Too Close to Home: Parasocial Relationships and Idolization

By: Mueenat Ajanaku, Class IV

photo credit: Pexels

Children worldwide watch cartoons and movies and imagine being friends with certain characters, going on amazing adventures. This is an example of a parasocial relationship. Parasocial relationships are one-sided relationships, platonic or romantic, where one party spends time engaging with another party, while the latter is completely unaware of the former’s existence. Parasocial relationships exist with book characters, cartoons, and, most notably, with celebrities. These types of relationships commonly consist of writing and reading fan-fiction or creating video compilations of the character or celebrity. 

The term “parasocial relationship” was coined by sociologists Donald Horton and Richard Wohl in 1956, although this phenomenon did exist before the term emerged. Parasocial relationships have gathered a bad reputation, though not all of them are necessarily bad. Some people experience minor level versions of a parasocial relationship while engaging with modern media, that are not inherently negative. There are a few examples of parasocial relationships being healthy, for instance someone following an influencer that they feel inspired by creatively or otherwise. However, if the relationship starts to become more emotional, driven by the desire to know everything about a person and to become connected, that’s when it becomes a problem. The relationship from that point can spiral into obsession if there is a continuous desire to create intimacy and a stronger connection, which can create unhealthy behaviors like stalking and neglect of real-life relationships.

 When interviewing Aya Boutassamout, a Class IV discipula, about how much she uses platforms which allow her to interact with celebrities, she stated, “I use [them] whenever I have a break, around an hour a day.” She also states, “I could see myself stop interacting with celebrities.” The ability to stop is a sign of a healthy level of engagement with celebrities. She also stated that she “looks at them for inspiration. Mostly, the way they dress.” However, she doesn’t idolize and worship them, common themes in unhealthy parasocial relationships. An unhealthy spiral within a parasocial relationship can happen due to an increase of exposure to a celebrity, book character, etc. After finding someone or something interesting, there's a natural desire to learn more and attempt to connect. Dr Adam Borland, a clinical psychologist, explains that “exposure creates a sense of intimacy and a perceived connection.” But with this natural desire, people tend to attach intense emotions to celebrities, which leads to idolization. 

Idolization means extreme admiration and devotion towards someone, and can be an effect of a parasocial relationship. It could be a situation where someone starts to think so highly of another person to the point that they think this person is incapable of doing anything wrong. Celebrities are human, nothing more, and they are capable of making mistakes. Yet, because of idolization, there's a notable lack of celebrities being held accountable for these mistakes. In the article, “It’s time to Stop Blindly Idolizing Celebrities,” the author Marcella Barneclo describes celebrities who have committed horrible crimes that still have a fan base: “Chris Brown, who has been repeatedly accused of abuse and sexual assault and even arrested on charges of rape, continues to have a solid fan base.” An article from IDS News adds that, “When a celebrity’s character is attacked, it can also feel like a threat to the fans who adore them.” Fans usually feel a sense of connection towards celebrities they look up to. When celebrities do harmful things, fans feel it speaks to their own character, and are unable to accept that they would support and relate to someone who has done something wrong. Effectively, idolized celebrities have a kind of immunity to being held accountable. Through parasocial relationships, fans develop an assumption that they know a celebrity’s true personality and intentions, with no proof as foundation for those beliefs. 

Parasocial relationships aren’t necessarily always unhealthy, however they can easily spiral in that direction, leading to idolization that promotes unrealistic perceptions and a lack of accountability of celebrities and other public figures.