How cultivating parasocial relationships with celebrities has altered the perception of fandom

Aspiration and relatability are among many motivating factors when it comes to parasocial relationships

In the manner that is typical of legacy TV, the airing of the final season of HBO’s Succession earlier this year was a cultural moment unto itself. The release of every episode evoked fan reactions for days, as people grew more invested in the storytelling and characters. Not long after the finale aired, one fan’s post on X (previously Twitter) stood out for the particular way in which it was obsessive, personal and resentful. 

“like, you couldn't have taken birth control while filming a world-class show? you had one job” the user said, in response to a news article about actor Sarah Snook’s pregnancy, which had to be accounted for in the script. Snook’s persuasive depiction of Siobhan Roy is one of the show’s highlights.

When social scientists Donald Horton and R. Richard Wohl first employed the term ‘parasocial interactions’ in the 1950s, they were studying the intimate sense of relationships that TV viewers were forming with the actors they saw on the screen — reminiscent of the aforementioned Succession fan. But social media, combined with celebrity interactions tailored to bring them closer to their admirers, has transformed the ways in which parasocial relationships manifest today.

These relationships are formed by fans who feel intensely about celebrities, influencers and public figures, and are usually (but not always) one-sided—the celebrity often doesn’t know the fan or doesn’t respond to them individually.

To be clear—while it is common for most of us to look up to public figures, not all fans exhibit parasocial tendencies. What distinguishes this kind of interaction is the depth of the emotion, and the conviction that you intimately know the celebrity. They feel like real friendships, and fans who exhibit parasociality can feel that they are owed something by the celebrity, including updates about their personal lives, attention, and even responses to and clarifications about rumours and conjecture.

When gossip about Taylor Swift dating Matt Healy, the lead vocalist of The 1975, shook the singer’s fandom, a satirical ‘fan union’ post demonstrated the ways in which fans feel a sense of ownership over stars: The bubble-gum pink manifesto bemoaned that Swifties have “no formal bargaining power” in her career or brand identity. It sought “accountability” from the singer in the same way that manicured social justice carousel posts on social media often do.

A blurring of lines 

“Social media, where dispatches from celebrities sit side by side with updates from our closest friends, actively encourages this sense of proximity and the blurring of lines,” author Otegha Uwagba writes in The Guardian. This blurring of lines is also a consequence of how celebrities, especially social media influencers, present themselves—giving their audiences greater access to themselves and their personal lives, a move that is rewarded with greater engagement. Think of AMA (ask me anything) sessions or ‘lives’ on Instagram to answer queries from fans.

Now, fan interest is leveraged and monetised transparently through live streaming features on apps, or services that offer birthday wishes or motivational speeches delivered by stars, tailored for friends and family.

A sense of community?

From Orkut fanpages to chat rooms, and now fan pages on Instagram and X along with subreddits, social media has also served as a meeting place for admirers of public figures to converge and share information, but also to find a sense of community. “Many groups can create fan pages and themselves garner a following. They become opinion leaders of a sort within the fandom—figures who can make speculations about the person they adore, and also direct discourse in particular directions,” says Pallavi Rao, an assistant professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia.

Yet, parasocial relationships are hardly a 21st-century phenomenon, especially in a society such as ours, where the cult of celebrity has defined the institutions of politics, sport and entertainment—catapulting public figures into superstardom with legions of fans committed to their cause.

For Rao, one of the initial instances of parasociality she had known of was the story of Amitabh Bachchan’s injury during the shoot of a film in 1982, which prompted his fans to throng temples and pray, in the way that they might for a relative.

Fan clubs of Tamil film stars—“mass heroes” like Rajinikanth—ranging in the ten thousands, paint a picture of the sense of community these fans derived from their shared love. Shah Rukh Khan, whose fandom has been the subject of scholarship, has himself starred in two films that depict parasocial tendencies: Fan (2016) and Om Shanti Om (2007).  

