Late on 8th December 1980 Mark David Chapman fatally shot renowned musician John Lennon after stalking him for several months. The event has been depicted by the media in numerous ways, from breaking news reports by The Washington Post and The Associated Press, to dramatization Chapter 27 (2007) and a recent article from the MailOnline covering the 35th anniversary of Lennon’s death. Since this attack the media continues to fixate on celebrity stalking and the phenomenon has only worsened.
This sinister consequence of celebrity culture only came to public attention in the 1980s, thanks to Chapman’s actions and movies like Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy (1982). Although, until Rebecca Schaeffer’s murder in 1989, stalking still failed to …show more content…
15), today stalking is even seen as “the price of fame” (Nicol, 2006, p. 7). “The popular news media may suggest that celebrities and public figures are the most common targets of stalkers” (Schultz, Moore, & Spitzberg, 2014, p. 614), this is not the case and yet, “stalking enters the public consciousness as a result of the stalking of celebrities” (Nicol, 2006, p. 64).
Even so, the stalking of celebrities “has increased significantly since 1980” (Schlesinger & Mesa, 2008, p. 92) because “actively encouraging the fantasies of others” has become the “standard process by which a celebrity reaches out to his or her audience” (Nicol, 2006, p. 66). Fans are persuaded into “delusions of intimacy” (Rojek, 2012, p. 48) by indulging in details of celebrities’ private lives and personalities. In this case, act of being a fan is bares many similarities to the act of actual stalking.
Musicians and actors are further promoting fantasies in fans by “deliberately setting out to provoke an emotional response in viewers or listeners” (Nicol, 2006, p. 67); this helps to sell their music and movies but in certain flawed individuals this could incite an unwarranted
This sinister consequence of celebrity culture only came to public attention in the 1980s, thanks to Chapman’s actions and movies like Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy (1982). Although, until Rebecca Schaeffer’s murder in 1989, stalking still failed to …show more content…
15), today stalking is even seen as “the price of fame” (Nicol, 2006, p. 7). “The popular news media may suggest that celebrities and public figures are the most common targets of stalkers” (Schultz, Moore, & Spitzberg, 2014, p. 614), this is not the case and yet, “stalking enters the public consciousness as a result of the stalking of celebrities” (Nicol, 2006, p. 64).
Even so, the stalking of celebrities “has increased significantly since 1980” (Schlesinger & Mesa, 2008, p. 92) because “actively encouraging the fantasies of others” has become the “standard process by which a celebrity reaches out to his or her audience” (Nicol, 2006, p. 66). Fans are persuaded into “delusions of intimacy” (Rojek, 2012, p. 48) by indulging in details of celebrities’ private lives and personalities. In this case, act of being a fan is bares many similarities to the act of actual stalking.
Musicians and actors are further promoting fantasies in fans by “deliberately setting out to provoke an emotional response in viewers or listeners” (Nicol, 2006, p. 67); this helps to sell their music and movies but in certain flawed individuals this could incite an unwarranted