans been successful,
Captain Marvel would have seen a
substantial drop in film ratings. In
turn, another movie akin to it would
likely never see the theaters because
of how poorly received it was. While
not successful, there exist other
ventures that saw success.
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 Upon the debut of the first
Sonic the Hedgehog trailer,
fans of the video game
franchise took to social
media to bash the titular
character's appearance.
Eventually, the sustained
outcry from the Sonic fandom
forced the creators of the
film to redesign the character
to give it a more appealing
look.
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 This instance displays the power of fandom at
its height because fans were able to affect the
change they desired by making known their
grievances. Since fans are the target audience
of films like these, content creators have little
to no choice but to cave in to their demands to
ensure their viewership. It is also safe to say
that the fans know this as well and use this
dynamic to their advantage. All in all, fandoms
that are aware of this power dynamic between
themselves and content creators take
advantage of the dynamic to create their
perfect movie, regardless of the developers'
previous efforts and decision-making process to
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put out a completed product.

 When it comes to fandom culture,
it is easy for participants to
become carried away. That
because fandoms and their
participants have intense feelings
towards the object or person of
their affections, this propagates
equally intensive negative
feedback where there is some to
give. Should one observe fans of
modern music artists, this trend is
something that can easily be
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spotted.
 Wanna Thompson offered some mild criticism to American-Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj.
But also singling out and attacking her 4-year-old daughter over Twitter. Even though
Thompson's critiques were not overtly damaging to Nicki Minaj and her career. The
fandom's response to Wanna Thompson was already somewhat uncalled for, but what
made the fandom's approach undoubtedly toxic was when they began to go after
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Thompson's daughter, someone that had no bearing on the debate at hand.

sasaengs
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 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.”
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 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
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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
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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.
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 Thank
Thank you!
you!
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