Alizée Fandomness

[Ray4AJ]

I've been searching the forums for a thread like this, and not having found one, here goes.

I've wanted to be able to discuss some of the aspects of being a fan. I've found it can be a complicated experience, not that it has to be. I hope to occasionally post thoughts and ideas about fandom and learn about other fans' experiences as well. Many aspects of it can be personal but some may be universal.

Edit:

This evening I was visiting some friends and one of those entertainment shows was on, where they interview celebrities and spread gossip, etc. They were interviewing a English speaking recording artist who is preparing to go on tour. I have no interest in the artist, the music, or the tour, but I noticed that I immediately understood what was being said, and picked up on all the gestures and meanings, and context. That doesn't happen to me with Alizée interviews. It made me realize how much I fail to interpret from her interviews, even with translations. I think it helps extend some of the mystery that surrounds her to me. Even though so much about her is evident from reading about her and from translations. Of course we (think we) perceive so much insight into her personality from watching her in interviews and on programs, and even from how she interacts with the spectators while performing. I still felt tonight that the language/culture barrier may be either blocking or clouding a more complete 'understanding' of Alizée to me.

[ALS]

I think that hardest part of being a fan of hers is when you're not French or even European people around you can't understand why your a fan. Mostly due to the fact she really doesn't speak or sing in English as well they have no idea who she is or what she is singing about. After eight years my employees look at my affection and loyalty towards her during these many years and that has them totally baffled.

Yesterday my general manager needed to get something out of my desk and I had the laptop running and she noticed Alizée on my wallpaper. She didn't know I was walking the office right behind her. It's the new picture for the new album which is up on the home page. It was interesting to see her look up and take notice of Alizée looking at the picture for a few seconds. It wasn't just a glance it was a three to four second look which in itself got my attention.

[Karin]

Originally Posted by ALS

I think that hardest part of being a fan of hers is when you're not French or even European people around you can't understand why your a fan.

they cant understand when you are European too

[Ray4AJ]

Originally Posted by ALS

I think that hardest part of being a fan of hers is when you're not French or even European people around you can't understand why your a fan. Mostly due to the fact she really doesn't speak or sing in English as well they have no idea who she is or what she is singing about. After eight years my employees look at my affection and loyalty towards her during these many years and that has them totally baffled.

That is partly true for me too. I don't normally share very much with others, and the people I'm around regularly really wouldn't understand me being a fan of Alizée, partly for the language differences but also on so many other levels. One coworker is in on it but still doesn't get it. I don't really get it either, I've been trying to figure it out for six months. I've been making an effort to stop trying to understand it and to just play along. So far, so... eh.

My boss has convinced himself that I'm listening to country on my headphones. The random French words I throw around really has him confused.

Anyway I think it's great that this community exists.

[Ray4AJ]

In another topic...

Originally Posted by Un-rêve

I think it would be amazing if Alizée did a cover of this.. she might be an angel to many of us but she's still human after all.

This is another aspect of fandomness that I'm dealing with. Yes, she's a human like everyone else. I know that, and I try to remember that. But sometimes (often) when I'm not paying attention I find that I forget. I'm having trouble coming up with a description for it. I suppose it's just that phenomenon that can happen when a celebrity affects a person. And it's new to me. It's somewhat ironic, because I've given more than one friend a hard time when they do similar things. I've always thought I had an open mind but I keep finding how much of what people do and think depends on viewpoints and experiences. In fact, I've re-evaluated so many conclusions about the world and life "because" of Alizée. I'd better stop now before this gets any weirder.

[swagboy]

Originally Posted by Ray4AJ

In another topic...


This is another aspect of fandomness that I'm dealing with. Yes, she's a human like everyone else. I know that, and I try to remember that. But sometimes (often) when I'm not paying attention I find that I forget. I'm having trouble coming up with a description for it. I suppose it's just that phenomenon that can happen when a celebrity affects a person. And it's new to me. It's somewhat ironic, because I've given more than one friend a hard time when they do similar things. I've always thought I had an open mind but I keep finding how much of what people do and think depends on viewpoints and experiences. In fact, I've re-evaluated so many conclusions about the world and life "because" of Alizée. I'd better stop now before this gets any weirder.

One tip, don't let yourself get dragged in too deep. It could cause implications in your future life. Just keep it in moderation, as a hobby.

If you do feel you're getting dragged in too deep, delete everything (or store it on a harddrive, and place it somewhere out of sight, if you think deleting the harddrive is too severe) that is related to Alizée.

The person who came up with "Out of sight, out of mind" has a good point.

