Sudden Oak Death, Fame, and the Ontological Affects of Rum · 8:30am Sep 9th, 2019
I should probably be writing Speak or Synchronicity instead of writing this blog. Or keeping up with the plethora of emails that have likely come in from work about the poor souls that I work with, and need to keep an ear out so I can go out again to try to help pick them up off the floor like I'm some angel in a Mountain Goats song. Instead, I'm writing a blogpost about the negative psychology of fame, whilst trying to give counselling to a friend that deserves far better than me as their therapist, and am 1/3rd of the way through a mixed drink of rum that had 'an amount' of alcohol in it, as I couldn't be arsed to measure it. All this while listening to the Mountain Goats album Transcendental Youth, a lovely treatise on outcasts, recluses, mentally ill, and others struggling to make it work in society.
So that's where I'm at right now, so let's talk about how fame is bad for you.
I'm sure you'll appreciate the irony in that statement, considering like, not many people know who I am. Someone with less than 1000 followers on Fimfiction isn't famous. Or by the grace of Luna, I hope I am not. But I ended up reviewing a story recently called Music After Midnight by a lovely writer who needs much more love, and the theme in it sort of stuck with me. It made me look into the psychology of fame, and how... in many ways, fame can be an addiction. There's a lot of patterns of behaviour that make it appear that way. Which can be horrific for people who are actually famous, and painful for those who have limited acclaim despite their talents.
Cause I think, like, sometimes we're expected, in many ways, to keep creating. To keep going. And some days like, there's nothing there to pull on. You've got ideas and stuff, but you open up the page, and then there's nothing. And you sit there, thinking why the fuck am I doing this? And often the answer is 'well, I have a story I want to tell!', and other times its this nagging feeling like you have to get something done. Which, in a lot of ways, gets worse when you realise that people maybe actually kinda like what you are creating. And they want more! They like it!
Which can be either extremely affirming of your hard work, or it triggers a massive dose of imposter syndrome. Depends on who you are, I guess.
Which is scary in the age of the internet. It is painfully easy and crushingly difficult to get your 15 minutes of fame. The issue is, it's so fleeting in most cases that people have to work hard to keep it. To make something worth following again. To keep followers. To keep from... oh god what was that term Gara the Author taught me the other day? 'Getting Cancelled'? Something about basically being socially crucified for perceived or actual imperfections. And yet people push for it, long for it, want to cry out loud enough to be heard above the masses, when... really it's terrible for us.
Which I think says something interesting about how we treat people who we view as 'horse famous'. It's this... silly idea of people who have done amazingly well in creating that we need to place them on a pedestal. Not that we shouldn't praise accomplishments. Honestly, they are to be celebrated. But there's a degree of... pedastalization that happens when people 'make it', regardless of whether or not the individual in question may feel that way. Their words are more keenly noticed, they're given preferential treatment, and that can either push someone to keep trying to be in that 'special club', or run away from it screaming. Unfortunately, too few do the last bit, and often those that do, they are judged harshly for it. Paradoxically, because someone doesn't want to accept 'fame', they are judged for it.
That isn't to say that fame doesn't work as a powerful motivator for some people. Staying in the cycle of fame though can be exhausting, and certain personalities (looking at you, introverts), do not handle it well. Yeah, if you're an extrovert and thrive on being around others, fame is the best. You get that energy and you get special treatment! Double win!
But if you aren't, and you feel trapped in that cycle of performing, suddenly everything you deal with gets worse! Social anxiety? Oh boy, let's go give a TED talk! Depression? The thoughts of 'sure they love you now but if they only knew.' Not to mention the fact that it can feel like you've got no space. Is it any wonder that some people who become 'famous' end up hating it? And eventually hate it enough to fight for it again and again and again?
There's an interesting bit of psychology in fame as well that relates to how we tell stories. We tell stories about individuals, and in the telling of those stories, we have a very limited sense of the improbable. If something happens that's too random in a movie or story, we're like 'wow the artist/author really jumped the shark on that one.' Yet, sometimes, in real life, random things happen for random reasons. But in stories, we have to tie the greater world to the individual.
From a psychological perspective, this sort of becomes a problem when we deal with fame. Humans have a compulsion to tell stories and to focus on the individual, and as a consequence, we really, really, really suck at understanding fame. More often than not, you ask an average person, they'll tell you that the famous person 'deserved' the fame, or was fated to it. When, in actuality, fame has more to do with the group of people among whom the fame spreads.
Like, think about it. Are horse-famous musicians famous because of who they are? Are some of the extremely talented authors horse famous for that? Or does it have more to do with the fact that what they write has an appeal. Something that the rest of us can cling onto? Is it something that we wish to emulate and maybe find a way to make our own?
