ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses how the individual consumer relates to the admired film star in everyday life by unpacking the individual facets of the author’s fan relationship with the actress Jena Malone and discusses them under the headings (a) admiring the celebrity as an artist, (b) adoring the celebrity as a person/human being, (c) ‘taking possession’ of celebrity through products, (d) ‘sharing versus non-sharing’ the celebrity in participatory fandom and (e) living with the celebrity in daily life. Drawing on narrative transportation theory, the chapter thereby explains how a consumer’s personal engagement with the film star’s films, acting performances and, especially, the ‘private’ person can evolve into a parasocial relationship. The fan’s The fan’s personal engagement, intertextual reading and interpretation of what is perceived to be ‘reliable’ media texts can, thereby, lead to a feeling of ‘knowing’ the celebrity like a personal friend or even a feeling of ‘love’.
