The Appeal of Celebrity?

[Seattle Zack]

I just got a feedback (anonymous, of course) that outlined a detailed idea that the sender wanted me to write for a bondage story involving the "Friends" cast. Now, I've never seen the show, but I'm not a complete cultural illiterate -- I'm aware that it's a fairly humorless sitcom about a bunch of rich white people living in New York and it features the girl from "Office Space" with the awesome tits.

But it did get me to thinking, what is the appeal of "celebrity" stories? Or fan fiction for that matter? Is it just the fact that the characters are so accessible to the reader? Seems like a lazy device for an author, to use someone else's characters. But fan fiction is everywhere -- you can read about Kirk buggering Spock in about fifty thousand places on the internet. Or the X-Men stories, for that matter.

Don't get me wrong -- if I were offered the chance to write the "novelization" of a film I'd jump at it in a minute. Guaranteed sales in the hundreds of thousands. The guy that's writing those "Star Wars" novels is laughing all the way to the bank.

The only way I could see writing a celebrity story would be as a parody -- "Gilligan's Island" springs to mind. But these fan fic writers are quite earnest about their endeavors.

Any reason to try fan fic? Britney's lesbian encounter with Xena? A writing exercise maybe? Or is it complete shite?

 

[damppanties]

When you write about Britney, a thousand other people get the exact same image as you about the female you are writing about. This might be lazy on the part of the author but you get to 'connect' to the reader. Their feelings are in some way tied to Ms. Britney and her fantasies. You touch those feelings, the readers' experience is heightened.

Let's say you're crazy about Xena. Would you want to jerk off to a story about a random female the author has made up or would you feel more ... fulfilled jacking off to fantasies of Xena brought to life through the authors' words?

These are not exactly reasons to try fan fic. Just why I think celeb stories work.

 

[Uther_Pendragon]

*SOME* people live in a world populated less by the
people whom they pass on the street than by the people
whom they see on TV. (I kept getting mailbox spam about
some sex videos made in a French hotel, and -- aside from
being bothered by deleting them all -- I was puzzled why
they were suddenly the rage. Then I learned that Paris
Hilton was the name of a woman. I'm not really au courant
on popular culture.) I suppose that my "Problems of
Utilitarianism" is celebrity fiction in a way. Aside from
not really knowing the current crop of celebrities, I don't
like the idea of attributing something to living persons
which is not true.

 

[Dirt Man]

Who in the hell is Paris Hilton, and why would a parent name their child that?

*SOME* people live in a world populated less by the
people whom they pass on the street than by the people
whom they see on TV. (I kept getting mailbox spam about
some sex videos made in a French hotel, and -- aside from
being bothered by deleting them all -- I was puzzled why
they were suddenly the rage. Then I learned that Paris
Hilton was the name of a woman. I'm not really au courant
on popular culture.) I suppose that my "Problems of
Utilitarianism" is celebrity fiction in a way. Aside from
not really knowing the current crop of celebrities, I don't
like the idea of attributing something to living persons
which is not true.

I too thought that it was about some vacation plan to get me to go to Paris France. LOL

As Always
I Am the
Dirt Man

 

[dr_mabeuse]

But it did get me to thinking, what is the appeal of "celebrity" stories? Or fan fiction for that matter? Is it just the fact that the characters are so accessible to the reader? Seems like a lazy device for an author, to use someone else's characters.

That's mainly it. Who hasn't fantasized about sex with those celebrities who, after all, are specifically designed and packaged to arouse just such feelings? (That's why they're called sex symbols, I guess) And how hard is it to write down your fantasy when everyone already knows your character, what she looks like, her personality, her fictional millieu? All you've got to do is add the naughty parts. I mean, does it get any easier than that?

Celebrity porn isn't a bad way to get your literary juices flowing when all else fails, and I guess it can be a good way of developing your technique--seeing how close you can come to capturing their essence in a story--but I stay away from it as any sort of serious effort now. All you have to do is read one story concerning a celeb you don't know to see what a waste of effort it is, and it doesn't age well at all.

---dr.M.

 

[Guest]

This is interesting to me simply because I can't relate to any of it. I haven't fantasized about sex with a celebrity since my teens. If a film star arouses me it always ends when the film does, and any memory of that arousal is kept with the character he played. If I find myself attracted to a celebrity for longer than a news item (e.g., interview article) I am aware it's all fantasy and that I cannot know the reality of that person. It is similar to having a crush on a character from a novel.