Turns out, from multiple psychological studies (one of which you can read about here) note that fame tends to have more to do with fans than the famous. Now, that's not to say that artists or writers don't have talent. They do. However, what makes them famous has more to do with our innate social traits of trying to mimic the actions and mental processes of others. It makes us neat as a social species, but also ends up skewing our perspective on what made someone famous. And because we like stories, we tell ourselves that the famous person 'deserved' it. Maybe that they were fated to it.
When really it was that they created something beautiful or painful or lovely enough that the group wanted to so badly be a part of it that they mimicked it, and wanted to raise up the creator. Because when we tell stories, we have to focus on the traits of the individual.
And sometimes... that's not a good thing. For the famous or the fans. Because while it makes a great story: a talented individual 'making a break', it can also cause said individual more grief than will ever be seen by their loving, adoring fans.
For those of you wondering, this is, in fact, why I have to suppress the urge to threaten to throat punch anyone who calls me horse famous.
Fame is useless, without a large enough group of people to recognize it.
‘I should probably be writing Speak or Synchronicity instead of writing this blog.’
- I honestly find these blogs incredibly interesting and informative, with fantastic linked articles and the like, so don’t feel overly obligated or pressured to write more of X story on an accelerated timescale instead of doing these blogs.
I will occasionally binge-review clusters of stories just to have something to post, lest I fall into "irrelevancy". :C
5118280
Who are you, anyway?
(I'm being serious)
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Yeah, I kinda figured I'd get someone with this who does what they do to kinda feel like they're keeping on top of things if only barely. Sorry about that, PresentPerfect! Honestly, because that was a huge part of the theme of Music After Midnight, this mess became a bit of me talking about the negative affects of fame and half me emotionally vomiting about how that story made me feel. XD
This blog is surprisingly coherent for the amount of rum I had last night.
Always hated the word fame
As someone who throws themselves endlessly into the grind of producing content i can say that the featured box and the promise of horse fame can be a destructive combo.
5118311
It's fine if I can vomit right back at you. :)
Boy, that sounds bad...
It is a very strange thing, though, having a thousand to fifteen-hundred followers on Fimfiction can be a marker of success, and yet that's a very low number of followers in the grand scheme of things. That's a small town. Youtube wouldn't even blink at a channel with a thousand followers. <.<
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Just another weirdo who likes horse words. :)
I'm going to mail you enchiladas
I am ashamed of you not offering to share the rum.
i like rum, ok?
What about horse in-famous?
I read that story this morning over breakfast and enjoyed it enough to make a comment, though I took away a more positive message without considering any of the points you've mentioned. These points make sense when I stop to reread the tale and then consider it's application to real-life through your lens, knowing that this also rings true in the professional realm; the old saying of "the reward for a job well-done is more work." The constant need to perform and at least maintain a certain level, if not rise above that level, can be a real downer and source of anxiety. I'm sure anyone working a job that includes a regular performance report can relate.
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I second this. I always learn something from these blogs.
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I feel like you feel the bit about 'the reward for competence is more work' on a spiritual level every day considering that's basically how you've been making your way through the ranks in the Navy.
It's a paradox.
On one side of the coin, you want some amount of fame to feel as though your efforts were worth something. That you, and the ideas you have, actually matter in a world where there's an ocean of people with their own ideas. Creators don't want to be random nobodies who achieve nothing, they want (and in their mind need) to be validated.
Yet, on the other side, wanting such fame can lead to a lot of troubling thoughts. 'Am I selfish for wanting to earn praise? Will I even be satisfied with the small fame I do get? And could I be wanting fame from the wrong group of people? People who, truthfully, could only care if I was good and throw me away the moment I fail their expectations? If so... what then?'
The fear of 'being cancelled' is very real to me, and I keep pondering how exactly I should handle it other than to have it be one of the themes of the story I'm writing.
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True, but isn’t that also how it is for most people? I’m sure we can all relate to moments like this in class group projects or having a boss recognize your work ethic, basically sending up a signal flare that announces “This person is competent and responsible! They can handle the work load.”
We are funny creatures.
Talk to me, tell me your name
You want my life, I want the same
You say that it's meant to be, it's meant to be
You ain't no celebrity, so stop
'Cause fame is for assholes..
;D #HoodieAllen
Well. I'm honestly not sure whether I should say "Thanks for the kind words and the knowledge that something I wrote resonated with you!" or "Sorry!" :p
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Honestly it was great! And your story was lovely, and deserves more love than it's gotten.
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All jokes aside, it was kinda nice to randomly open FimFic today and see this. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
World of difference between being popular and being good in my experience