I feel like the most detrimental thing about stan culture is the dangers that all these behaviours tangled into one pose on the stans themselves and the people they stan. It's almost cult-like and many times basic human decency and empathy gets thrown out the window. We can see this with how the Hudrats or Huda supporters from Love Island throughout the period of the most recent season are currently brainlessly targeting Olandria and Chelley stans online with hateful and racist comments to the point that Olandria said in an interview yesterday she was frightened to discover the meme circulating of her being edited into George Floyd and Huda as the white policeman. Whilst Chelley announced a few hours ago that she is taking a break from social media due to everything, (Hudrats were reportedly spamming her IG comments with monkey emojis and the likes). Or last year when Suga from BTS was arrested and fined in South Korea for driving under the influence within the president's residential area and some members of the BTS fandom, Army, decided to show their support for their idol by engaging in DUIs and posting it on TikTok as a trend rather than holding him accountable for his behaviour.
Countless examples, here the stans don't care about how their dedication to their fave could also affect the people they are targeting on their fave's behalf or how supporting certain things can affect their real life.
Yes! Thank you for your comment, this article was definitely inspired by the current season of Love Island so love that you brought it up. You are correct, when reinforcement and group dynamics collide in intense online communities, the result of that can be very detrimental and even dangerous. Unfortunately, we are not only witnessing the reinforcement of fan engagement but with it there has been a growth of the simultaneous reinforcement of cruelty, dehumanization, and othering. I have seen stan wars escalate into irl fights and stalking which is unsettling to say the least. I don't know too much about BTS but witnessing HudaHq/Hudrats sense of self being enmeshed with hers has just encouraged the reinforcement of harassment towards her costars from the show and their respective families. It definitely is bordering on cult-like behaviors since the principles are the same, on twitter when Huda fans express dissent about Huda, they are then isolated from the community, kicked out or blocked by moderators and everyone is expected to blindly praise and defend her actions. More conversations need to be had about online behaviors, fan ecosystems, and how to make it healthier since technology is going to be here forever. I am just now getting into the topic because of how things played out this season but I will share some readings as I educate myself some more.
Do you think the whole concept of separating the art from the artist would help prevent the parasocial and other unhealthy behaviours fans develop as you have mentioned? From my personal experience and observations, I have learnt that completely removing yourself from the fandom's online community and solely concentrating on the media to be consumed plays works well to avoid stan rituals, fave disappointment and the like. Do you think that is efficient? Or is it easier said than done?
Great question! I will reference with my other response to you about how stans have enmeshed themselves with the artists or celebrities they are fans of. People feeling connected to or part of the public figures definitely plays a role but it I believe stan culture is so much more deeper than that so separating the art from the artist might help with reducing parasocial attachment but it would not stop it from developing altogether. The fans are not just getting reinforced by the art, they are also getting reinforced when they join these groups and start to feel like they belong and getting validated and affirmed by their peers. The social contingencies are the driving force of stan culture, example, Rihanna is not necessarily releasing any new music but the navy still exists and is actively defending her against the others on social media. I think that the best strategy would be a combination of separating art from the artists and replacing the social contingencies or the reinforcement that fandoms provide. This may be an unpopular opinion but I think the technological shift is a part of the issue as well as the isolation caused by COVID, people sought out online communities and they have become so engrained in the current and future generations methods of creating community. Let me know what you think.
Thank you for your response. I also think Covid played a major role in this issue and understand what you say about the social contingencies of fandoms facilitating this behaviour. From what I understand, given that humans are inherently social beings and crave the desire to belong, it seems as though replacing the reinforcement fandoms provide would prove to be quite difficult.
It would definitely be difficult but not impossible, I think that is beyond my scope of practice but now that I have started the conversation I am going to look into how psychology helps people recover from being enmeshed in cults. I think that would probably be a good starting point to educate myself.
This was such an intellectually stimulating read! I loved how you broke down stan culture through the lens of behavior analysis. It made the psychology behind it all so clear and relatable. A fun and insightful exploration of digital fandoms!
