CONTENTS
I have been a big fan of the American singer Madonna since 1986.
In 2009, her official website launched a contest entitled “My Madonna Shrine” where fans were asked to submit a photograph showing their favourite Madonna memorabilia items. I’ve always been fascinated by Madonna’s change of image over the years and therefore thought I could do something different to enter the competition. The idea was to use my favourite photographs to create a mural with myself as a part of it too. Covering up my whole body with her images as if the mural and I were one.
My photo was chosen as a winner, amongst hundreds of entries and as my prize I was sent a printed version of it signed by Madonna. My story as a fan was published in the fan club’s official magazine, Icon, which is distributed quarterly to the fan club’s subscribers.
Because I am a Madonna Fan, I have travelled to countries I had never been to before, spent cold and rainy nights camping outside the venues to be in the front row, met different types of fans from all over the world and made true friends. I even ran away from home at the age of 14 to go to one of her concerts. (see full story ‘My Madonna Shrine’ on page 42)
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My own experience of being a fan has inspired me to investigate the fandom phenomenon. What motivates so many people to become infatuated by these almost unreal Idols and Icons? Are fans dangerously obsessive people or just expressing a strong passion for something? To try and investigate these issues, I want to take my own ‘obsession’ and use it as a starting point for this research project.
I think that a study of this particular human behaviour can be used and applied to my work as an artist, through my interest of using real life subjects to inform and create my pieces.
Having explored many different types of media in the past, I can now affirm with confidence that photography is my main field of interest and something that I see myself doing as a professional artist. My interests for cinema and theatre and the experience I have acquired in these areas have now manifested itself to me in the form of staged photography. And the more I look into this subject, the more it interests and fascinates me.
I am very much attracted by the way photographs can tell as much as a story as a film can, it’s limitations encourage the audience’s own imagination and own interpretation, since a single photograph cannot tell a story in all it’s details.
3 years ago I visited the exhibition Beneath the Roses, in London, by photographer Gregory Crewdson. His photographs were extremely narrative pieces, even though there were no words or sounds of any kind.
tinctions htaking photographs blur the dis eat br lly ua vis se the pe, sco in “Both epic in scale and intimate e.” (1.) com to is at wh and d ene pp ha s ha reality and fantasy, what between cinema and photography,
1. Banks, Russel. Beneath the Roses:Gregory Crewdson. page 6
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fig. a : Beneath the Roses (Gregory Crewdson)
The more I looked at the photographs, the more involved I became and I found myself creating stories in my mind for what I was seeing.
“Human beings have a deeply rooted need to create and identify with narratives.”
(2.)
My Madonna Shrine piece was an attempt to experiment with this concept. I wanted to express my fascination for Madonna’s change of image throughout the years, and how my admiration for her work had had such a strong influence on who I am as a artist.
2. Edwards A. kathellen. Action out: Invented melodrama in contemporary photography. page 6.
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This piece was also highly influenced by the work of David La Chapelle, noted for his surreal, unique, sexualized, and often humorous style.
“His use of celebrities exaggerates aspects of their personalities and their personal lives.� (3.)
fig. b (top left): Lady Gaga for Rolling Stone : 2010 fig. c (top right) : Madonna for Rolling Stone : 1998 fig. d (left) : Flaunt, the Eden Issue (David LaChapelle)
I intend to take this experiment further, and not only investigate myself as a fan, but others as well, in an attempt to create a new piece that would express this mad and hard to explain love the fans have for their idols, and also their consequences both individually and in society.
3. Ingrid Sischy quoted in the documentary Eye Candy: The Crazy World Of David La Chapelle.
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According to The Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, a fanatic is a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, with an obsessive interest and enthusiasm for something and a fan is described as a supporter with a liking and enthusiasm for something.
In general, fans are perceived as fanatics. Perhaps because the word fan itself comes from the word fanatic, which, refers to dysfunctional behaviour, as Joli Jensen, professor of communication in the University of Tulsa, describes in her essay ‘Fandom as Pathology’:
This means that “The fan is consistently characterized as a potential fanatic. . Fans, therefore, fandom is seen as excessive, bordering on deranged, behaviour tion.” (4.) are people who are nearly crazy about the object of their devo Fandom is characterized by a feeling of sympathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Therefore this creates a social network with particular practices. Fandom can grow up centred around any area of human interest or activity.
The Merriam-Webster's Dictionary traces the usage of the term back as far as 1903.
Obviously there are people who take their passions and interests to a destructive and overly obsessive level, like terrorists, suicide bombers or even the hooligans who are known to use their passion for football in a negative way.
4. Jenson, Joli – Fandom as pathology: The consequences of characterization. The adoring audiences, page 9.
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Or the case of John Warnock Hinckley Jr. who developed an obsession with the actress Jodie Foster who had played a child prostitute in the 1976 movie Taxi Driver by Martin Scorsese and in order to get her attention tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981.
Hinckley wrote to Foster just before his attempt on Reagan's life:
“Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letTers and love mesSages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. [...] the reason I'm going ahead with this atTempt now is because I canNot wait any longer to impresS you.” (5.)
This episode is interesting because it could be seen as a case of fanaticism and that could fit into the theories earlier described.
I wonder what could be the real cause for his behaviour? If the character played by Jodie Foster was what triggered his obsession, he could then be considered a pedophile, or mentally disturbed, meaning he was pathologically ill? Also, it’s interesting to note that President Reagan used to be an actor himself.
