Wish upon a star
Thanks to the Internet, establishing a fan club has become a fashionable way of worshipping a foreign idol in Taiwan - and the number of online fan clubs keeps increasing. Take Taiwan's Yahoo! Kimo Web site for example. A total of 13,110 fan clubs for foreign idols are listed. The most popular ones among adults are those for pop divas such as Madonna, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Janet Jackson. The younger generation has set up fan clubs for Avril Lavigne and other teen heros. An Eminem club has more than 5,652 Taiwanese members.
"Mariah's voice is so beautiful. That's why I love her so much. Taiwan's singers just can't compete with her," said A-lun, the founder of a local online Mariah Carey fan club. "I first established MCTW.com because there was no Taiwanese Web site about Mariah Carey in the past. Due to its limited budget and manpower, the record company did not want to do it either. So I set up the fan club by myself," A-lun said.
It costs him NT$500 a month, plus a lot of time, to maintain the club. But the 29-year-old says it's worth it because he can introduce his favorite singer to other Taiwanese people. People may think that hero worship is just a game for teenagers. But in fact, many of these club members are currently in their 20s and 30s and have grown up with their idols' music.
"My motive was quite simple: I love Whitney, and I love Web site design. So I tried to combine them together," said Bryan Huang, the chairman of Taiwan's biggest online Whitney Houston fan club. His club was founded over eight years ago by a group of enthusiasts. They started holding parties at a KTV or teahouse about twice a year during the summer and winter vacations and then developed the Web site.
"The best thing is meeting a lot of great people and sharing our passion for foreign music," said the 24-year-old club chairman Huang. His club members have very backgrounds. From high school students and university lecturers to gym instructors, coffee shop owners, and company executive managers, these people have been closely connected through worshipping their hero.
"I have made friends with people from all kinds of backgrounds [through the club]. This has broadened my life," said Huang, who will become a graduate student at New York University this fall. He admitted, however, that there is a downside - apart from the money he spends on the club. "I spend way too much time online chatting with other club members, which affects my life sometimes."
For diehard Houston fans, this has been a most exciting summer, as they flew to Hong Kong, Bangkok, and even Berlin to worship their "Queen" on her mini world tour. But being a fanatic like this can be quite expensive. Five maniacs from the fan club who recently flew to Hong Kong for her concert each paid as much as NT$8,500 for a concert ticket. They also paid about NT$10,000 for the airfare and hotel for the three-day trip, plus food and other expenses.
Lee Jen-yuan, a 32-year-old high school teacher in Chiayi County, is another Houston fan, who has spent over NT$500,000 on memorabilia connected with the US star. "I have been a fan since Whitney launched her career. That's why I want so many products to do with her. I collect all the versions of her each of her singles from around the world. Sometimes I have dozens of single CDs for the same song, all of which I hardly ever listen to," Lee said. "Is it worth it? After spending so much money, I doubt it occasionally," Lee said.
Nevertheless, some fans view such idolization as an opportunity to make some bucks. A Houston single CD from her early career can now be sold online for 10 times its original price. If it's a rare promotional-only CD, the price can go even higher.
Why choose foreign singers over local stars? Some fans said the style of Taiwanese pop stars was the same, compared with the trendy, changing and colorful promotions connected with foreign singers. They also said they were influenced by their foreign idols because they like to speak English and want study abroad. Many critics think that fan clubs and worshipping singers is a waste of time and money. But some experts say it's not all bad, as idols can also serve as a positive influence, especially for teenagers.
"We have to choose our heros carefully. Our role models are important to us, especially to young people," said Lin Chin-tsai, a professor of education at National University of Tainan. "For adults, such idolization is not a big problem, as they are able to make judgments in a more realistic way," Lin said.
"[Idolization] is perhaps a result of the growing globalization of today, as people can easily receive the newest information about popular foreign artists through the Internet," Lin said. Stars and their fans have always coexisted, as they are necessary to each other. As to whether it is a good or a bad thing, well, most diehard fans are happy about it - except when they receive their credit card bills. (Tapei Times)
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