Fandom As Religious Argument
Examples, such as these, are the type of phenomena scholars of fan studies encounter. These scholars recognize the overwhelming emotion generated by celebrity, note fan sentiments, and lacking the tools to describe emotion and the structure and purpose of fandom, decide, “It’s a religious thing” (Doss 1999, 72). As a credit to these scholars, fans use of religious language complicates matters and if one is to focus on that, you miss the purpose of this language. This first stream of celebrity music fandom-as-religion literature demonstrates the type of argument many scholars favor when encountering expression of fan sentiment, fan action, and the structural and functional purpose of fandom. A second, smaller, stream of literature aligns or characterizes fandom as a cult, sometimes literally, while a third stream challenges the celebrity music fandom-as-religion argument. This
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dissertation builds on the issues and concerns raised by each stream , while offering insight from the perspective of religious studies. Four questions guide such as pursuit: How did scholars come to align celebrity music fandom with religion? What does this relationship look like? What challenges have scholars raised to an understanding of celebrity music Fandom-as-Religion and what threads from this discussion may we carry forward to correct these misconceptions and better understand fan emotion, sentiment, action, and identity.
The twenty-year span following the death of Elvis Presley, in 1977, witnessed a flurry of popular and academic literature trying to make sense of fan admiration for this dead icon (see also Goldman 1981; Harrison 1992; Hinerman 1992; Frow 1998; Joyrich 1993; Marcus 1991; Silberman 1990; Vikan 1994).
Rodman’s Elvis after Elvis: the posthumous career of a living legend, originally his dissertation, is one such substantive work on the posthumous Elvis phenomenon and a book that argues there is something exceptional, even religious, surrounding Presley. Rodman contends Presley articulates a point of cultural formation, that is, Presley is the point of articulation of twentieth century culture. While a lofty claim, his argument does have some merit. For example, Rodman states that Elvis’ 1956 appearance on the Milton Berle Show, which provided a full-body view of his “lewd” dance moves, created youth culture—something that bonded youth and perplexed the older generation (1996, 152-157). Elvis as the point of articulation is important to understand Elvis as set-apart from other dead
celebrities. While the overall focus of the book is on Elvis as a cultural formation, and a unique one at that, in a section entitled “Promised Land,” Rodman tackles the celebrity music Fandom-as-Religion angle, with Elvis as the religious concern. The focus of his argument, in this respect, unfolds in three ways. First, Elvis exceptionalism, second, the development of mythology and, third, Graceland as a locus sanctus or holy place (see also Silberman 1990; Vikan 1994). These three aspects, Rodman argues, take Elvis beyond the metaphor into tangible religiosity. To his credit, at first Rodman agrees the celebrity music Fandom-as-Religion analogy and metaphor are shaky at best. Despite this declaration, Rodman believes Elvis is the exception. “Elvis exceptionalism” characterizes much of this stream of literature. One solution to “Elvis exceptionalism” I discuss is that Elvis might better represent a degree of measure on the far end of the spectrum of dead celebrities, rather than his own category. Certainly, no dead celebrity exists in isolation and all have cultural determinants, but scholars in this category of literature posit Elvis and his fans are somehow different, at least in the 1990s. Rodman also contends difference marks Elvis mythology. In an understanding of dead celebrities, popular myth is an important component of what scholars, such as Doss, term aura, in her approximation what amounts to a type of religious atmosphere surrounding Presley’s image. As Rodman suggests, the Elvis mythology went through a process of whitewashing. The process rids the celebrity image of its more controversial elements, in the case of Presley, the fact he appropriated music from black musicians without credit or pay. Key to Rodman’s argument of Presley as an exceptional, yet religious figure, is his discussion of Graceland as a holy place and thus a fixed, physical location for pilgrims/fans to gather that has no match, he claims, in the world of fandom.
dissertation builds on the issues and concerns raised by each stream , while offering insight from the perspective of religious studies. Four questions guide such as pursuit: How did scholars come to align celebrity music fandom with religion? What does this relationship look like? What challenges have scholars raised to an understanding of celebrity music Fandom-as-Religion and what threads from this discussion may we carry forward to correct these misconceptions and better understand fan emotion, sentiment, action, and identity.
The twenty-year span following the death of Elvis Presley, in 1977, witnessed a flurry of popular and academic literature trying to make sense of fan admiration for this dead icon (see also Goldman 1981; Harrison 1992; Hinerman 1992; Frow 1998; Joyrich 1993; Marcus 1991; Silberman 1990; Vikan 1994).
Rodman’s Elvis after Elvis: the posthumous career of a living legend, originally his dissertation, is one such substantive work on the posthumous Elvis phenomenon and a book that argues there is something exceptional, even religious, surrounding Presley. Rodman contends Presley articulates a point of cultural formation, that is, Presley is the point of articulation of twentieth century culture. While a lofty claim, his argument does have some merit. For example, Rodman states that Elvis’ 1956 appearance on the Milton Berle Show, which provided a full-body view of his “lewd” dance moves, created youth culture—something that bonded youth and perplexed the older generation (1996, 152-157). Elvis as the point of articulation is important to understand Elvis as set-apart from other dead
celebrities. While the overall focus of the book is on Elvis as a cultural formation, and a unique one at that, in a section entitled “Promised Land,” Rodman tackles the celebrity music Fandom-as-Religion angle, with Elvis as the religious concern. The focus of his argument, in this respect, unfolds in three ways. First, Elvis exceptionalism, second, the development of mythology and, third, Graceland as a locus sanctus or holy place (see also Silberman 1990; Vikan 1994). These three aspects, Rodman argues, take Elvis beyond the metaphor into tangible religiosity. To his credit, at first Rodman agrees the celebrity music Fandom-as-Religion analogy and metaphor are shaky at best. Despite this declaration, Rodman believes Elvis is the exception. “Elvis exceptionalism” characterizes much of this stream of literature. One solution to “Elvis exceptionalism” I discuss is that Elvis might better represent a degree of measure on the far end of the spectrum of dead celebrities, rather than his own category. Certainly, no dead celebrity exists in isolation and all have cultural determinants, but scholars in this category of literature posit Elvis and his fans are somehow different, at least in the 1990s. Rodman also contends difference marks Elvis mythology. In an understanding of dead celebrities, popular myth is an important component of what scholars, such as Doss, term aura, in her approximation what amounts to a type of religious atmosphere surrounding Presley’s image. As Rodman suggests, the Elvis mythology went through a process of whitewashing. The process rids the celebrity image of its more controversial elements, in the case of Presley, the fact he appropriated music from black musicians without credit or pay. Key to Rodman’s argument of Presley as an exceptional, yet religious figure, is his discussion of Graceland as a holy place and thus a fixed, physical location for pilgrims/fans to gather that has no match, he claims, in the world of fandom.