Hinckley watched Taxi Driver on a continuous fig. e: Jody Foster, age 14 , in Taxi Driver : 1976
loop in which a disturbed protagonist, played
by Robert De Niro, plots to assassinate a presidential candidate.
It seems his obsession was a way of living a fantasy by ‘entering’ the world of that film.
5. www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/trials/hinckleys
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In the 1885 movie The Purple Rose Of Cairo by Woody Allen, a character breaks the fourth wall, emerging from the screen into the real world. In Hinckley’s case he is the one who ‘steps’ into the film world and brings it out into his real life.
Ironically, a decade later, Hinckley’s life was once again taken into a fictional world. In the 1990 musical Assassins, by Stephen Sondheim, an actor playing Hinckley sings a love song to Jodie Foster.
Mental health experts suggest that the increase in fan attacks on celebrities may be due to an ‘incredibly narcissistic society or maybe the fantasy life we see on television.’
However, generalizing fandom and fanaticism is something that can lead to prejudice. Being a fan can be a positive thing, an experience that can open new doors in life, bringing people with a common interest together, and help outcast groups to integrate. It’s a matter of using it in a positive way.
I have been in touch with many other fans from all over the world through the years, and I can affirm with confidence that “obsessive” is not an accurate way to describe all of them. Passionate perhaps would be a better adjective. However, I have met some fans who seem to have taken their passion too far.
One woman I met said her life has been nothing other than Madonna since 1985.
She only listened to Madonna’s songs, spent most of her time online in fan chat rooms, searching the internet for anything Madonna related and only made friends with people who liked Madonna. She says she is happy and this is just a different lifestyle but even at a Madonna concert where she was surrounded by thousands of other fans, she seemed quite sad and isolated, even lonely.
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She first introduced herself to me as Susan, which is the name of Madonna’s character in the 1885 movie Desperately Seeking Susan, directed by Susan Seidelman, but sometime later I discovered that wasn’t her real name.
Professor Joli Jenson thinks fandom can sometimes be a form of Psychological compensation:
“‘Excessive’ fandom, [can be] an attempt to make up for all that modern life lacks.”
(6.)
Possibly becoming a fan went from being a way of integrating and socializing, to a form of dysfunctional behaviour, which fits into Joli Jenson’s theory.
In contrast to that, I came across two Madonna fans that years ago started fan websites, as they both felt a lack of this type of venues for fans to connect to each other and share their experiences.
One of them is 30 years old Rafael Augusto, from Brazil.
In the late 90’s, he paired up with another friend to start a fan Internet blog. The response was so positive that in 2001, they decided to take the project further and created the www.madonnaonline.com.br, a Brazilian Madonna Fan website, made by fans for fans.
“We both felt a lack of this type of venues for fans to connect to each other and share an experience of proximity between them and their idol.” 10 years after it started, their Madonna fan site is the main source of reference and news about Madonna in Brazil, being recognized by Madonna’s own label and her team.
And all this was merely the work of fans, who until very recently, never received any sort of financial return for it.
6. Jenson, Joli – Fandom as pathology: The consequences of characterization. The adoring audiences,page 5.
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Bart, from Belgium, who has also run a Madonna fan site for over 5 years, the www.mad-eyes.net, told me that mentioning it on his CV has always made a very positive impression in his jobs interviews.
According to him the potential employers always felt that his sense of community and sharing expressed by his work on the website were qualities associated to teamwork and even leadership.
These are good examples of fandom leading into a very positive personal development. A hobby that turned into a professional pathway, which is something I can relate to myself. Indirectly, being a fan has influenced my work as artist in several ways, and even now I feel inspired to write about it and it is helping me discover different aspects of fandom, on myself and also in others.
Like artist Gilliam Wearing says about herself:
“I'm always trying to find ways of discovering new things about people, and in the process discover more about myself.” (7.) Besides that, it’s important to note that Internet fan clubs are a growing venue for fans. Today, the Internet allows fans to stay informed on a regular basis and at a very fast pace.
Researcher Paul Theberge wrote about the phenomenon of Internet fan clubs in the Canadian Journal of Communications, in 2005. He explores the various ways that the Internet allows fans and musicians to connect. He said:
vided an important social outlet for fans. “The Internet has energized fan clubs and pro each other.” Not only can fans connect to their idols, but to In this way fandom provides a community of like-minded friendships to the fan. Internet fan clubs may increase the benefits to fans of participating in fan clubs, like it happened to both Rafael and Bart. 7. www.tate.org.uk/ArtistWorks (Quote by Gillian Wearing)
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To gain some more perspective, I sent out a few emails in communities I was more familiar with, like Madonna fan clubs and fan websites, asking a few questions about their relationship with their idol.
I also created a blog in the Fan Community section of Madonna’s official website, telling people about my research and asking them to take part with their comments.
fig. f : Josh Brandao’s blog entry on Madonna.com
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Kelly, a 52 years old caretaker from Washington D.C, has been a Madonna fan since 1983. She told me:
“Madonna was my window to the world. She showed me things I’d never have known about if not for her.” When I asked her about negatives experiences as a fan, she said:
boss asked me “I asked off from work to go to the Blond Ambition Tour (1990) in DC. My a man less ‘Are you a lesbian or something?’ Even though she knew I had just married na. than a year before. She stereotyped me. However, I am straight and I like Madon My answer to my bosses question was “If I say I am a lesbian will you let me off on Friday to see Madonna?” (Full questionnaires available on page 42)
Even though I don’t personally know any 14 year old girls, I still believe that they are the main fan base of boy band JLS, or any other boy band, and singer Dolly Parton probably mostly has middle aged white people as her fans. This knowledge did not come from my own mind, but from the media and the way they market and promote their ‘products’. It seems that the media has already stereotyped others for us.
