However, celebrity worship culture is not new. Films have been exploring the reasons for, and pitfalls of, a society that places pop culture figures up on a pedestal since the earliest days of cinema. The film you probably thought of first upon seeing the title of this post is the adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery, starring Kathy Bates as the terrifying author-obsessed fan, Annie Wilkes. While Misery is maybe the most well known to audiences today, there are a large number of other great films that that explore similar ideas – with a few highlighted below. Let’s see how many ONTDers skip over reading this paragraph and yell at me in the comments for not including Misery on the list below.
Below are 7 great films about, and in critique of, celebrity worship culture:
Year: 1997
Director: Satoshi Kon
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Horror, Anime
Plot: After Mima, a member of a J-Pop girl group, decides to leave her group and retire from the music industry to pursue a career in acting, a disgruntled and obsessed fan begins to stalk her.
Mima begins to struggle psychologically with her identity after years of performing as her pop girl persona, her new career of playing different characters as an actress, and the stress of being stalked all combine and take a heavy mental toll – blurring the line between show business and reality. The film takes on themes of performance, identity, consumerism (and real people sold as a product), and entitled/possessive fans.
Trigger Warning: [Spoiler (click to open)]This film does feature scenes of sexual violence.
Year: 1982
Director: Martin Scorsese
Genre: Dark Comedy
Plot: Robert De Niro plays an autograph collector and aspiring stand-up comedian named Rupert Pupkin who is obsessed with late night talkshow host Jerry Langford. After a chance encounter outside of Langford’s studio after a taping of his show, Pupkin becomes increasingly determined to become friends with Langford and to become a celebrity in his own right. At the same time, Langford is being harassed by another obsessed fan played by Sandra Bernhard, who teams up with Pupkin to try and get access to Langford. The film takes on themes such as the unhealthy pursuit of fame, media culture, and the idolization of pop culture figures. It also explores the line celebrities have to straddle between being kind/appreciative towards their fans while also setting personal boundaries.
Fun Fact: De Niro’s first wife, Diahnne Abbott, plays his love interest in the film. The Clash also make a cameo appearance as onlookers during a public outburst between Bernhard’s and De Niro’s characters.
Year: 1937
Director: Archie Mayo
Genre: Screwball Comedy
Plot: Leslie Howard and Bette Davis play romantic partners and co-workers – Basil Underwood and Joyce Arden – two bickering and bantering stage actors with oversized egos, a flair for drama, and a fear of commitment despite their deep love for one another. One night, after a production of Romeo & Juliet, a smitten audience member named Marcia (played by Olivia de Havilland) sneaks backstage into Basil’s dressing room to profess her undying love for the star. Later that night, Basil is visited by Marcia’s fiancé asking for Basil’s help in trying to shake Marcia of her infatuation – eventually concocting a plan for Basil to act in an imposing, rude, loud, and demanding manner to put Marcia off.
However, Basil is wooed by Marcia’s unending flattery and both he and Joyce quickly learn that it’s a lot harder to shake a committed fan than they realized. While this movie is a lighthearted comedy, it does explore the relationships and boundaries between celebrities and their fans. In particular, it examines the temptation to give in to flattering fan attention and the ways in which obsessive fan infatuation can impact on the real life relationships in a celebrity’s life. On the flip side, it also looks at the ways that celebrity obsession can blur the lines between actor and character and how that blurring can impact one’s judgment to see a celebrity for who they really are which can lead to the minimization and justification of bad behaviour (this film really said – your fave is problematic and you’re too much of a stan to care and that’s very fucking messy of you, tbh!)
Note: This one is a lot harder to find online, but it is currently available on The Internet Archive and is definitely worth watching before it’s gone! Bette Davis and Leslie Howard are hilarious together and the humour absolutely holds up by today’s standards. There’s also something about Olivia de Havilland’s depiction of an overzealous fan girl that feels incredibly modern (right down to the armchair psychology lol).
Year: 2000
Director: Neil LaBute
Genre: Dark Comedy
Plot: Renée Zellweger plays a diner waitress obsessed with the Soap Opera, A Reason to Love. The surgeon at the heart of the show, Dr. David Ravell (Greg Kinnear) is her favourite. But when Betty witnesses the murder of her shithead boyfriend at the hands of two hitmen (Morgan Freeman and Chris Rock), the trauma sends her into an altered, dissociated state that leads her to believe that the characters on A Reason to Love are real and that she is a nurse from the same reality as the show. Betty takes off to LA to meet up with Dr. Ravell, who she believes is her ex-fiancé, and the hitmen follow soon after. When she finally does get a chance to meet him, he mistakes her earnestness for dedicated method acting.
