As I said in my comment I find this topic unbelievably fascinating because this concern for the crumbling of the 4th wall seems to be a very western concept. Asian pop culture pander to their fans to the point that there don't seem to be an existence of the 4th wall; pop artists purposely play up the popular 'couples' within bands for their fans, fanfic and the love of m/m couples are so well known that they are often exploited for generating money and/or popularity on variety and talk shows.
Lately I have been saturated by Korean celebrities and their antics. After much viewing I have come to the conclusion that there is no 4th wall between fans and their favourite celebrities in the Korean entertainment industry. Celebrities are very open on television; embarrassing experiences are shared, sob stories come out, and an idea of their real personalities shines through. Stars share and let their vulnerabilities show, and fans latch on those moments with ferocity, creating a connection between them and their favourite celebrities.
There is a sense self-awareness on the parts of most celebrities, especially boy bands where the norm is to hug, pretend kisses (from certain angles they seem to be honestly going for it), and basically attempting to get fans (predominantly female) to scream out their little hearts. An example; Dong Bang Shin Ki parodied a scenario of a m/m fanfic about them in a short drama series, couple talks has been filmed and delivered in their official DVD release (they go so far as to use fan created acronym/shortened names to describe different couples). Super Junior members play kissing games with one another, pretend to kiss on national television, and fool around like romantic couples on camera. They know what they are doing, and they know there are fan followings based on a perceived closeness on the part of the fans, and they play it up to drive their fans to a near frenzy.
Both sides are quite aware of this; the Korean celebrities entertain their fans, love their fans, attempt to be truthful to their fans, and in turn their Korean fans love them, protect them and are the most organised and obsessive fans on Earth. There is a level of organisation on the part of the Korean official fan clubs that borders on the militaristic; presents for celebrities reaching 10s of thousand dollars, fan meetings that are regimented with booklets and schedules that your average OCD/perfectionist would kill to obtain, and a level of dedication to their icons that most dictators in the world would sell their soul for.
It is absolutely fascinating how differently the 4th wall is treated by western and eastern fans. I’d love to hear some feedback from people who are involved in RPS in both a eastern and western fandom.
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chasethestars
chasethestars
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You do realise now I have to go and google them and figure out why they broke up? (All that dirty speculation and so forth).
You have enticed me to the point that I would indeed love some links to fics.
Oh gods, I want to move to French (or at the very least lean the language. The idea of published RPS makes smile.)
Carl and Pete are in a destructive shoujo/BL relationship! There is drugs, angst, jealousy and
possibility ofsex! It is like crack at its bestest.It honestly read like shoujo manga plot. I'm highly amused.
Are you reading the Wikipedia entry? ^^; The stuff that's not as well known and that you sort of have to piece together is even nuttier. Eg. the second time Pete was arrested, the "offensive weapon" was a switchblade he'd bought for Carl as a souvenir from Thailand. Because Carl likes... to carry... illegal... knife... things.
Also he had this scrapbook that was filled with pictures of Carl + bits of poetry. WHICH WAS THEN SCANNED AND UPLOADED TO THE INTERNET. Basically I could go on and on, it's an endless parade of melodrama Ozaki Minami would be ashamed of.
Yes, I am indeed reading their wiki entry. In regards to the knife... OMFG! Where is the S&M slash fics?!
with pictures of Carl + bits of poetry. WHICH WAS THEN SCANNED AND UPLOADED TO THE INTERNET.
You are lying! You must be! This must be what hitting gold feels like. I CANNOT stop cackling, the whole thing is completely over the top almost to the level of caricature. Considering Pete seem to have a drug problem and is all obsessive about Carl I think it is pretty safe somewhere in an apartment Minami is considering suing for copyright.
Sabina, these guys are too much to be real. No wonder there is published RPS about them.
The particular tome in question** was made by pasting photos of Carl and poetry clippings over a coffee table book on the sex appeal of movie stars. It also contained naked pictures of Pete's
othergirlfriends, not to mention naked pictures of Pete himself. As typical of yr avg online wank magnet, after a few months he thought better of it andlocked the entrytook it down. That worked as well as could be expected.I'll, uh, put fic links in another comment and delete it after (as aforementioned a lot of them are locked). The oddest thing about the entire affair is that it appears to be slowly staggering its way to something resembling a heartwarming denouement. Of course, with the way they live they'll both be dead before the age of 50, but hopefully by then I'd've found something better to do with my time. XD;
** Title: "The Fragility of Openness". I only wish I had the imagination to make this shit up.
For some reason I'm not really all that surprised he knows Amy Winehouse.
"The Fragility of Openness" - I'm dying of laughter here. Now I want someone to write a novel based on the premise of their relationship.
I shall await for the fic links. From what I have read of them and what you have said I have to agree with you on them being dead before 50.
Just when I think fandom is full of crack RL provide me more and better stuff.
Fics sent; I apologize for the amount of time you're going to waste if you actually read them. XD;
Have received. I suspect I'll be reading some of them tonight.
Oh, I guess if you want Libertines songs I have a couple up. XD;;
Death on the Stairs (Bernard Butler version) (http://www.kekkai.org/sabina/080406/The%20Libertines%20-%20Death%20on%20the%20Stairs.mp3)
What Katie Did (http://www.kekkai.org/sabina/080406/The%20Libertines%20-%20What%20Katie%20Did.mp3)
Speaking of Jonathan Ross here is the first time Pete was actually on his show, it's kind of classic: 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUp6u2DHjxA) | 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Blc-h5TJA)
You are such an enabler.
I remember seeing the interview but not taking notice because I had no idea who Pete Doherty was.
...Much like MoB, this is not actually a fun fandom if you make the mistake of getting emotionally invested to any extent. Like, dude is apparently going back to jail for violating parole. Breaking news as of today. ^^;;;
The songs were supposed to go in my next mp3 post anyway, I just don't have the time to write blurbs these days. ^^; (Actually, as long as I'm telling this fandom's outrageous TRUFAX stories I should mention that during periods when they are not-talking, Pete and Carl send sekrit msgs to each other via song lyrics. ...Which makes it not actually sekrit, but logic isn't anyone's forte here. I particularly enjoyed the time Pete got a single into the UK Top 10 with the immortal bridge "in case you're listening to the radio / I hope you know you broke my heart".)
Oh, the drama.
I'm going into it for the fics and the melodrama. Emotional investments seem very likely detrimental to one's health with the drugs, the police and so forth. Though the Rolling Stones are still alive, so maybe there's hope for them yet.
"in case you're listening to the radio / I hope you know you broke my heart".
THAT'S AWESOME! OMFG! THEY ARE IN LOVE! TRUFAX!
(I haven't had chance to listen to their music or read the fics yet. I'm hoping I'll get some time over the weekend to enjoy them to the fullest.)
Have my sister's linklist (http://joliefolie.livejournal.com/105513.html) while you're at it, if you need refs. And I posted a Dr. Who link on my LJ you may be interested in. XD