I feel like the most detrimental thing about stan culture is the dangers that all these behaviours tangled into one pose on the stans themselves and the people they stan. It's almost cult-like and many times basic human decency and empathy gets thrown out the window. We can see this with how the Hudrats or Huda supporters from Love Island throughout the period of the most recent season are currently brainlessly targeting Olandria and Chelley stans online with hateful and racist comments to the point that Olandria said in an interview yesterday she was frightened to discover the meme circulating of her being edited into George Floyd and Huda as the white policeman. Whilst Chelley announced a few hours ago that she is taking a break from social media due to everything, (Hudrats were reportedly spamming her IG comments with monkey emojis and the likes). Or last year when Suga from BTS was arrested and fined in South Korea for driving under the influence within the president's residential area and some members of the BTS fandom, Army, decided to show their support for their idol by engaging in DUIs and posting it on TikTok as a trend rather than holding him accountable for his behaviour.
Countless examples, here the stans don't care about how their dedication to their fave could also affect the people they are targeting on their fave's behalf or how supporting certain things can affect their real life.
Yes! Thank you for your comment, this article was definitely inspired by the current season of Love Island so love that you brought it up. You are correct, when reinforcement and group dynamics collide in intense online communities, the result of that can be very detrimental and even dangerous. Unfortunately, we are not only witnessing the reinforcement of fan engagement but with it there has been a growth of the simultaneous reinforcement of cruelty, dehumanization, and othering. I have seen stan wars escalate into irl fights and stalking which is unsettling to say the least. I don't know too much about BTS but witnessing HudaHq/Hudrats sense of self being enmeshed with hers has just encouraged the reinforcement of harassment towards her costars from the show and their respective families. It definitely is bordering on cult-like behaviors since the principles are the same, on twitter when Huda fans express dissent about Huda, they are then isolated from the community, kicked out or blocked by moderators and everyone is expected to blindly praise and defend her actions. More conversations need to be had about online behaviors, fan ecosystems, and how to make it healthier since technology is going to be here forever. I am just now getting into the topic because of how things played out this season but I will share some readings as I educate myself some more.
Do you think the whole concept of separating the art from the artist would help prevent the parasocial and other unhealthy behaviours fans develop as you have mentioned? From my personal experience and observations, I have learnt that completely removing yourself from the fandom's online community and solely concentrating on the media to be consumed plays works well to avoid stan rituals, fave disappointment and the like. Do you think that is efficient? Or is it easier said than done?
Great question! I will reference with my other response to you about how stans have enmeshed themselves with the artists or celebrities they are fans of. People feeling connected to or part of the public figures definitely plays a role but it I believe stan culture is so much more deeper than that so separating the art from the artist might help with reducing parasocial attachment but it would not stop it from developing altogether. The fans are not just getting reinforced by the art, they are also getting reinforced when they join these groups and start to feel like they belong and getting validated and affirmed by their peers. The social contingencies are the driving force of stan culture, example, Rihanna is not necessarily releasing any new music but the navy still exists and is actively defending her against the others on social media. I think that the best strategy would be a combination of separating art from the artists and replacing the social contingencies or the reinforcement that fandoms provide. This may be an unpopular opinion but I think the technological shift is a part of the issue as well as the isolation caused by COVID, people sought out online communities and they have become so engrained in the current and future generations methods of creating community. Let me know what you think.
Thank you for your response. I also think Covid played a major role in this issue and understand what you say about the social contingencies of fandoms facilitating this behaviour. From what I understand, given that humans are inherently social beings and crave the desire to belong, it seems as though replacing the reinforcement fandoms provide would prove to be quite difficult.
It would definitely be difficult but not impossible, I think that is beyond my scope of practice but now that I have started the conversation I am going to look into how psychology helps people recover from being enmeshed in cults. I think that would probably be a good starting point to educate myself.
This was such an intellectually stimulating read! I loved how you broke down stan culture through the lens of behavior analysis. It made the psychology behind it all so clear and relatable. A fun and insightful exploration of digital fandoms!
Thank you for reading, Phoebe! I aim to educate and entertain.