The press has massively commented on Madonna’s provocative and outspoken attitude, which can be sometimes associated to gay people and Kelly’s boss’s judgment has most likely been affected by that information.
After the questionnaires, I did some face-to-face interviews in order to gain a more personal view on the subject.
I talked to Wladimir Sardinha, 35 years old, from Brazil, who has been a devoted of pop group ABBA fan for almost 30 years.
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His passion for the band took him to many places around the globe, following his idols and meeting other fans along the way.
From spending a whole afternoon in a record store listening to ABBA LPs at the age of 9 (while his parents thought he had disappeared) to
fig. g : Wladimir Sardinha with Frieda from Abba : 2003
participating on stage in the actual Mamma Mia musical in London’s West End through a fan club competition.
Wladimir says that the most positive influence fandom had on him was allowing him to meet people who he would probably never have met if it had not been for ABBA, and that being a fan has never been a problem for him.
“Most people around me knew about me being a big fan and that never caused me any troubles. But, I know fans who had a very different experience and were teased and bullied. Fortunately that didn’t happen to me.” (Full interview available on page 35)
For Rob, a 33 years old musician and teacher from London, his experience as a Madonna fan was sometimes very difficult:
ed me and “At school I got ridiculed for being her fan. The other kids bulli ested in what accused me of being gay for liking Madonna instead of being inter person, that was is considered more “boy” things, like sports. Being such a young d a gay Icon.” very confusing to me and I didn’t’ even know she was considere (Full interview available on page 38)
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I also must admit I have avoided mentioning my liking for Madonna in the past because I was afraid of being pre-judged or perceived in a negative way.
nant value system “Fandom is typically associated with cultural forms that the domi associated with the denigrates such as pop music, comics, and celebrities. It is thus rly with those cultural tastes of subordinated formation of the people, particula tation.” (8.) orien l sexua or class age, , race er, gend of on inati comb any by disempowered In contrast to that, the same fans I talked to (including myself ) seemed to have found in their Idol’s message as an artist, (especially the Madonna fans) ways to understand themselves better, whether related to sexuality, looks or social acceptance.
Like Bart, 32, from Belgium, who has been a Madonna fan since 1993:
“I got to know a lot of other fans who became good friends. It was them who got me to accept myself for who I am.” I wonder if music could also be an influencing factor, since they were all admirers of musical artists.
Ryan Moore’s 2010 book, Sells Like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, and Social Crisis considers music from an economic and political perspective and finds that it can be a catalyst for social change.
Moore says music also allows young people to challenge the status quo. In this way, music not only provides individual and collective identity but also helps to shape the worldview of fans.
8. Lewis, A. Lisa - Adoring Audience (quote by John Fiske) page 30
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Moore believes that music fandom can provide substantial psychological benefits to fans including an outlet for frustration, identity, and access to a shared experience.
This observation is very interesting since in the case of the fans mentioned earlier, what apparently caused the discrimination, also served as inspiration to deal with that problem and grow stronger as people. And perhaps by finding other people that felt the same way they found their ways of integrating better in society.
Sport fans do seem to be more accepted by society in general, and that’s probably because of its appeal to masculinity. However, they are also affected by discrimination. Football, for example, is often associated with Hooliganism, which, in turn, is associated with violence and aggressive behaviour.
Films like Green Street, directed by Lexi Alexander in 2004, or, also from 2004, Football Factory directed by Nick Love, both about Hooliganism in England, show a great level of violence between the firms in the movies, according to film critic Roger Ebert. (More on sports fans in chapter 5)
Again, I wonder if the media is playing an important factor in the stereotyping of groups.
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Alongside the theory research and the interview experiments, I also felt the need for some technical experiments to help realize my practical piece.
The 2005 exhibition Acting Out: Invented melodrama in contemporary photography, presented a series of photographs containing elements of film making to trigger the viewer’s imagination.
“The photographers functioned like directors collaborating with a team of actors and crew.” (9.)
Based on that concept, I worked on a series of very short films, in order to understand more about the process of planning a film or photo shoot, working with a crew and gain some technical skills. This was also as a way to find form or composition when making my practical piece.
From a technical perspective, the end result proved to me that with the right planning and organisation I could transform any location into the ideal sets for whatever I wanted to portray.
“In Acting Out, the context of the photographs resembles worlds that are known or can be imagined and offer a key to the magic of the imagination.” (10.) This is exactly what I want to explore with my piece, relating fiction to reality and vice versa.
9. Edwards, A. Kathleen. Acting out: Invented melodrama in contemporary photography. page 6 10. Edwards, A. Kathleen. Acting out: Invented melodrama in contemporary photography. page 26
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In Murder! (September 2010) the concept was to shoot the film with 2 cameras simultaneously, and with no cuts so that the audience would watch it from two different points of view at the same time. It took us 21 takes to get the right sequence. We took inspiration from a scene in the 1973 movie Sisters by Brian de Palma and some of his other movies where he experimented with using two cameras at the same time during a scene.
Video stills from Murder! Watch the short film on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzNwFr07yaI
In Nightmare! (November 2010) we created several tableaux that were later put together by editing to compose the picture, with the use of blue screen and split screen.
Video stills from Nightmare! Watch the short film on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uhaQ23tWGk
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My intention is to apply the same concepts and techniques to my photographs and find creative ways to tell the stories I want and to show the environments appropriate for it, without the need for building expensive sets or renting locations.
