I really appreciate you thinking about this stuff and sharing it. Fame is weird! The way we engage with people we decide are "famous" is really fascinating. I love the way you're articulating how so much of the way we "know" famous people is just through their jobs, and that's such a specific (and incomplete picture).
I believe that it is possible to develop meaningful and even personal relationships through such a dynamic, but that isn't really the point of said dynamics, so it seems both unlikely and a little awkward. If someone genuinely likes you, but is only engaging with you due to their work, that's a multiple relationship at best? It's messy, and it can be very hard to tell if it's genuine. This can happen with artists/famous people and the journalists that cover their work, it could occur between a therapist and a client, or a coach and a player, or a teacher and a student, or on and on. Super interesting and messy and potentially weird or exploitive or uncomfortable. I think part of the issue is one of ethics, but another is the power dynamics at play (which is why it's also an ethical thing).
There's also the whole modern take on parasocial relationship that's worth exploring. They've existed since forever, but I feel like social media and our current culture have really foregrounded them. The way that people are "brands" now is really fascinating and complicated. Man, fuck capitalism.
I really appreciate you thinking about this stuff and sharing it. Fame is weird! The way we engage with people we decide are "famous" is really fascinating. I love the way you're articulating how so much of the way we "know" famous people is just through their jobs, and that's such a specific (and incomplete picture).
I believe that it is possible to develop meaningful and even personal relationships through such a dynamic, but that isn't really the point of said dynamics, so it seems both unlikely and a little awkward. If someone genuinely likes you, but is only engaging with you due to their work, that's a multiple relationship at best? It's messy, and it can be very hard to tell if it's genuine. This can happen with artists/famous people and the journalists that cover their work, it could occur between a therapist and a client, or a coach and a player, or a teacher and a student, or on and on. Super interesting and messy and potentially weird or exploitive or uncomfortable. I think part of the issue is one of ethics, but another is the power dynamics at play (which is why it's also an ethical thing).
There's also the whole modern take on parasocial relationship that's worth exploring. They've existed since forever, but I feel like social media and our current culture have really foregrounded them. The way that people are "brands" now is really fascinating and complicated. Man, fuck capitalism.