(Con)fusing Identities
Joanna Colangelo
Studying the role of the Internet in community construction tends to evoke the same questions as studying the role of popular culture in academic disciplines; that is, does popular culture simply reflect the culture from which it is produced, or does it shape the culture as it is produced? In attempting to study the role of Internet communities, the recurring questions remain: does the Internet merely reflect (and perhaps, strengthen) already existing communities by allowing for both a more accessible entrée into those communities, or is the Internet filling a void in community where people who cannot find community in the "real," tangible world find camaraderie within their cyber-lives? The answers to these questions, however, are more the same than they are different. In trying to understand the construction and purpose of Internet communities, there exists a common underlying theme of ambiguity. Embedded within an indefinable cyber space is the ambiguity of online identities, the ambiguity of the actual "space" of the Internet, the ambiguity of audience (or users) and, of course, the ambiguity of community.
Naturally, then, such a space of indistinctness could lend itself to the blurring of fact and fiction and fantasy and reality. In this sense, the vagueness of such categorical distinctions has led to a distinct perpetuation of online fandom—particularly because the already undefined ambiguity of space that exists between fans and celebrities has found its counterpart in the same distortions of virtual space. A common development, therefore, within fan communities would be the distortions in differentiating between celebrities and the characters whom they represent in the public eye. In recent years, Law and Order: SVU (SVU) has admirably introduced audiences to the all too often taboo subject of sexually-based crimes. Yet, perhaps because of the sensitive material presented on the show, a unique identity convergence has emerged between the fictional character, detective Olivia Benson and Mariska Hargitay, the actor who plays the role. Through the various platforms of online interaction (both between the actor and the fan community, and separately, solely within the online fan community), the public communications afforded by the Internet have played an extensive role in breaking down barriers between the fans' understanding of Olivia Benson and of their perception of Mariska Hargitay.
As this article will discuss, after the primary steps of convergence between "character" (Olivia Benson) and "celebrity" (Mariska Hargitay) take place through official websites, blogs and fan sites, the result of such identity recreation ultimately becomes tangible through the community of Youtube and in this way, Youtube catalyzes a paradigm shift between fan and actor in the construction of celebrity identity. With the creation (and large circulation of "mash-ups," fan created videos which splice scenes from a television show to portray a character in scenes or experiencing events which never actually happened), the passivity of fandom—purely watching or reading about celebrity—is replaced with an active involvement of the fans in creating and constructing a type of alter-celebrity: one who is neither a television character, nor an actor, but rather a hybrid of both. The result of this, therefore, is a unique realm of post-modern fandom. Sites like Youtube, provide the rare opportunity for fans to literally (or at least, visually) deconstruct a television character, merge that character's identity with the fans' perceived identity of the celebrity, and then reconstruct a third identity, which is based on fans' connection with the television character, as well as the celebrity's own virtual interaction with his or her own audience.