Before social media, access to the lives of those in showbiz was through magazines, newspapers, tabloids and talk shows on television. This was a time when the world they inhabited was removed from that of the viewer. Film personalities were more vulnerable and less guarded in the occasional interviews they gave to the press. On a podcast episode, writer and Agents of Ishq founder Paromita Vohra spoke of the era of film magazines, terming the relationship between the artist and the reader as being one of love. “It was like a secret affair, like a way to feel closer to someone you see. They excite all these feelings in you in the cinema, and you want more…”

A transformation of fandom

Vohra says that the celebrity machinery as it exists today is not marked by love, but rather by transactionality. Gossip itself has seen a fast-changing evolution, turning into a round-the-clock behemoth comprising posts by the celebrities themselves, paparazzi photos and videos (who often share a symbiotic relationship with many stars), and blind items in the media—all of which are fodder for frantic chatter and speculation on social media platforms. One Indian subreddit infamously predicted the divorce of an influencer months before they announced it, solely on the basis of their movements and appearances.

Factors engendering parasocial relationships

In a recent magazine cover story, a third-generation actor offered an explanation about her “relatable” disposition, stating that star-like elusive personas seem less realistic and less desirable in the eyes of the audience, who seek honesty and authenticity from their stars.

Aspiration and relatability are among many motivating factors when it comes to parasocial relationships, says Ruchita Chandrashekar, a mental health clinician. “Relationships need to be fulfilling and intimate. Finding something in common with someone you admire/can never access, can lead to an improved sense of self-worth,” she explains, adding that such bridges for connection and attachment can compound over a period of time.

In addition to these factors, counselling psychologist Namrata Khetan lists escapism and distraction from personal challenges, and loneliness and social isolation. “Individuals may seek companionship and emotional connection through parasocial relationships even though it’s one-sided. Engaging with media figures provides a sense of belonging and can alleviate feelings of isolation,” she says.

What fans should—and should not—expect from their favourite actors, singers and influencers has long been a debate, whether it has to do with the celebrity’s politics, creative output or even dating choices. In some parasocial relationships, fans can express disappointment in aggressive ways—both online and otherwise—towards the person they look up to. There can also be a tendency to neglect oneself and the relationships in one’s own life in the pursuit of proximity to a beloved star or influencer. This is best depicted in the film Ingrid Goes West, where Aubrey Plaza plays an obsessive woman with a tendency to stalk Instagram influencers to befriend them. In one pivotal scene, Plaza chooses to be broke and surviving on scraps, just so she can live close to an influencer.

Chandrashekar says that there is a lack of rationality when it comes to such expectations. “This relationship exists in the person’s mind, but they’re expecting it to play out in reality. Like a story they’ve written, directed, and now feel entitled for it to play out that way… The disappointment can feel unimaginable and then lead to concerning behaviours,” she says, noting that what we like about a celebrity can often be curated or manufactured.

Arundhati Kane, a developmental psychologist, warns that being occupied with a celebrity’s actions or choices can contribute to a skewed sense of reality and self-worth. “This can cause immense dissatisfaction with one's own life,” she says.

Drawing boundaries

Singer Doja Cat, whose music commands attention as much as her personal life courts controversy, lost over half a million followers on Instagram over July—the result of a feud that began with her responding to fans, first with cold indifference, and then with offence.

Fans’ requests that she acknowledge them and their love backfired; their appeal that she acknowledge allegations against her partner caused her to state that she doesn’t care about fan reactions to her personal life. “Goodbye and good riddance miserable h*es haha!” she wrote.

It’s unsurprising that such public spurning of fans can have a tangible effect on any figure’s career. Rao notes that the fans of any pop culture figure are a huge market base. “There is the very commercial logic that if the star body is the commodity, the fan is the market to whom the commodity is being constantly sold, resold and repackaged,” she says. With the increasing porosity in social boundaries come shifts in power, and questions about what it means to be a celebrity—and a fan.

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