This movie tackles a lot of ideas about celebrity worship, including using pop culture as a form of escapism and as a coping mechanism. It also explores the way people build up an idealized version of real people in our minds and the following disillusionment and disappointment when confronted with the discrepancy between that ideal version/a beloved character and the real person. Interestingly, the movie doesn’t just do this with Betty’s obsession with the character of Dr. Ravell. Charlie (Freeman) is generally the calm, logical, thoughtful counterpart to Rock’s brazen and impulsive Wesley. Even so, Charlie also begins to build up an idealized version of Betty in his mind as he learns more about her while in her pursuit – examining the human tendency of putting real people up on a pedestal and creating fantastical narratives in our imagination even in the most illogical of situations (against our better judgement and to our own detriment).
Year: 1950
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Genre: Drama
Plot: Another Bette Davis film where she plays an actress – this time she’s Margo Channing. Margo’s diehard fan, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) shows up backstage after a performance one night and begins to embed herself in Margo’s company. It’s not long before Margo and everyone else realize what Eve’s true motivations really are.
This film touches on a lot of the same themes as those listed above, but is also overall a pretty scathing take on the entertainment industry in general – backbiting, social climbing, manipulation, competition, greed, ageism, exploitation. And unlike De Niro’s Rupert Pupkin, Baxter’s Eve is much more conniving and capable in her pursuit of success. She weaponizes celebrity worship and fandom to get what she wants even if it means destroying the lives and careers of the people she idolizes.
[Dialogue Highlight]Diaglogue Highlight:
Margo: “Stage-struck kid! She’s a young lady of qualities. And I’ll have you know I’m fed up with both the young lady and her qualities! Studying me as if I were a play or a blueprint. How I walk, talk, think, act, sleep.”
Bill: “Now how can you take offence at a kid trying in every way to be as much like her ideal as possible?”
Margo: “Stop calling her a kid! As it happens, there are particular aspects of my life to which I would like to maintain sole and exclusive rights and privileges.”
Bill: “For instance, what?”
Margo: “For instance, you!”
Bill: “This is my queue to take you in my arms and reassure you. But I’m not going to. I’m too mad.”
Margo: “Guilty!”
Bill: “Mad! Darling, there are certain characteristics for which you are famous, on stage and off. I love you for some of them and in spite of others. I haven’t let those become too important to me. They’re part of your equipment for getting along in what is laughingly called ‘our environment.’ You have to keep your teeth sharp, alright. But I will not have you sharpen them on me, or on Eve.”
Margo: “What about her teeth? What about her fangs!”
Bill: “She hasn’t cut them yet and you know it! So when you start judging an idealistic, dreamy-eyed kid by the barroom benzedrine standards of this megalomaniac society, I won’t have it!”
Year: 2020
Director: Antoinette Jadaone
Genre: Drama, Coming of Age
Plot: Charlie Dizon plays a teenage fangirl named Jane who is obsessed with the Filipino actors/musicians Paulo Avelino and Bea Alonzo, who are two real celebrities that play fictionalized versions of themselves in this film (one of the real films they starred in together was featured in an ONTD Indie Release Guide back in 2018). But it’s Paulo Avelino who is the one true object of her affection.
After a promotional event at a mall, Jane sneaks into the back of Paulo Avelino’s truck in an attempt to meet him. However, when she gets the chance to see her idol without the cameras around, the stark reality is a drastic difference from what fans normally see. Like others on the list, the film does explore celebrity worship as a form of escapism. But the one thing that Fan Girl examines in depth that the others don’t touch on as much is the power dynamic at play between celebrities and their young fans and just how vulnerable and susceptible to exploitation fans can be when in the company of their favourite star. This movie feels very timely and very important and does an amazing job of tackling this often discussed pop culture issue.
Note: The trailer does not do this film justice! It’s on Netflix in Canada, and likely in other regions as well. Definitely give it a go! It’s wild, funny, heartbreaking and the acting is top notch from both Avelino and Dizon. This one is a must watch.
ONTD Specific Note: Paulo Avelino shows his dick. It’s while he’s taking a leak so it’s not exactly sexy, but I figured some of the users here (of the thirsty variety) would be into that anyway.
ONTD Specific Request: Do we have any Filipino ONTDers here that can give us the tea on the 3 actors listed above? Because I’m kind of obsessed with all 3 after watching this lmao. The irony of this comment in this very post is not lost on me, thank you.
Year: 1971
Director: Clint Eastwood
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Horror
Plot: Clint Eastwood plays radio DJ Dave Garver. One night after a show, he heads to a bar where he meets a woman named Evelyn (Jessica Walter). They had back to Evelyn’s for what Dave thinks is going to be a one night stand. But he soon finds out that not only has Evelyn orchestrated their meeting – she’s a completely obsessed fan of his. Their simple hookup quickly spirals into an absolute horrific nightmare for Dave.
Full Disclosure: I wouldn’t say this movie is necessarily great and is probably the weakest one on this list (imo). It meanders a bit at the start and Eastwood’s character makes some truly baffling decisions. But it is decent, has some groovy ’70s fashion and décor, and Jessica Walter is fantastic here – it’s worth watching for her performance alone!
This post is dedicated to the Larries, the Switfy easter egg hunters, the defensive stans, the real person shippers, and all the other delusionals that need to get some sun and touch some grass.
Sources: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7
