Girl With No Job by Claudia Oshry

Author:Claudia Oshry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 2021-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

I mean, I’ve never been to an AA meeting, but it’s definitely in my future.

CHAPTER SIX Will All the Real Stans Please Stand Up?

It’s never been a better time to be a fan. We have unparalleled access to our favorite musicians, actors, and reality stars, thanks largely to social media. There’s a new sense of intimacy and connection. At the click of a button, Shawn Mendes can share what color underwear he is wearing and what he and Camila Cabello ate for lunch that day. As idols and icons tweet, Instagram, and Tok about their formerly private lives, they’re giving us a direct line into their most intimate moments. As a professional fan myself, it’s a dream. I’m so glad I am alive now, because being a fan has never been more fun and interactive than it is today.

This new, intimate access to our favorite celebrities has created the great marvel of “standom,” where fans feel a deeply personal, passionate, borderline-obsessive connection. Stans make the brave choice and go to great lengths to defend their idols in the face of scandal, error, or artistic misfire. The term “stan” was coined by Eminem—the rapper, not the candy.

Die-hard fan bases have created their own identities and communities, largely online, with monikers as badges of honor. Beliebers. Little Monsters. Swifties. Beyhive. Toasters (my favorite ones). Teens are often at the heart of intense fandoms and stan culture, because who has more time than them to engage in the never-ending online rhetoric of celebrity culture? Their raging hormones and proclivity for drama make them the perfect people to dive into true standom.

I had the great privilege of growing up in the age of boy bands. *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys created a great debate among my generation and in my house. The bubblegum sounds and overly gelled hair of boy bands were the fabric of my formative years. For the Oshry sisters of Long Island, the debate between *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys created a sisterhood divided. It was a war as intense as that of Coke vs. Pepsi. You identified as either a Justin Timberlake girl or a Nick Carter girl. You couldn’t be both.

I didn’t really understand the magnitude of such an allegiance at the time, but Olivia and Jackie were as die-hard as you could get back then. Olivia firmly believed in the unparalleled talents of JC Chasez. Her school supplies were official *NSYNC merchandise, a full set of the coordinating folders, notebooks, and pencil cases. If you wanted to hang out in Olivia’s room and gain access to her desktop computer, as adolescent Claudia always did, you had to pledge your allegiance to *NSYNC. Olivia had a life-sized poster of *NSYNC above her bed so JC and Justin Timberlake could tuck her in at night and watch her sleep. Jackie’s room had the same poster, from the same company, but of Backstreet Boys. This is where things got complicated.

Since Margo and I were younger and less certain of which side to choose, they each campaigned for us to join them.

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