To the matter, I have no interest in even reading fanfic (unless it's Svenskaflicka writing about Alan Rickman ).

Perdita

 

[Dirt Man]

There are exceptions.

People make a living writing for Pocket Books Star Trek series, and believe me, it's a lot harder to write than you may think, and still stand out in a crowd. You don't just have to know the characters, you have to know all of the Treknicalities, and space jargon. And even then they only Solicit those writers who are established in the Sci-fi trade with their on book/s, and have agents. Many of these books stand alone on their own, and have won Science Fiction awards. So don't think that writing celebrity stories is that easy. Just doing the research for a star trek book can take months of your time.

As Always
I Am the
Dirt Man

 

[Dirt Man]

There are exceptions.

Sorry this was a repeat of above

As Always
I Am the
Dirt Man

 

[Seattle Zack]

I have no doubt that writing a Star Trek novel is a difficult task; the audience is extremely particular and quite demanding, for one thing. Star Trek novels are like Nerd Porn.

(I'm reminded of that old SNL skit when William Shatner was hosting, where he tells the people at the Star Trek convention to "Get a Life!")

The sci-fi genre seems to prize originality and creativity almost more than any other, however, so it still seems difficult to distinguish yourself as a writer by using characters from a television show. I did scroll through the last ten years of Hugo and Nebula award winners, but I didn't see a single Star Trek or Star Wars novel there.

I'm sure you can make a living at it, and writing "Buffy" novels probably pays very well, but my point was how satisfying would it be as a writer? I'd feel stifled before I wrote word one. The most enjoyable part of the craft is creating a character out of thin air that comes to life and involves the reader in the story.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

To the matter, I have no interest in even reading fanfic (unless it's Svenskaflicka writing about Alan Rickman ).

Perdita

All Man Rickman

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I'm currently plotting a story featuring Milo Ventimiglia, who plays "Jess" in Gilmore Girls. Why? Because the guy's so damned hot!
Just because I don't pass him in the street in my town, doesn't mean I can't fantasize about his hot ass, just as I do with that gorgeous basket ball player who often hangs out at this local nightclub...

 

[Lovepotion69]

I'm currently plotting a story featuring Milo Ventimiglia, who plays "Jess" in Gilmore Girls. Why? Because the guy's so damned hot!
Just because I don't pass him in the street in my town, doesn't mean I can't fantasize about his hot ass, just as I do with that gorgeous basket ball player who often hangs out at this local nightclub...

Svenska, I thought you only went for black men...
And personally I liked Dean better than Jess... Overall I'd rather get jiggy with Lorelai though...

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Eeeew! That whimp! Nah, I'll take Jess any day - he even reads!

 

[Svenskaflicka]

That Michel is soooooooooo cute! The accent, the sarcasm, the snobbery...

Don't you just want to jump him and make him dirty all over?

 

[Sabledrake]

I've written tons of fanfic, and one of the most valuable aspects it has for me is teaching myself to keep an eye on having the characters stay in character. When I'm writing about my own original creations, and I don't get them quite right, nobody knows but me. When I'm writing about Gargoyles, or Harry Potter, or what have you, and I get the characters wrong, there's plenty of people out there who will know it ... and who won't be shy about telling me so!

Sabledrake

 

[A7inchPhildo]

Wow I guess you can say that was some good answers. I agree with most of that too Zack.

Sarah mmm buffy! You don't need to use the character just relate she looks like that is good information to me. Celeberties are a great way to describe what your characters look like sometimes.

 

[raphy]

Fanfic is about making celebrities (or the characters they play) do what *you* want them to do, not what the scriptwriter wants them to do. It's essentially a pretty egotistical genre, and one that I don't delve into myself.

The celebrity section of lit is nothing more than that, applied to erotica.

I've never had a sexual fantasy about a celebrity in my life. I have happy daydreams about meeting Britney Spears on the street and saying "Oh, you're Britney Spears. How nice." And then walking off, but I don't think they'd really score high in lit.

There's two types of fanfic on lit that I've noticed - celebrity and character. Celebrity fanfic is about the people, the actors and actresses and singers, models and dancers. Character fanfic is about the characters in the shows - Captain Picard, rather than Patrick Stewart, Joey, rather than Matt LeBlanc.

Celebrity fanfic works because people make too much of celebrities (The actors/actresses/singers/etc) .. They think that the celebrities are special, and thus want ot have sex with them - Or they think that because they're celebrities they're 'out of my league' or other thoughts like that, and thus they fantasize about them.

