The Jonas Brothers.
I think I may be developing a thing for the Jonas Brothers. Let me explain.
I've been working retail, and the men's clothes is back to back with the electronics section, and the stupid tvs in the electronics section are set to play this like 2 minute commercial. In this commercial I get to hear a 30 second clip of a Jonas Brothers song. Over and over and over. No other songs, just adverts, and this unresolved Jonas Brothers song. Over and over and over.
It's getting in my head. No, seriously. I'm not sure I really even like the Jonas Brother's music, I've always been a little skeptical of it even though I embrace all things Disney - but their voices sometimes, just don't do it for me. Too pubescent? But NOW, I'm having dreams about them in which I go to see them in concert, and watch them eat really big sandwiches at Subway, and generally run into them pretty much everywhere. And since I'm seemingly subconciously obsessed with them, I thought I'd do some research on the group because GUESS WHAT, I didn't even know which one was which.
I was astounded at the wealth of material on the Jonas Brothers and not only that, the wealth of material that they put on the internet themselves. Youtube videos of one of them with the hiccups, live facebook chats, video updates, blogs. It's like they're...real people.
I don't expect celebrities to be real people. They exist in an alternate realm. But here they are doing all these real people things, after watching the videos I felt like I almost knew them. It felt like they were tangibly close - BUT THEY'RE NOT.
Now, to be fair I've never been pop culture obsessed. But, just the idea that you can get to know celebrities on a more personal level floors me. I've seen the Myspace celebrity status updates, and I know Oprah does Twitter. I mean, on one hand, then you create a stronger fan base because they "know you" but on the other hand...you can get some seriously obsessed fans. Especially when you're the Jonas Brothers and your fans are tweens. It makes me wonder how many people are delusionally obsessed, and think they have actually relationships with celebrities. It wouldn't be that hard to do - hell, after looking at some of the JoBros videos, I felt like I was their friend. But, isn't it all an illusion? And what an emotional drain to be friends with someone that doesn't even know you exist.
There is something about this whole phenomenon, how you can feel like you know people you don't even know - especially with bloggists, that fascinates me. It begs to be written. I'm already working on a novel that has a blogging aspect to it, but now I'm itching to incorporate celebrities into the mix as well, but I can't put my finger on how to do it well yet other than the traditional, pyscho fan goes crazy way.
Until then, I'm going to continue debating whether I actually like the Jonas Brothers or not, and trying to figure out what my subconcious sees in them.