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Talking to Bowie fans

Masculinity, ambivalence and cultural citizenship

University of Nottingham, Nick.Stevenson{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Drawing upon recent interviews of `lifelong' Bowie fans, this article contributes to debates in respect of celebrity and audience studies. In contrast with other approaches to fan identities, it emphasizes the extent to which the fan experience is a gendered way of handling a number of existential questions in respect of individualization processes. Star-texts act as a `guide' or cultural resource to help many men and women deal with a number of threats to their identity. Fears of atomization, disintegration and meaninglessness were an ever-present feature of the interviews. Relations to star-texts resist easy forms of categorization but help to inscribe ambivalent identities. Mainly focusing upon male fans (and the construction of masculine identity), it was discovered that certain hegemonic features of masculinity can be connected to the consumption of so-called `alternative' texts, while exploring a number of other more ambivalent features often ignored by audience research.

Key Words: ambivalence • celebrity • individualization • masculinity • men • star-texts

European Journal of Cultural Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, 79-98 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/1367549408098706


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