The power of celebrity
“None of us could believe how close we were to becoming a world star”
© Brigitte / Adobe Stock
Only very few people get the chance to experience a world star up close. However, when she arrived in the VIP area, 20-year-old Emma* suddenly seemed very close to this situation. But she doesn’t realize how quickly the tide can turn until much later.
It was my 20th birthday and my two friends and I decided to celebrate it in a club about 30 km from our hometown in North Rhine-Westphalia. We were excited and happy because as luck would have it, an internationally known singer was scheduled to perform that evening, whose songs we were constantly listening to anyway.
After my feet were almost swollen from dancing for hours, I decided to sit on a spare sofa and take a short break. Only at second glance did I notice that the table in front of the sofa was filled with large champagne buckets. It was now almost 2:30 a.m., but there was still no sign of the announced special guest. While my two friends continued dancing, a man sat down next to me and spoke to me in English. I think he’s in his mid-late 20s. It wasn’t a weird come-on or anything. He was polite and nice, and I liked speaking English, so I agreed to talk to him. The man told me his name and that he was a soccer player. I didn’t believe him, I was joking, but when I googled his name and found a Wikipedia entry about him, I knew he was serious.
He asked me if I wanted to see the announced singer, which I of course said yes, since we had been waiting for him all evening. “I’m friends with him,” he said. “Shall I take you there?” I thought I had misheard. Suddenly I was wide awake again and gathered my two girls together. The football player called a security guard over and told him that we were “friends” of his and wanted to see the singer. This led us to the other club room where the singer was just starting his performance – suddenly we were in the VIP area and were able to experience the mini-concert up close. Crazy – I don’t think any of us could believe how close we really were to becoming a global star. I felt looks from the side and started talking to some people there too. I’m an open-minded person, so this wasn’t unusual for me at first.
After the singer finished his concert and the club music continued, he came back to the VIP area and spoke to us: “Hey Cuties” at. For a moment I thought I was in the film and had a really euphoric fan moment. The singer and his people were already making their way to the exit when a tall, present man came up to us and asked us a question that I now, many years later, see with completely different eyes. He asked us if we wanted to come to the hotel. At first my friends and I laughed. I was so euphoric and full of adrenaline that at first I thought: What kind of crazy opportunity is this? Somehow you felt special at that moment because you were “chosen” from among many.
Luckily, the thought disappeared as quickly as it came. We declined and decided to head home. For many years we laughed at the fact that we were given such an offer. After all, nothing had happened. Other young women who accepted the offer probably had less to smile about. This example always shows me how quickly you can slip into certain situations that you then see with completely different eyes.
That’s what Prof. Dr. says Fatma Celik
Prof. Dr. Fatma Çelik is a qualified psychologist, researcher on psychology and (sexual) violence across the lifespan and lecturer at Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences.
© Thomas Neitsch / Private
Prof. Dr. Fatma Çelik is a psychologist and, among other things, researches violence across the lifespan. It helps us to classify the experiences – to make power structures visible. Here she addresses a foreword to the readers.
Where do power structures come into play here?
Prof. Dr. Fatma Çelik: In the description, the person describes more implicit than explicitly formulated power structures in the sense of privileges, rights and access – this can also be read as a power structure. Public figures who are looked up to and around whom a fan cult may form have a certain “power” to influence these fans. This becomes very clear in the media reach of influencers on social media platforms. Impact and power must However, they must be differentiated from one another. At this point I would like to quote from the lexicon of psychology “Power-related behaviors always have the aim of controlling the behavior and experiences of others and, if necessary, changing their behavior against their resistance.” (Six, 2021) .
According to this definition, power-related behaviors are not explicitly formulated in the author’s report. In the description, the offer made is rejected and there are no negative consequences for the author. No pressure situation is described, neither by the man nor by other people present. The author’s statement “Other young women who have accepted the offer probably have less to laugh about,” but it seems more like speculation, unless she or the editorial team knows more about this. It would be interesting to ask why the author submitted this report and which points she herself perceived as an abuse of power.