’The Book of Stars’: Understanding a Consumer’s Fan Relationship with a Film Actress through a Narrative Transportation Approach

Citation

Wohlfeil M & Whelan S (2011) ’The Book of Stars’: Understanding a Consumer’s Fan Relationship with a Film Actress through a Narrative Transportation Approach. In: European Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 9. European Advances in Consumer Research, 9. Association for Consumer Research, pp. 290-296. http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/eacr/vol9/eacr_v9_6890.pdf

Abstract
Although consumers have always been fascinated by the works and private lives of film stars, scant attention has been paid as to how the relationship between fans and film actors expresses itself in everyday consumer behaviour. This paper sets therefore out to explore celebrity fandom as a holistic lived experience from an individual fan’s insider point of view. Using subjective personal introspection, the lead author provides insights into his own private everyday lived fan relationship with the actress Jena Malone. The findings indicate that the fan engages with the film star’s public persona through a personal intertextual reading of “reliable” media texts, which can even result in a feeling of “knowing” the celebrity like a personal friend – and even “love.”

Keywords
celebrity fandom; consumer fan relationships with celebrities; fandom; narrative transportation theory; autoethnography; subjective personal introspection; film actress; Jena Malone; intertextuality; consumer behaviour