PS: The first few weeks (maybe even months) might be hard, but it will help you in the long run.

[Ray4AJ]

Originally Posted by swagboy

One tip, don't let yourself get dragged in too deep. It could cause implications in your future life. Just keep it in moderation, as a hobby.

Ooops, Well, once again I jumbled things up and was vague in a post. Sometimes while I'm driving or busy at work I'll think up a wonderful post that flows and is concise, then when I get some time to log in to the forum I can't recreate the brilliance. Many times I don't try but I was inspired today by Un-rêve's post.

I think I may have been misunderstood. Maybe not. I said

I suppose it's just that phenomenon that can happen when a celebrity affects a person. ... It's somewhat ironic, because I've given more than one friend a hard time when they do similar things.

And was thinking about something like how professional sports players become legends and heros and such, and how fans talk of their favorite teams as 'us' and 'we'. The athlete becomes more that just a human to some. I'm not into any kind of sports so when people around me discuss recent games and almost take things personally I'd give them a hard time. But I understand that now and have become (slightly) more sympathetic.

I've got this trait where I tend to over analyze and if I'm not talking I'm thinking. And when I am talking I don't think. My boss heard the term once 'analysis paralysis' and now he applies it to me often. It's ok, that's what happens. Without getting into too many details, for years I've wasted a lot of free time fighting myself. I've yet to figure out how my discovery of Alizée nearly seven months ago put an immediate end to that, and in fact I've stopped 'thinking' about that. But all that stopped and I'm perfectly fine being who I am, who I've always been, and I'm grateful to her for that. Something for which she did nothing more than just be herself.

I decided I needed to pay her back so I bought a copy of each of the albums, and En Concert CD and the DVD, and I've got most of the Les Enfoires DVDs from the years she participated. I try to keep active on the forum to keep topics going so we don't forget her. And I try to keep an open mind about the things she does and wish her the best. That's all. Really, that's it.

And I worry that when it ends (all of my distractions always end) things will go back to the old ways for me so I'm trying to keep all this relevant and interesting to hold off the inevitable. When I first joined here more than one person said things like 'enjoy your time here' and I realize that many people have come and gone before me.

I probably should have just edited my earlier post and left all this out. But I was envisioning the AAm intervention team coordinating behind the scenes!

[User22]

Matevz91...you just may be the luckiest fan I know in terms of how old you were when you discovered her and how close to 2000 you did also. Jealousy...slowly boiling

[Scruffydog777]

Well this is a topic I've been giving a lot of thought to. This thread seems to start out on one aspect of it, but there is so much more to it and it so I have to start off by trying to analyze my own fandomness.

I think maybe fandomism should be measured in degrees, let's say from 1 to 10 where 1 would be with for instance a singer, who's music you find okay and you like to hear it once in a while, but you never would have an interest in going to one of their concerts or getting their autograph. Then a 10 would be probably a level that bordered on obsession. With an entertainer like Alizee, they'd probably listen to nothing but her music, they'd probably try and go to every performance, every event that this celebrity went to . Their room or house, would be filled with pictures of her, kind of like Jessica's but even more. If they could, they'd probably go to her home area, maybe watching her house, hoping to meet her and would probably be on the same level as stalking.

Now I think at this level, they'd also be head over heels in love with her. Hoping somehow she could be his or I suppose it's possible today hers. Of course in the case of an international star like her, there could be fans in other countries that would like to pursue her, but can not afford to.

Now in my case, I've gone to places she's performed such as Taormina, Pistoia and the Triage Lavoire building, but that's mainly because, I didn't find out about her in time to see her perform live. At least I could go to these places and imagine how wonderful it would have been to have seen her. Of couse another reason I went there, at least in the case of Taormia and Pistoia is because they are beautiful places and in the case of the coal washing plant, it was an interesting place to visit and it was fairly close to my route of travel on my vacation.

As far as pictures, I only have a couple of her in my house, but I've never been one who's liked to put pictures of celebrities up on my wall.

Now in my eyes, she is (*) the perfect woman in so many ways. Now if I was much younger, I might be pursuing her like a love sick puppy dog, but for so many reasons, including age, I know it could never be, which is great, because I can follow her career and not have it spoiled by my heart breaking from being so close, but yet so far.

So I consider my fandomness to be mainly focused on her performances rather than her. Just last month I was in Europe on vacation. I returned from Germany on the 25th. She did a dj gig on the 26th in southern France. I could have easily obtained the time off to have seen her and if she was "performing", I would have been there, but a dj gig is not that important to me.

