I've been listening to a lot of Wireless Nights & Sunday Service recently, and I've noticed something kind of interesting. Jarvis seems to approach parasocialism from a very different angle to most celebrities. It reminds me of how Morrissey treats his fans, letting them interact with him on a more personal level because he knows what it feels like to idolise someone, letting people run on stage etc. It could also just be apart of his whole pervert but make it cool, kind of image. But then there's the fact Jarvis responds to fan letters, like that interview sometime in the 90's talking about him responding to a fans sexual letters, but he stopped because it spooked him a bit.
I think it's also interesting considering Jarvis's mental breakdown after first stepping into the limelight. The fact that despite it all he chose to take this route when interacting with fans? I don't know, something to think about
Would be interested to see other peoples perspectives on this, especially if you've met him.
I'm not obsessed by the celebrities i admire. More by their work, especially music (well only music really) because i'm a musician and a songwriter and i love to dig into the details of the making of a song, an album, how it came to be. Its a shared passion, not so much worshiping another human being.
So The person who came up with it... not so much. Sure i admired them when i was a teenager, but not to a point to write to them, or meet them desperately, like waiting after a gig or stuff like that. I never did that and never queued for hours to get a ticket for a show.
but i did meet Jarvis by chance in Greece in 2002. He just passed me by and at first i wasn't sure, turned around and finally i thought... oh well, let's go say hi and maybe take a picture with him (that was before selfies eheh). Plot twist. he talked to me, he asked the questions, he made the conversation. It was like a couples of minutes, but still, he did it all.
I dont know if that answer your questions, but that's my experience with Jarvis. I think he's still genuinely surprised people worship him in a way. It must be a strange feeling. You cant really let people in too much also, it can be very dangerous.
