(Con)fusing Identities
Joanna Colangelo
Virtual Voices: Fan Feedback and Audience Community in Cyberspace
In looking at SVU fan sites and by referencing the message boards on such sites, we can see the second step in the audience creation of a cyber-celebrity. Having already discussed the role of celebrity websites in perpetuating and solidifying a character and celebrity's "authenticity"—or at least, in offering fans a celebrity's self-representation with a diminished question of Dyer's "really"—we can look at fan message boards as representative of the ways that fans are relating to the character/celebrity among other fans (not necessarily just with the celebrity). Again, the idea that fans are merging a character's identity with the actor playing the character is not a particularly new concept. John Fiske wrote extensively in Television Culture (1987) on the role of intertextuality in the relationship between character and celebrity, stating of fan magazines: "there is no surprise to find...photographs that are ambiguously of the player or the character, as though the two were indistinguishable"(119). Yet the role of the Internet in extending the community of fans in this character/celebrity convergence leads to a greater element of uniqueness. Fiske proposes his "realistic theory of character" as a way of explaining the audience's ability to "make the character into a 'real' person whom we 'know' and who has a 'life' outside of the text"(Fiske, 152). The degree to which Fiske suggests these convergences are made public—in 1987—are through open letters to magazines (fan magazines, presumably), gossip among friends or opinion polls (Fiske, 124). Today, however, Internet message boards have ostensibly extended the confines of "public" discussion when converging the identity of character and celebrity; no longer are fans restricted to magazines or gossip in confusing character and actor. With the accessibility of fan sites in the online age, the identity convergence that takes place in Fiske's "realistic theory of character" is not only shown in a larger, more public sphere, but the now public availability of this convergence also aids in contributing to the development of online fan communities.
Given the character traits of Olivia Benson and the perception of Mariska Hargitay through her websites, it was not particularly surprising to find the posts that I did while browsing a number of SVU, Olivia Benson and Mariska Hargitay message boards. As a mere extension of the questions posed to Hargitay on her own websites, I had naturally expected to read a significant number of posts from survivors of rape and sexual assault. What I had not necessarily realized was how fans would openly (or "publicly," to use Fiske's word) merge Benson's character with Hargitay's real life identity. I have chosen two posts, which could be representative of others, from http://p088.ezboard.com/bmariskahargitayboard—a now defunct message board community. (Importantly, this message board became inactive only after Mariska Hargitay re-launched her own website as a more accessible way to interact with her fans.) Among the categories on the ezboard site are forums called "Messages from Mariska/Live chats with Mariska!," on which Hargitay posted along with fans during chat sessions and "Tell Mariska," a forum where fans could post personalized messages to Hargitay. Presumably, the following posters who wrote letters to Hargitay on the "Tell Mariska" forum, had significant confidence that Hargitay could have read the messages, as she was a fairly active participant on the site, herself often posting on the live chat forum.
The first post, titled, "Thank You Mariska!" [9] on the "Tell Mariska" forum was posted by user, "mariskafan23" on October 1, 2003 and it reads:
Hi Mariska—A number of aspects of this post are worth discussing: first, one should note that the fan is less confident that Hargitay ever received the traditional fan letter, but the message board post holds a bit more promise. The poster feels some sense of security in knowing that Hargitay may read her post—indicative of the more readily accessible celebrity-fan relationships in the post-Internet age. Second, the poster clearly recognizes the distinctive roles between Benson and Hargitay, writing, "you are my role model, my hero, and a person I look up to. And I don't just mean Olivia, I mean you as a person." However, she soon writes that, despite recognizing the distinctions between the two identities, "watching you on TV is theraputic for me, as crazy as that sounds, I feel like you are talking to me when you counsel the victims on the show." It is unclear, however, who "you" is in this post. The message is addressed to "Mariska," yet the person counseling the victims on SVU is Benson. Finally, it is noteworthy that this fan attached her full name to her message—a conscious decision to openly identify herself and shed the shame associated with sexual assault. Certainly, this public proclamation of identity could be indicative of Lauren's wanting Hargitay to know who she is, but it could also signify the sense of community and trust developing within the intimacy of Benson/Hargitay fans.
That is to say, seventeen days later, on October 18th, 2003 another fan (named, "ScullyD") posted a message almost thematically identical to Lauren's on the "Tell Mariska" forum, with the title, "Dear Ms. Hargitay." [10] The message reads:
Hi Mariska, how are you?I hope well. I just wanted to let you know that you were amazing in the episode Loss as you are in all of the episodes.Your emotion was incredible and very moving, to be honest it brought me to tears. As well I just want to say that you have helped me through Olivia when I wasn't able to help myself with my difficulties with my rapes. I had many problems and was on the verge of giving up and then I was inspired by you and am very thankful to you for that.It means so much to me becasue you have helped me through things more then most people in my life have.I wasn't believed the first time I was raped by most people I told and things like your a liar and he would never do such a thing to anyone were said to me and of course drove me into deeper depression. I'm blessed to also have a wonderful fiance and best friend who have helped me through things as well. I want you to know that when I'm home alone and have flashbacks or a panic attack I put SVU on and it helps so much,I can honestly say that the show is theraputic for me and as well I'm currently back in therapy.It was a difficult step for me to take but I knew it had to be done so I did it and I told my therapist that yourself and SVU help me very much and he was very happy to hear that, his words were that's wonderful, I'm very happy they help you!You are incredible and I will forever be greatful and thankful to you for what you've helped me through.Please take care and always know that you have saved me from self destruction!! LOVE A FAN ALWAYS SCULLYDLike the first post, this message addresses the help that a rape survivor received "through Olivia," but also blends television and reality: "I told my therapist that yourself and SVU help me very much." Again, we are unsure as to whether "yourself" is Olivia Benson or Mariska Hargitay. One might assume that since "yourself" precedes SVU in the sentence, that it might reference Benson (in simply keeping within the genre of television), yet the message is clearly addressed to Hargitay. Fiske's "realistic character theory," therefore, has found another outlet on message boards, but the extent to which these boards foster community among fans and perpetuate an extension of character/celebrity fusion should not be overlooked.
If the most public sphere that Fiske's realist theory had been applied was in fan magazines or within friend groups, then the influence of character fusion was significantly more limited than the fusion that takes place on online fan message boards. In studying only these two posts, we can see the effects that the public space serves in perpetuating realism between character and celebrity. Take the interval between the first post and the second, for example. Less than three weeks after one fan thanked Benson/Hargitay for her work on SVU/real life, another poster followed with an almost identical post and image convergence. Further, after the second post, another fan replied to the message by writing, "Hey girl, When i read your comment i was in tears by the end. It was so touching. Really i wanted to tell you something that i think it very true. FRIENDS ARE ANGELS WHO LIFT US TO OUR FEET WHEN OUR WING HAVE TROUBLE REMEMBERING HOW TO FLY." [11] While these boards may provide a more accessible and public space to enable the (con)fusion of character and reality, they, perhaps more importantly, are equally important in identifying a "safe" zone through which both fans of SVU and survivors of rape or sexual assault are finding a community online. In assuming that, as Lauren, the first poster stated, "I feel like you are talking to me when you counsel the victims on the show," Hargitay has successfully (and quite admirably) achieved authenticity in Olivia Benson and has, even more significantly, transferred that authenticity into her own self-representation through her websites. By making the once limited fan-perception-of character/celebrity more accessible, the marginalized fan-base of sexual assault survivors has not only come to find support in Benson/Hargitay, but they have importantly found it among each other, as well.