FANS - EXPLORING EXPRESSED MOTIVATIONS FOR CONTACTING CELEBRITIES

Social psychological studies of language cover a wide range of researc h domains, most of which ignore written communication to societally vi sible figures. Toward ameliorating this, the authors focus on letters written to Hollywood celebrities. The authors' goal is to extend the 1 991 research of Dietz et al. that has examined threatening and inappro priate letters to entertainment celebrities. The authors present a com parative view by investigating the features of normal fan behavior. A total of 294 university students were asked to express their motivatio ns for contacting celebrities. Next, 83 fan letters received by one Ho llywood celebrity were content analyzed in terms of the senders' motiv ations for writing. The authors compared the university students' rati onale to the ones articulated in the actual letters and also compared the latter with characteristics found in Dietz et al.'s more sinister sample. Finally, a case study of one fan is undertaken to illustrate h ow distinguishing between a sycophantic fan and the obsessed unwanted pursuer poses a challenging task.