What’s The Point of the Toxic Fandom?
One good story. Well-written characters. A book you can’t keep down and re-read again and again.
Then you find out it is being adapted into a movie or TV show. The casting is perfect. The adaptation is loyal to the book. The soundtrack is amazing. And now you’re a fan!
Actors are now accessible through social media, so you start following them, rooting for their success because, yes, the adaptation turned out to be a huge success. There’s a sequel or another season also announced!
You’re not alone. Hundreds of fans are flocking online to post their views, create edits of their favorite scenes, write fiction, and basically go crazy.
True fans remain supportive of the writers, the showrunners, and the cast. They show support by liking posts, sharing comments, and discussing the movie or show with other fans without resorting to arguments.
Then there are those who become obsessed with the story and characters to the point that they no longer exist in the real world. They have traversed into a fictional world where these characters exist.
They are shipping the characters, but they cannot stand anyone else being around them. It’s like being with a controlling partner who doesn’t allow you to have your own space or meet your friends and family. You only have to be with them.
These “fans” are fixated on the fictional couple. If anyone even suggests that maybe they should be with someone else, they don’t get a mean look. They are subjected to a tirade that ends with both parties being banned online.
But the worst part isn’t even the online bickering with other fans who dare to have another opinion. It is the obsession with the actors themselves. They look so good together onscreen, so they have to get together offscreen as well, right?
In their minds, the actors need to get into a relationship pronto. According to them, it is the only logical way for the actor to achieve happiness in their personal lives.
It doesn’t matter that during the auditions, actors have to do an onscreen chemistry test. Sometimes they click, sometimes they are shown the door because they cannot complement each other. Let’s not forget the writers are behind conceptualizing the intimate scenes, or that the director makes sure the actors convey the right emotions onscreen as per their vision. If they get it wrong, they are made to repeat the scene until the actors gaze lovingly, as if they want to grow old with each other.
But what must be going through their minds as they look at each other with yearning? Is it their real-life partners that get them to emote? Or thinking about the food they are denied until the shot is over? Has it been ten takes already?
Imagine finding out much later that the onscreen couple who had hearts in their eyes during a romantic scene were actually thinking about cake?
Obsessed fans are in a league of their own. The technicalities of the show or movie do not matter to them. In their fantasy world, the onscreen couple exists, and anyone who comes between them must be bullied and harassed until they are left alone.
This is the crazy part of success. For the actors who have achieved overnight success, it must be like being at the top of the world. Being cheered on by fans and encouraged to do better is the best kind of support anyone would want. And then one day, they open their social media, hoping for support from their fans, only to find a litter of toxic comments about their personal life.
So, what is the point of the toxic fandom?
It exists to show us the true price of fame. That no matter how hard you work to achieve success, someone is out there, thinking the worst about you. And your loved ones, too.
But they don’t keep it to themselves. Like middle school bullies, they intend to have their voices heard, even if it means going online and constantly writing hateful messages to the actors themselves.
They think they are making a difference with their bullying, but all they manage to do is force the actors to leave social media. They have their careers to focus on; where are they going to find time to engage with half-wit bullies?
Unfortunately, that means that true fans also lose access to them, but that is what happens when some are incapable of distinguishing fact from fiction.
At the end of the day, no amount of online tirades will turn a fictional couple into a real one. The actors will go home to their actual partners, eat their cake, and live their lives. The only people stuck in the fantasy are the toxic fans, trapped in a story that ended the moment the cameras stopped rolling.
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