In both films I worked as a production coordinator and designer, as well as acting in both of them. (view the Murder! call sheet on page 44)
Working on some more practical experiments, I began a series of photo shoots. I invited one of the interviewees, ABBA fan Wladimir, to be photographed. Previously, Wladimir said that he feels very comfortable expressing his ‘fan’ love with everyone, as simply another aspect of his personality.
I decided to photograph him on a non-fan environment, such as his work place. I felt by placing him somewhere where people could more easily relate to, I could play with the idea of ‘Who is his true self?’ Is he ‘acting’ as businessman when his at work and his true self is expressed when he’s being an ABBA fan? Or is it the other way around?
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Artist Philip Lorca-diCorcia (whose work also featured in the Acting Out exhibition, produces strangely narrative, cinematic, faux documentary photographs since the 1970s, like his series depicting pole dancers.
He uses the language of melodrama to explore how we create meaning from a single photographic image. This is used as a tool that helps the viewer to recognize and relate to the plot lines of these photographs, which is something I am aiming for. fig. h : Hannah by Philip Lorca-diCorcia
For Wladimir, I tried to reproduce his office at my house and asked him to ‘act’ as if he was at work.
that are known “In acting Out, the context of the photographs resemble worlds c of the imagination.” or can be imagined by the viewer and offer a key to the magi
(11.)
This also reminds me of the concept of Verfremdung, which is German for alienation. It is used in literature to denote a method of keeping a distance between viewer-reality and literary-reality. It was used often by Bertolt Brecht in his epic theater.
“Verfremdung is simply taking what is known, natural and clear about an event or character and to create astonishment and curiosity for it.”
11. www.absolutearts.com/artsnews (quote by Kathleen A. Edwards). Action out: Invented melodrama in contemporary photography page 12. http://everything2.com/index/verfremdung
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(12.)
My intention was to capture Wladimir’s everyday routine, blending it with his passion for ABBA.
I also asked him to bring some personal objects from his office, especially things related to ABBA, and tried to recreate that environment, exaggerating it.
(Ground Plan for Wladimir’s photoshoot)
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I found that the experiments served also as a way of recording the work process and that by looking back at it, I could have a better understanding of the piece and that could also help me put the work into context. Like Gregory Crewdson does:
“Crewdson meticulously documents with photographs and text the composition of his pictures, recording the process entirely from first conception to completion, and in this, (13.) too, suggests that the final exhibition of pictures is in fact a performance.” I also invited Madonna fan Rob, for a photos shoot. On his interview, Rob expressed the desire of dressing up as Madonna once again as he did 12 years ago. (Full interview available on page 38) Even though he finds the idea very tempting, he feels very insecure about it and afraid that could cause problems with his pupils at the school where he teaches if they end up seeing the photographs somewhere. He’s very concerned about being stereotyped once again.
fig. s,u (left, right) Rob as Madonna : 1999, fig. t (centre) Madonna at MTV Awards : 1990
In 2008, a schoolteacher in America got fired after pictures of her wearing a bikini while participating on a radio show contest surfaced on the Internet. The rapid growing of internet social networks like Facebook or Twitter, has helped people all over the world to stay connected and interact more with each other but has also raised serious privacy issues, which are probably one of Rob’s concerns. Rob’s feelings are the same ones he had back 1999, which is something that could’ve stopped him from having one the most amazing experiences of his life, as he described it in his interview.
13. Banks, Russel. Beneath the Roses:Gregory Crewdson. page 148
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But even his feelings of concern are informative to my piece, as I feel a need to address them when composing it.
Like photographers Cindy Sherman and Gillian Wearing did in some their work.
Sherman’s 1981 series Centerfolds, call attention to the stereotyping of women in the media:
“I wanted a man opening up a magazine and suddenly look at it with an expectation of something lascivious and then feel like the violator that they would be... Obviously I'm trying to make someone feel bad for having a certain expectation.” (14.)
fig. i : Centrefolds by Cindy Sherman : 1981
Gillian Wearing’s series Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say from 1992, also explore stereotyping:
“A great deal of my work is about questioning handed-down truths”
(15.)
Perhaps the focus on Rob’s photographs should be more the stereotyping of fans rather than his passion for his idol. This is something I want to explore in depth when creating his piece.
14. Sherman: Centerfolds page 57 15. www.tate.org.uk/ArtistWorks (Quote by Gillian Wearing)
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Also, the work of French Photographer Sacha Goldberg could serve as an inspiration for Rob and Wladimir’s pieces. Goldberg used his grandmother’s war stories to transform her into a ‘glamorized’ super-hero in his 2010 series Mamika.
fig. j : Mamika by Sacha Goldberg
On a different experiment, I explored the feelings I had when doing my Madonna Shrine piece and also when telling my own story as a fan. In the shrine photo, I expressed my admiration for Madonna’s constant reinvention of her image.
When the article I wrote about my story was published in a Madonna fans dedicated magazine (see ‘My Madonna Shrine’ on page 42), I felt good about it because I was sharing my story with other fans.
But when I decided to include that story in this piece, it brought up feelings of insecurity. I felt very exposed by having my tutors and peers at college read my story and I almost decided not to include it.
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fig. l (left) : Alex, on madonnalicious.com fig. m (top) : Leandro, on madonnaonline.com.br fig. k : Photo for Rolling Stone by David LaChapelle: 1998
Inspired by some Madonna fans that have tattooed her image on their own bodies, I experimented by creating a series of photos where I would do the opposite of hiding, and express the fan love in a more exposing way.