When I went to Corsica, I did so at a time when I expected her to be returning to Paris. I did extend my stay there when I found out she was there, but at the time that was an easy thing for me to do. I will make a reasonable attempt to see her if an occassion arises, but it is certain performances that I would do everything in my power to go to.
So I had to get my own fandomness figured out before I moved on to other areas of this topic. Degree wise, I'd have to put my fandomness of "her" at a 7.

[Marka]

Originally Posted by Ray4AJ

In the beginning I didn't expect to make seven months. I've figured out what happened that made me feel so great in general, and maybe I'll cover that sometime. I've stopped trying to understand how discovering Alizée caused it to happen. These last few days since starting this thread, I've really been able to see her as a real person. I think the photo she posted of her daughter mailing a wish list helped finalize that. (That her life includes the same tasks as millions of other people) The crime and violence that can happen anywhere in the world also occurs in her hometown. Looks like I'll be a fan for a long time. I appreciate this forum and all it's members, and I suppose the entire fan community that keeps on top of all the Alizée news and shares everything.

Ray, based on your past posts (at least since I rejoined few weeks ago) you are going to be a great fan of hers - critical (after all, she is just a singer and not Dalai Lama), distanced (if need for it arises) and at the same time true to yourself. Great!

Originally Posted by Aaronius31

Matevz91...you just may be the luckiest fan I know in terms of how old you were when you discovered her and how close to 2000 you did also. Jealousy...slowly boiling

There is no need to be jealous. I guess I in reality discovered only Boutonnat back then, you know, I was 10 years old and all... I saw the world differently, more childishly and purely than I do now, unfortunately. Well anyway, enough with the past... age does not matter that much anyway, anybody can gain something from her, if he has only 10 years or if he has 90 years. It all depends on what kind of a person you are.
And by the way, I think that much of the philosophy behind Alizéeness can be traced back to Laurent´s philosophy (and to the Giorgino movie).

Originally Posted by Scruffydog777

Well this is a topic I've been giving a lot of thought to. This thread seems to start out on one aspect of it, but there is so much more to it and it so I have to start off by trying to analyze my own fandomness.

I think maybe fandomism should be measured in degrees, let's say from 1 to 10 where 1 would be with for instance a singer, who's music you find okay and you like to hear it once in a while, but you never would have an interest in going to one of their concerts or getting their autograph. Then a 10 would be probably a level that bordered on obsession. With an entertainer like Alizee, they'd probably listen to nothing but her music, they'd probably try and go to every performance, every event that this celebrity went to . Their room or house, would be filled with pictures of her, kind of like Jessica's but even more. If they could, they'd probably go to her home area, maybe watching her house, hoping to meet her and would probably be on the same level as stalking.

Now I think at this level, they'd also be head over heels in love with her. Hoping somehow she could be his or I suppose it's possible today hers. Of course in the case of an international star like her, there could be fans in other countries that would like to pursue her, but can not afford to.

Now in my case, I've gone to places she's performed such as Taormina, Pistoia and the Triage Lavoire building, but that's mainly because, I didn't find out about her in time to see her perform live. At least I could go to these places and imagine how wonderful it would have been to have seen her. Of couse another reason I went there, at least in the case of Taormia and Pistoia is because they are beautiful places and in the case of the coal washing plant, it was an interesting place to visit and it was fairly close to my route of travel on my vacation.

As far as pictures, I only have a couple of her in my house, but I've never been one who's liked to put pictures of celebrities up on my wall.

Now in my eyes, she is (*) the perfect woman in so many ways. Now if I was much younger, I might be pursuing her like a love sick puppy dog, but for so many reasons, including age, I know it could never be, which is great, because I can follow her career and not have it spoiled by my heart breaking from being so close, but yet so far.

So I consider my fandomness to be mainly focused on her performances rather than her. Just last month I was in Europe on vacation. I returned from Germany on the 25th. She did a dj gig on the 26th in southern France. I could have easily obtained the time off to have seen her and if she was "performing", I would have been there, but a dj gig is not that important to me.

When I went to Corsica, I did so at a time when I expected her to be returning to Paris. I did extend my stay there when I found out she was there, but at the time that was an easy thing for me to do. I will make a reasonable attempt to see her if an occassion arises, but it is certain performances that I would do everything in my power to go to.
So I had to get my own fandomness figured out before I moved on to other areas of this topic. Degree wise, I'd have to put my fandomness of "her" at a 7.

I think I that would be 5 on my scale, as for me 10 is total obsession.