37 min
Parasocial Relationships in Fandom The Game of Nerds Podcast
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- Hobbies
On this episode of The Game of Nerds podcast, I'm sitting down with fellow fangirl and writer at TGON, Tara Jabbari. We first met through the podcast website matchmaker.FM and immediately hit it off. Since our first call, I always book at least two hours minimum to chat with Tara because we talk about everything and anything. She has her very own biographical podcast series about women in history called, Who Was She? Tara also has a Masters's Degree in Communication Culture, and Technology. While finishing her degree, she looked into how we form relationships with media, more specifically television. She blew my mind with what I like to call "Fandom Science" when she explained an actual scientific term for what we like to call Fangirling, it's called Parasocial Relationships.
It's no secret. I like Sebastian Stan. It's right up there with Bluey. As a kid, when I would get super into something or someone, my parents would just say, "Oh Shannon, you're just obsessed." It turns out I was experiencing parasocial relationships and didn't even know it. A parasocial relationship is when someone has an intimate one-sided relationship that's non-sexual with a media person or figure. This term was coined originally in 1956 after two scientists realized that people were getting attached to their local news anchors. Some people were going so far as to send soup when they hear their favorite weatherman was sick. This was a fairly new concept since television has just arrived at the beginning of the 1950s. Fast forward to the 2000s and the arrival of Facebook, Twitter, and various other social media, the term is still there but only bigger. This is where Tara says we may need to update the definition or come up with a new term altogether.
Check out the full episode review on TheGameofNerds.com
Learn More About Our Guest:
Her Articles At The Game of Nerds - https://thegameofnerds.com/author/tarajabbari/
Who Was She? Podcast is available on your favorite podcast platform!
Twitter, Tumblr, & Instagram: Tara_Jabbari
Her Professional Website - https://tarajabbari.wordpress.com/
On this episode of The Game of Nerds podcast, I'm sitting down with fellow fangirl and writer at TGON, Tara Jabbari. We first met through the podcast website matchmaker.FM and immediately hit it off. Since our first call, I always book at least two hours minimum to chat with Tara because we talk about everything and anything. She has her very own biographical podcast series about women in history called, Who Was She? Tara also has a Masters's Degree in Communication Culture, and Technology. While finishing her degree, she looked into how we form relationships with media, more specifically television. She blew my mind with what I like to call "Fandom Science" when she explained an actual scientific term for what we like to call Fangirling, it's called Parasocial Relationships.
It's no secret. I like Sebastian Stan. It's right up there with Bluey. As a kid, when I would get super into something or someone, my parents would just say, "Oh Shannon, you're just obsessed." It turns out I was experiencing parasocial relationships and didn't even know it. A parasocial relationship is when someone has an intimate one-sided relationship that's non-sexual with a media person or figure. This term was coined originally in 1956 after two scientists realized that people were getting attached to their local news anchors. Some people were going so far as to send soup when they hear their favorite weatherman was sick. This was a fairly new concept since television has just arrived at the beginning of the 1950s. Fast forward to the 2000s and the arrival of Facebook, Twitter, and various other social media, the term is still there but only bigger. This is where Tara says we may need to update the definition or come up with a new term altogether.
Check out the full episode review on TheGameofNerds.com
Learn More About Our Guest:
Her Articles At The Game of Nerds - https://thegameofnerds.com/author/tarajabbari/
Who Was She? Podcast is available on your favorite podcast platform!
Twitter, Tumblr, & Instagram: Tara_Jabbari
Her Professional Website - https://tarajabbari.wordpress.com/
37 min