The followers know that this person is not the really Rachel
Berry. Yet they follow her and re-tweet
her as if she is the real thing.
The part of this I find the most interesting is that the
fans, who are tweeting, stay so true to the story line. They may branch out a
little bit, but they never go too far from the show’s actual plot. This is a
far cry from most fan made media, especially slash fan –fiction, which
re-writes the storylines. So why is that? Why do fan created character accounts
stay so true to the storyline? There are no rules, no waiver they sign that
says they must follow along with the characters right? Well, there are actually
a few rules when it comes to fan created character accounts or parody accounts: 5 Rules When Creating Parody Accounts
Yet if anything these rules promote ridiculous tweets, so if
there aren’t rules against it why do they do it. Why aren’t there any accounts
that have Rachel Berry in Space? They have endless possibilities with these
characters, so why don’t they branch out. I believe, it is because these fans
want to be these characters. Not in an insane way, but in a cathartic way. They
want to be Rachel Berry or Kurt Hummel even if it just for a tweet. Or maybe I
am wrong, why do you think these fans stick to the show narrative and don’t participate
in alternative universe fan-made content that is so popular on fan-fiction
sites?
This topic is particularly frightening to me. People are becoming so insecure about themselves as human beings that they are continuously resorting to projecting fantastic representations of themselves out into the web. By using the internet, and by personifying a fictional character, they can perhaps harness more positive attention than they would in real life. I can understand the desire for escapism, but it cannot possibly be healthy when it extends to the point of overtaking your physical social life. I don’t want to make assumptions about the nature of the person running such an account as this, but in any case, I find it sad that she feels compelled to perpetuate a fictional universe in her mind, and then broadcast it to the rest of the world... As for the people following her, I can’t even begin to explain... I feel slightly different towards accounts intended to be humorous or awkward such as the examples in your link, or for example, LordVoldemort7 as Ian brought up in class (and no, I was not familiar with him before he mentioned the account). These accounts are more easily validated by the characters which they attempt to reconstruct (i.e. funny or iconic personalities), rather than just continuing some fantasized dialogue about how much they wish they could actually be some character. Maybe I’m off base, but that’s just my opinion. Fandom has possibly gone too far with this one...
ReplyDeleteI believe that people kind of have this obsession with characters on TV or Movies being real. They want to be friends with them, they want to know where they are, and they want to know what they are doing. The characters on shows like Glee and made to lovable and and also are made to relate to us, and I believe that's why people stick to the characters so well. If they made the characters have a completely different personality on Twitter, it would not make sense as to the character they are in the show. The more closely they are related, the more people are going to follow you.
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I also was entirely oblivious to twitter fan-fiction. Although I can’t give you a definite answer to why these fan’s fictive tweets remain within the narrative boundaries of their character, I’m going to guess.
ReplyDeleteSince the TV series Glee reaches such a diverse audience, the fake Rachel Berry has to remain true to the real Rachel Berry’s character. If not, her twitter alter-ego risks losing some of her 15,000 followers. These loyal Glee fans expect tweets about the show. They’re already emotionally involved with Glee’s characters, relationships, and plot structures, and R.B followers may get a kick out of seeing their favorite fictive character living outside of the show and in the real world. It’s almost as if the twitter account, by keeping in line with the show's R.B characterization, extends the fantastical element into a reality. Its obviously a parodic account and followers know this, however, they also knew Glee characters aren’t real when they fell in love with them in the first place.
Perhaps the reason these fan fiction accounts generally stay within the lines, is to reaffirm the myth of its character and avoid sparking widespread existential crisis (leading to a decline of the fan fiction account’s followers).
Well first, I think this whole acting like characters from fictional stories is slightly weird. I personally have never done it and I find it a bit crazy and obsessive that there are “5 Rules When Creating Parody Accounts”. I initially thought that these were the actual character accounts tweeted by the actors. For example, when the show is about to air all the fans get online and there is communication back and forth with the actors who are in the show. But I was wrong. I also didn’t realize that there was such a big following for these kinds of things. So I went online and found the “28 of the best fictional characters on twitter”. The tweets range from what the fictional actors are doing at the moment just like how regular users tweet about their daily lives. Analyzing it further, I feel as though people find their identity by becoming one of these characters because they might struggle in their real life. But also if you are heavily invested into fictional stories then I understand why people create these accounts. There are so many social media webpages online for Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc. There is a whole documentary about Star Trek called Trekkies where people actually live the fictional characters’ lives.
ReplyDelete