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The My Madonna Shrine piece and the new photos are not only extremely contrasting, but they also seem to complement each other. I have showed them individually and also next to each other to different people, and they all seem to have a similar opinion:
“I have a better understanding of the subject by looking at the photos together. The two photographs show the dualism of the fan phenomenon. It seems you can hide behind it but it also becomes a part of you.”
Based on responses like that, I worked on another experiment showing the fusion of the photographs. Another viewer commented:
“I’m intrigued to know if you are coming out of the collage or becoming it” Unlike the My Madonna Shrine piece I don’t see this photograph as a self-portrait. Perhaps this piece is more like Cindy Sherman’s pieces, where she uses herself as a vehicle for commentary on several issues of the modern world. In my case it could be the role of the fan or the role of the artist commenting on society’s stereotypes.
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For this piece, I also looked into artists who worked with photomontage, like Adrian Brannan.
fig. n (left) : Piccadilly Circus fig. o : Wembley Stadium. (Adrian Brannan)
Brannan uses traditional optical photography and manual 'cut and paste' collage techniques in the pursuit of what he has described as a "more truthful and unclouded representation"(16.) of his subject matter. Even though I do not agree entirely with him on that point, as I believe that keeping up with technology and making use of the new techniques available to us today is also a way of achieving a truthful representation of the subject, his work relates to mine, for showing several aspects of a subject on a single piece.
Also Franco B, who comes from a visual art background instead of performing art and says that is very important to him as it informs the way his work is read.
fig. p, fig. q : Photomontages (Franco B )
My case is the opposite, as I have been mostly involved with performance art in the past years. I feel that too can inform my future work in the more visual art world of the photographic field, and my background is having a strong influence in the work I’m developing now in my series of staged photographs.
16. http://www.adrianbrannan.com/background.htm
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Marcio and Robson, from Brazil, became friends because of their passion for a particular football club, and in 2010, they took a year out and spent more than £25,000 following their favorite team in every single match they played during a whole year.
“Most people define us as ‘crazy’ for doing that”, says Robson to an interviewer on a Brazilian website.
It’s interesting the way that if a person spends a large amount of money on a car, or perhaps a wedding, then it’s considered perfectly acceptable, or even envied, but if a fan spends the same amount of money following
fig. r : Marcio and Robson on their football tour : 2010
their idol, they are immediately considered crazy. This supports Joli Jenson’s theory of fans being seen as crazy fanatics, as discussed in Chapter 2: Fan or Fanatic? Passion or Obsession?
In 2010, researchers Reyson and Branscombe, published in the Journal of Sport Behavior an article about fan-ship as identification with the object of adoration and fandom as identification with other fans.
Firstly, they say, there is a positive relationship between fan-ship and identification with other fans (entitavity) suggesting that fan-ship meets social and emotional needs of fans. Secondly, fan-ship is positively related to collective happiness demonstrating that it meets important emotional needs of fans as well. Thirdly, these benefits are not limited to sports fans, or even organized fan groups. Fan-ship and fandom are correlated with collective happiness.
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They also consider how fandom and fan-ship relate to individual identity, “that part of an individual’s self-concept which derives from his knowledge of his membership of a social group …”
The competition involved is something in which sport fans differentiate from music fans. For sport fans, the winning and losing factors play an important role on how they enjoy their passion.
“sports fans enjoy huge emotional highs when their team wins (17.) and corresponding emotional lows when the team loses.” It is also an interesting fact that the majority of music concerts are held in football stadiums, so both types of fans enjoy their fandom in the same place.
Marcio and Robson’s story also shows that fans can also go to extraordinary lengths in order to express their passion, whether they are music or sport fans. They believe:
“Being a fan means never being alo ne anywhere in the world” It seems that in the sports fans versus music fans match, the score is a tie.
17. Reysen, Stephen; Branscombe, Nyla R. Fanship and Fandom: Comparisons between Sport and Non-Sport Fans, Journal of Sport page. 26
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This journey of researching and trying to understand the fan phenomenon has been a mind opening experience that not only helped me have a better understanding of an aspect of other people’s personalities, their passions and drives but also my own ones.
Even though it was very difficult at times to look at my own self as a subject while trying to be objective about it, my research and experimentation shows that perhaps being a fan is simply another way of expressing a different kind of love. A tool that we can use to cope with difficulties of life, a way of escapism and a way of connecting to others alike and finding our own place in the world. If enjoyed properly, fandom can have a very positive influence in a person’ life.
Analyzing, comparing and reflecting on my research material and practical experiments have helped my piece to take shape and be well informed. It has also raised a series of questions, which could be investigated in the future. The series of photographs I am creating should be something that connects the different kinds of passions we all have, regardless of being considered fans or not. Something that will address the duality of those passions. More importantly, I want to make a piece that would help break the pre-concepts and prejudices that our society has against people’s particular interests and by that make a social commentary on modern life’s issues.
From Football fans to Japanese Anime fans, to Michael Jackson fans, to more mundane things such as cooking or TV shows. Everyone has an interest for a subject. The only thing that varies is the degree of that interest. At some level, everybody is a fan, of something or somebody.
Fandom therefore impacts the lives of a large number of people around the world. As human beings, we find comfort in having an idol, a role model or a community where can relax and be ourselves. Perhaps by trying to understand the nature of fandom, and the results of fandom we broaden our understanding of the human condition.
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QUESTIONNAIRES These are two examples of responses I received from my research questionnaires between October 2010 and January 2011.