The best celebrity story I've ever read was one written by one of our very own AH people, about Jennifer Love Hewitt. Excellently done.

Character fanfic works because people decide that they know better than the author/scriptwriter what his or her characters should do. Personally, I'd rather invent my own world to write in - I'm not about to steal someone else's. I like to think I'm more creative than that.

I've never read any character fanfic that I've particularly liked.

 

[Sabledrake]

I'm just the opposite of raphy ... I can't imagine myself writing a celebrity fanfic. I feel like I know the characters far better than I could ever know the actors

Sabledrake

 

[Hooper_X]

Having just seen "Love Actually," I wouldn't mind reading some Keira Knightley/ Chiwetel Ejiofor fan fiction smut.

 

[raphy]

I'm just the opposite of raphy ... I can't imagine myself writing a celebrity fanfic. I feel like I know the characters far better than I could ever know the actors

Sabledrake

*laughs*..

No Sable, I can't write either Celebrity or Character fanfic.



Raph. not a huge fan of either type.

 

[A7inchPhildo]

I've never had a sexual fantasy about a celebrity in my life. I have happy daydreams about meeting Britney Spears on the street and saying "Oh, you're Britney Spears. How nice." And then walking off, but I don't think they'd really score high in lit.

That's my take on most celeberties. I wouldn't know them if I saw them. Amazingly enough they shit brown just like everyone else!

Give me a real girl and I am much more pleased. Still it is great to imply a thought she or he looks kind of like... Never been tempted to read celeberty stories and the couple I have are like a ficticious fiction about a pretend character. The only solid part is the look of the character. Rather read about UFOs at least they are real.

 

[Madame Manga]

I dislike stories about the celebrities themselves--in the fanfic world, that's known as RPF, for Real People Fic. There ain't no law against it; it just creeps me out. Usually RPF is written by very young women with very big crushes on someone, so its almost uniformly low quality doesn't do anything for me either. There are exceptions, however. Rare ones.

But fan fiction, the kind that takes modern mythologies (Star Trek being the premium example) and claims them for everyone, not just the copyright holders--that I call a genuine cultural phenomenon. As far as Western civilization goes, we no longer have all those classic Dead White Guys in common. Can you, as an author to the masses, expect your readers to have read Homer, Virgil, Ovid, the Bible, Shakespeare, and to see those texts in roughly the same way you do? Not really, not unless you aim at a fairly small subculture. But try popular television shows. Now you're talking.

That's what we share these days--commercial TV is the basis of American culture. Those broadcasts circle the world. Once, storytellers sat around the fire and retold all the tales everyone already knew by heart. Then they wrote them down, telling the stories again for each new generation. This culture does the same thing, but now we cast them and film them and sue people for infringing copyright on them. They are still the same stories, but the language has changed, and corporations have appropriated them as property under their sole control. Fan fiction, in my view (shaped by my own efforts and the academic studies done on it) is the common person's attempt to take back her culture from commercial interests--to own it the way her ancestors did, to make it personal and not sanitized for mass consumption. It's the opposite of passively accepting what you are spoonfed by the boob tube. Celebrity has little to do with it, IMO. It's the stories that matter.

MM

Edit: one of the better-known studies.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0415905729/103-0974798-9389469?v=glance

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Having just seen "Love Actually," I wouldn't mind reading some Keira Knightley/ Chiwetel Ejiofor fan fiction smut.

Gesundheit!

 

[Icingsugar]

As a writer with one story in the Celeb category, I always tend to get a bit defensive about it. My attitude towards it is pretty much like many others in this thread. It's a lazy trick to make the reader connect with the character. Also, I don't see the appeal of the fancy people on the tv. Never really did, except for a dead serious pre-pubertal crush on Kate Jackson (of Chalie's Angels fame).

Anyway here's my defensive rant: I wrote my celebrrity story (might be the one that Raphy mentioned BTW) about a set of other characters, fictional actors and acresses in a fictional movie shoot setting. Then a friend of mine rented some movie, and there was this actress. I had mentioned that I wrote some erotic fiction, and he asked "Hey, she's hot, can't you write about her?" I said "Sure, whatever", changed names and did a ten minute rewrite to connect some loose ends. So much for the celebrity appeal.

 

[Icingsugar]

Give me a real girl and I am much more pleased.

Hey, famous people are real too! sans surgery, photoshopping an make-up, that is