Over the years, the public’s relationship with celebrities has changed, and being a casual fan of someone or something is now overshadowed by the cultural phenomenon of being all-out obsessed.
Welcome to stan culture.
The term “stan” is essentially an informal term used to describe die-hard fans of celebrities, movie franchises, musicians and other components within the entertainment industry. Groups who stan celebrities usually name themselves based on the object of their affection.
You have your Barbz, Swifties, Arianators, ARMYs, of course, the Beyhive and more. Name a musician and there will definitely be a self-titled band of supporters lurking around somewhere online.
Now, obviously, there’s no problem in admiring a public figure, their work and their successes. But, what happens when the admiration turns into a dependency? What if this dependency then blinds you from their very human faults?
Today, we are constantly exposed to the glitz and glamour, and the messy and drama-filled life of a celebrity through their online persona. Not only do they post about professional work, but they also share milestones of their lives with millions of people watching them. Relationships, marriage, pregnancies, break-ups – you name it. It’s all out there for the public to see. Even when public figures try to keep things private, the immense amounts of gossip tabloids find a way to seek out the information anyway because there’s a large audience for it.
When the young and impressionable audience bears witness to this level of exposure, it is only expected of them to feel as if they have some type of bond with those celebrities. This is where ‘being a stan’ can take a wrong turn. There is a certain culture around feeling entitled to know and have an opinion on absolutely anything and everything as long as it has a celebrity’s name attached to it. And we see it happen all the time. We tend to forget that the person we admire is just a person with their own lives, relationships and mistakes. Instead, we view them as a commodity for personal entertainment and consumption.
One of the biggest downfalls of stan culture and having this dependent mindset is defending everything your favourite celebrity does. It could range from something as small as misconstrued words to something as serious as felonies. But there will always be specific stans that will go out of their way to defend someone who doesn’t even know them. Does that behaviour not seem creepy to you?… Like at all?… Not even a little bit?
Take what happened at the Astroworld Festival, for example. During Travis Scott’s set, thousands of people in the crowd were trampled on and suffocated. People surged towards the stage, literally crushing one another, and as a result, 10 people died, leaving hundreds more injured. Despite the loss of lives and people crying out for help and screaming at Scott to stop performing, the rapper carried on with the concert, negligent towards the crowd’s pleas.
The Rolling Stones interviewed many attendees, one being ICU nurse Madeline Eskins.
“Fans were yelling at the stage crew around us, saying ‘stop the concert, people are dying.’ No one listened,” said Eskins.
Multiple attendees also told Insider that their pleas to stop the show were ignored by organizers, cameramen and other staff.
While many people agree that the rapper must be held accountable, some die-hard fans believe Travis Scott is not responsible for what happened in any way, shape or form. No matter the number of fatalities or people injured and no matter the profound trauma many are forced to live with now, according to his stans, Scott can do absolutely nothing wrong. There’s no logical reason to go to great lengths to defend someone who was the subject of a mass-casualty event.
There’s one important thing to note. Stans do not necessarily have to have obsessive qualities, and many don’t. However, there is no denying that there’s an increasing number of people who are beginning to consume celebrity news and content in concerning ways.
I’m not stopping you from partaking in celebrity gossip every now and then. It’s fun to get excited about a new album or movie release and rave about your favourite looks from the red carpet. But, maybe, just maybe, it’s good to remind ourselves every once in a while not to blur the line between a fan and a stan.