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WLADIMIR’S INTERVIEW Wladimir Sardinha 35 Years old from Brazil
Josh:
Wladi, when did you first start liking ABBA?
Wladimir:
I’ve beEn a devoted fan mostly alL my life and remember listening
to their songs at a very early age on the radio. I think I started being a fan from the age of 5.
J:
ABBA became a popular band after winNing the Eurovision song contest in 1974.
You were born in 1975 and they stopPed releasing new material in 1981, which means that you started being a fan when they no longer active as a group. Since you misSed alL their glory at the height of their careEr, what was it that atTracted you to them? W:
Even though they were finished as a group, their songs were stilL very popular.
One day I was playing with my brother at home when the song “Super TroOper” started to play on the radio. I was imMediately drawn by the sweEtnesS of the melody and the voice of the girls. At that point I wasn’t interested in who they were or what they loOked like and I could not even understand the words of the songs. It was purely a fascination for their music, which somehow touched me.
Sometime after that, ABBA released their first greatest hits album, celebrating 10 years since they started. My brother bought the LP and it was only then that I saw them as a group and started to identify with them as people toO. I was fascinated that now I could enjoy alL those beautiful songs I used to listen on the radio, anytime I wanted. From that moment I started to buy (or ask my parents to) alL of their records and that was the beginNing of a very extensive (and expensive) memorabilia colLection. At that point I was only 6 or 7 years old.
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J:
What was your main source of information about ABBA in those days?
W:
Because they were not recording new material anymore there’s wasn’t a lot of
stufF available in magazines or newspapers. They weren’t popular in that sense. Their music however was constantly being played on the radio. Another factor was their music videos. ABBA were one of the first (if not the first) artists to make music videos with story lines and performance. I was constantly waiting to seE them on TV and often had my VCR ready to record anything with them in it. My friends and family used to shout in the streEts for me to come home because ABBA was on TV. I think that sense of sharing my experience as a fan; even with people who weren’t fans was a very nice feEling.
SoOn I felt a neEd to develop my fan-ship and to share it with people who felt the same way I did. I found an advert on a magazine from an ABBA fan who was loOking to meEt other fans. I replied to the ad and started to corRespond with this girl, calLed Noemi. We started to exchange some ABBA items and as the friendship developed, she told me that she started to like them because of the song Knowing Me, Knowing You, because the first part of the chorus (Knowing Me) sounds just like her name, Noemi. That was the beginNing of a long and cherished friendship, and 25 years after that we are stilL friends.
J: W:
Did your interest for ABBA become bigGer when you were a teEnager? Yes, in my teEns they were my bigGest interest even though I was interested in
other artists toO. ABBA, however, were my true idols and my love and devotion for them always came first.
J:
Were you ever ashamed of being an ABBA fan?
W:
No, not at alL. There were times when I went to schoOl wearing an ABBA t-shirt
or pictures of them in my noteboOks. AlL my friends knew about me being a big fan and that never caused me any troubles.
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My English teacher was probably the only one who had a problem with it since I was making her life miserable by constantly asking her to translate me the ABBA songs when she was trying to carRy on with the clasS (Laughs).
But, I know fans who had a very difFerent experience and were teased or even bulLied because they were ABBA fans. Fortunately that didn’t hapPen to me.
J:
Did anything change for you after you learned what they were saying in their
songs? W:
No. Nothing changed. It was interesting to know what they were saying but from
the start my love was for the musicality.
J:
You have beEn a very devoted ABBA fan for most of your life. How do you think
that relationship has shaped you as a person? W:
Being a fan is cultivating a very special love. Because of this love that I
have experienced through their music, I had the opPortunity to travel to places I wouldn’t normalLy go. I met a lot of interesting people from difFerent backgrounds and from so many difFerent parts of the world, people who I never thought I’d have anything in comMon with, but we shared the same love and devotion as fans. Some of these people became very close friends and a huge part of my life.
J:
W:
Can Wladimir be Wladimir without ABBA?
Definitely not. Being an ABBA fan doesn’t take over my life but it’s a very big
part of who I am. Besides, I can’t seE a reason why I should stop loving something that only makes me feEl hapPy and brings joy to my life. AbBa is in my DNA. I don’t think I could even make the choice of to stop liking them.
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ROB’S INTERVIEW Rob 33 years old from London
His fascination for MadonNa started when his dad gave him and his sister a ticket to MadonNa’s Blond Ambition Concert at Wembley Stadium in 1990.
He says that MadonNa’s outrageous show, outspoken atTitude and amazing stage presence transformed him that day, and from that moment on he was completely hoOked.
Rob:
I became infatuated by the way she moved and I wanted to dance like her.
(His sister, who’s 3 years older, also became a fan that day but her interest quickly faded out). I think she sucCumbed to peEr presSure and thought it wasn’t so coOl to be so much in love with MadonNa as her brother was. I was already playing the piano at the time and that sort of toOk the back seat, as I was only interested in MadonNa alL the time.
Josh: Were you open with your friends and family about your new pasSion? R:
Yes. At schoOl I got ridiculed for being her fan. For one thing I was consid-
ered toO young to be a MadonNa fan. Everyone of my age was mostly into groups like New Kids on The Block or Shakespeare’s Sisters. That were some kids around my age who liked MadonNa, but they weren’t as infatuated as I was. The other kids bulLied me and acCused me of being gay for liking MadonNa instead of being interested in what’s considered more “boy” things like sports for example. Being such a young person, that was very confusing to me and I didn’t’ even know she was considered a gay icon.
