The Influence Of Fandom On Celebrity Music Fandom As...

2.5 Directions Forward In the chapters that follow, I seek to contrast themes endemic to celebrity music fandom-as-religion literature with my data set and, in that juxtaposition, demonstrate ways in which scholars of fandom-as-religion may have mischaracterized fan emotion, sentiment, and action, as well as the fan-celebrity relationship. I follow Sandvoss in his distinction between fandom and religion: â€Å"In contrast to religion, fandom lacks an absolute, other-worldly framework through which social realities are constructed and legitimized. If fandom differs so radically in its premises from religion, it is difficult to juxtapose their consequences meaningfully† (2005, 63). One question this dissertation asks is if religion is a useful†¦show more content†¦For example, Patsy Cline’s posthumous narrative appropriates social class, Tupac mediates identity and social narratives, and Robert Johnson acts as a â€Å"hook to hang stories on† (Rothenbuhler 2005, 230). The latter of these, Robert Johnson as a â€Å"hook to hang stories on,† is one of the most useful ways of describing the individual and collective purpose of dead celebrity. First in life, but then more solidly in death, these musicians come to embody a certain narrative, such as the late singer Karen Carpenter. Carpenter, posthumously dubbed â€Å"Saint Karen,† died of anorexia in 1983 and her image became a cautionary tale. Fans mediate these meanings of the Carpenter narrative for their own purposes. For example, some girls and women identified with the narrative as trapped by the disorder, lacking autonomy and control over their life (see Bowers and Grey 2005, 110). Dead celebrity musicians become an image, a location and place where fans understand themselves and their place in the world, should the fan pursue such identification. As externalizations, the image represents what the fan needs it to represent. The image, as Bowers and Grey rightly point out, becomes resilient to attacks, â€Å"as popular icons, musicians may often come to represent larger