This is nothing new - we've always been a nation of braindeads.
After the Dick Van Dyke Show was done in 1966, Dick Van Dyke started a new sitcom about family life. This was met with hate mail and death threats. Why? Because fans (which is short for "fanatics", btw) were outraged that Dick would cheat on Laura.
Similar thing happened when the Mary Tyler Moore show was being created. She was originally going to be a divorcee, but test audiences threw a fit that she would divorce a nice guy like Rob Petrie.
The guy who played Wayne Arnold on Wonder Years tells the story of being physically attacked by a guy in a bar.....for being so mean to Kevin on the show.
Susan Lucci has gotten numerous death threats over the years because her character on All My Children was so manipulative and treacherous.
When Luke and Laura got married, fans sent wedding presents to the network.
When Rachel and Ross' daughter was born, fans sent baby presents.
I see it on FB and Buzzfeed every day: crazies who can't separate an actor's character from reality. It fascinates me because these people presumably hold a job and have a real life, yet they are so wrapped up in a fantasy that they react to it as if it's real. That's some mentally ill #### right there, but it's situational. I have a friend who is sane, rational, and responsible, yet he got a bit hot insisting that Drew Carey would *never* raise his son to behave like that. When asked why he thought that, it boiled down to he likes Drew and thinks he's funny, therefore cannot conceive of him being less than perfect.
It's not even celebrity worship, it's flat out psychotic fantasy immersion. Fiction authors get mail all the time from people who refer to a character as if they're real. Crazies send them all kinds of crap "to give to" their character and make suggestions as to what this one or that one should do about their dilemma. They propose marriage....to fictional characters.
The human mind is fascinating.
After the Dick Van Dyke Show was done in 1966, Dick Van Dyke started a new sitcom about family life. This was met with hate mail and death threats. Why? Because fans (which is short for "fanatics", btw) were outraged that Dick would cheat on Laura.
Similar thing happened when the Mary Tyler Moore show was being created. She was originally going to be a divorcee, but test audiences threw a fit that she would divorce a nice guy like Rob Petrie.
The guy who played Wayne Arnold on Wonder Years tells the story of being physically attacked by a guy in a bar.....for being so mean to Kevin on the show.
Susan Lucci has gotten numerous death threats over the years because her character on All My Children was so manipulative and treacherous.
When Luke and Laura got married, fans sent wedding presents to the network.
When Rachel and Ross' daughter was born, fans sent baby presents.
I see it on FB and Buzzfeed every day: crazies who can't separate an actor's character from reality. It fascinates me because these people presumably hold a job and have a real life, yet they are so wrapped up in a fantasy that they react to it as if it's real. That's some mentally ill #### right there, but it's situational. I have a friend who is sane, rational, and responsible, yet he got a bit hot insisting that Drew Carey would *never* raise his son to behave like that. When asked why he thought that, it boiled down to he likes Drew and thinks he's funny, therefore cannot conceive of him being less than perfect.
It's not even celebrity worship, it's flat out psychotic fantasy immersion. Fiction authors get mail all the time from people who refer to a character as if they're real. Crazies send them all kinds of crap "to give to" their character and make suggestions as to what this one or that one should do about their dilemma. They propose marriage....to fictional characters.
The human mind is fascinating.
) it was a weird thing. Who does that!?!