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I used to go to record stores and fairs on every posSible ocCasion to buy MadonNa stufF, and spent alL my money buying memorabilia. That caused problems with my mother and my stepfather as I was spending toO much money on MadonNa. They saw it as an unhealthy obsesSion. They once said to me they felt it like a drug I was adDicted to and tried to ban me from buying anything else to do with her or restricted me from watching anything related to her on TV.
J: R:
What atTracted you the most about MadonNa? I’ve always liked powerful, strong women. Women with lots of “spunk” so to
speak. My best friends at schoOl were alL strong-minded, stubBorn women that had a goOd sense of humour but would not be afraid to take risks. And I was always atTracted to that because I think I wasn’t so much like that myself, I was quite insecure as a person. I saw those qualities in MadonNa’s character and I believe that seEing her pushing so many boundaries with her art encouraged me to push my own boundaries and become more self-confident. Also, I became more outspoken and hapPy as person, and found a lot of comfort in her music and positive atTitude. Reading some of her biographies and paying atTention to her mesSage as an artist helped me understand betTer who I am, especialLy around the age of 15, which was when I acCepted I was gay. For me she’s always beEn an absolute role model, a real leader.
J: R:
What’s your most memorable moment as a fan? In 1999, on my 3rd year at ColLege, my friend Craig sugGested I dresSed up as
MadonNa for a colLege performance event. I used to mime to her song Vogue very welL as a joke during parties and Craig thought I should go alL the way and perform Vogue in drag, as MadonNa. He said he could somehow get me a dresS similar to the one MadonNa wore performing Vogue for the 1990 MTV awards. Even thought I wanted to do it I was very unsure about it and afraid of the other student’s reactions. Even though I wasn’t 100% sure if I had the guts to do it, I went to Craig’s flat and for 2 days practiced walking on high heEl shoes and learned alL the choreography watching MadonNa’s video of the performance. Only on the day of the event my friend showed me the dresS he mentioned earlier. I tried it on and agreEd to do it imMediately (laughs and shows me 2 photographs)!
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It was the most nerve wrecking thing I’ve done in my life, until the moment I went on stage, in the recital halL of the Royal ColLege of Music. There were about 500 people in there and I was the last act to perform. Because I had no back dancers as in the original MadonNa Performance, there was no one on stage during the long intro and when the song started I was behind the curtains waiting for my cue. For a moment my friends thought that I had changed my mind but the moment I stepPed on stage lipsynching “Strike a Pose”, the crowd rose to their feEt and started screaming euphoricalLy. I was very nervous but at soOn as I started I absolutely loved it! I am a profesSional musician and I’ve done a lot of performing but that night, by far was the most exciting performance of my life and the one that had the bigGest impact for me. It was liberating! And it’s amazing the atTention I got after that, people who came to congratulate me for the show and asking me to do it more times. It went so welL they thought I did that profesSionalLy.
J: R:
Did you want to do it more then, the MadonNa “Drag” act? Yes I realLy did want to do it again but somehow it never hapPened. That was the
one and only time.
J:
After 20 years since you first felL in love with MadonNa, are you stilL as
strong a fan today as you used to be? R:
I’m definitely stilL a fan just not as obsesSed as when I was teEnager. I’m a
music teacher in a schoOl, I have many other interests and MadonNa is stilL one of them. I just made more roOm for other things, as I grew older.
But I stilL go to her concerts, buy her records and check fan sites every now and again. The intensity has changed but the love and admiration remains the same. It’s a part of me and I don’t think that can ever change.
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MY MADONNA SHRINE In 2009, Icon, a fan Magazine released quarterly by the singer Madonna’s official website, published this story written by one of her fans:
“I saw Madonna for the first time on TV when I was 7 years old in 1986. They were showing her Virgin Tour on TV after a Saturday afternoon show.
After that day I couldn’t stop thinking about Madonna. That year, my aunt gave me as a birthday present Madonna’s ‘True Blue’ LP. I was still asleep when they put the record on and I woke up to the sound of Papa Don’t Preach. And even today, every time I hear the intro I immediately remember how I felt that morning.
In 1993 Madonna announced she was going on tour with the Girlie Show. I got my ticket but then my Mother told me I couldn’t go. I was only 14 and it was all happening right at the time of all the controversy of the Sex Book and the album Erotica. Besides, the concert was 1 hour away from my hometown. I tried to convince her anyway but it seemed there was nothing I could do to change her mind. And she didn’t.
But that wouldn’t stop any true fan and I decided that nothing could keep me from seeing my Idol live. The concert was suppose to be on a Wednesday, 3rd of November 1993. On the Sunday afternoon before that, I told my Mom I was going to be in a friend’s house working on a school project. I packed a rucksack with some biscuits and got on a bus to the concert. I literally ran away from home so I could see Madonna. For me it was very important to be as close to her as I could get and I was certain I would be the first one in line getting there 3 days before the show. Well…I really wasn’t. When I got to the stadium there were already a lot of people queuing up. And some of the fans were even dressed up as Madonna, performing her numbers and playing her songs on portable stereos. That for me was already very exciting and the atmosphere was so nice I didn’t even mind I wasn’t the first in line like I wanted to.
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A couple of hours later, a TV station came to do a live report on the event and on all the fans camping to see Madonna. Because I was the youngest around at that point I got the attention of the TV reporter. One of my neighbours saw me being interviewed live on TV and called my Mother straight away. And that’s how she found out I was actually in another city in line to see Madonna. She called my aunt who lived near the stadium and asked her to pick me up and take me back. But there was no way I was going to leave my place. I had already made friends with other fans and they all told my aunt they would take care of me, including some very nice and motherly Drag Queens!
The show was amazing and I couldn’t believe how beautiful and incredible she was. That moment was so magical to me that to this date, I remember the concert as if it happened in slow motion, as a dream-like sequence of a movie. It was definitely one of the best days of my life! Since I started to like her, back in 1986, I started to collect everything I could find with Madonna in it. Newspaper articles, magazines, flyers and loads and loads of drawings I made myself.
A little while ago, her official website launched a contest entitled ‘My Madonna Shrine’ where fans were asked to submit a photograph showing their favourite Madonna memorabilia pieces. I’ve always been fascinated my Madonna’s change of image over the years so I thought I could do some different to enter the competition. The idea was to use my favourite photographs to create a mural but that I was a part of it too. As if the mural and I were one.
My photo was chosen as a winner, amongst hundreds of entries and as my prize I was sent a printed version of it signed by Madonna. Knowing that she saw my work, chose it as the best one and signed it just for me it’s something really priceless and this photo will definitely be one of my most special pieces of memorabilia.
Because I am a Madonna Fan, I travelled to countries I’d never been before, spent cold and rainy nights camping outside the venues to be in the front row, met fans from all over the world and made true friends.
I love her with all my heart and being her fan is part of who I am. “
(Icon magazine, issue 52, November 2009)
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Josh Brandao
MURDER! CALL SHEET
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Books Fernandes, Bruno (2010). MultiMadonna: O Papel da Imagem Contraditoria na Contrucao de um Fenomeno da Industria Cultural. Portugal: Editora Chiado. Gray, Jonathan, Sandvoss, Cornel, and Harrington, C. Lee, Eds. (2007). Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World, NYU Press. Hills, Matt (2002) Fan Cultures. 1st ed. Routlege. London. Harris, Cheryl, and Alexander, Alison, Eds. (2008), Theorizing Fandom: Fans, Subculture and Identify, Hampton Press, N.Y. Leonard, Marion, (2007). Gender in the Music Industry: Rock Discourse and Girl Power. Ashgate. Lewis, A. Lisa (1992) Adoring Audience (Fan Culture and Popular Media) 1st ed. Routledge. N.Y. Lonhurst, Brian, (2007). Popular Music and Society, Polity Press, U.K. Moore, Ryan, (2010). Sells Like Teen Spirit: Music, Youth Culture, and Social Crisis. New York University Press. Shefrin, Elana, (2004). Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Participatory Fandom: Mapping. Trajfel, H. (1978). Social categorization, social identity and social comparison. pp.61-76. London: Academic Press. Turner, J. C. (1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Journal Articles Congruencies between the Internet and Media Entertainment Culture, Critical Studies in Media Communication. Media Communication, Vol. 21, No. 3, September, 2004, pp. 261-281. Gantz, Walter, (2006) Sports versus all comers: comparing TV sports fans with fans of other programming genres. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. COPYRIGHT 2006 Broadcast Education Association . Gubernick, Lisa, (2002). Fan Clubs: They Rock. Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition; 4/12/2002, Vol. 239 Issue 72, pW1, 0p, 1 Cartoon or Caricature. Lieberman, S. (1991), “The Popular Culture: Sport in America–A Look at the Avid Sports Fan,” The Public Perspective: A Roper Center Review of Public Opinion and Polling, 2 (September / October), 28-29. Reysen, Stephen; Branscombe, Nyla R.,, (2010), Fanship and Fandom: Comparisons between Sport and Non-Sport Fans, Journal of Sport Behavior, June 1, 2010. Théberge, Paul, (2005). Everyday Fandom: Fan Clubs, Blogging, and the Quotidian Rhythms of the Internet. Canadian Journal of Communication; 2005, Vol. 30 Issue 4, p485-502. Thorne, Scott, and Bruner, Gordon C., (2006) "An exploratory investigation of the characteristics of consumer fanaticism", Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 9 Iss: 1, pp.51 - 72.
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Magazine Articles Cobo, Lelia, Coetzer (2009). We Are The World. Billboard; 7/11/2009, Vol. 121 Issue 27, pp18-19. Kiss: The Loyal Legion. Billboard; 10/3/2009, Vol. 121 Issue 39, pp30-32. Peters, Mitchell,(2008). Membership Has Its Privileges. Billboard; 2/2/2008, Vol. 120 Issue 5, p8. Brandao Jr. Josh,(2009). Icon Magazine, Issue 52, p22.
Films Phantom Of The Paradice (1974) Directed by Brian de Palma, 92 mins (DVD). Rope (1948) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, 80 mins (DVD). Sisters (1973) Directed by Brian de Palma, 93 mins (DVD).
Websites www.absolutearts.com/artsnews www.aesthetic.gregcookland.com/200.html www.globoesporte.globo.com/futebol/times/flamengo/ www.jetinsider.com www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/trials/hinckleys www.mad-eyes.net www.madonna.com
Images fig. a : http://www.whitecube.com/artists/crewdson/ fig. e : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/ fig. g: Wladimir Sardinha’s personal archive. fig. i ://www.cindysherman.com/books.shtml fig. l :http://www.madonnalicious.com/gallery.html fig. n,o : http://www.adrianbrannan.com/gallery1.htm fig. r : http://globoesporte.globo.com/futebol/times/flamengo/
*Note:
All Madonna pictures used in the artwork on page 41are from www.madonnalicious.com/gallery and all the images on the inside cover pages are from www.picsearch.com
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