The â#onedirectionimsorryforâ trend on twitter is extremely painful to read and hurtful to a lot of fans. Most of it is teenage girls assuming responsibility for the bandâs happiness, for their well being, for how they are viewed by the public, insinuating that fans need to first and foremost consider the band membersâ feelings before doing anything in the fandom or taking care of their own feelings. People are apologising for fanfiction, for fanart, for interpreting their actions a certain way and, by extension, identifying with them and feeling like theyâve found a safe space, theyâre apologising for speaking their mind and for ânot appreciating the little thingsâ when all this fandom has ever done was to gif every small moment and trend declarations of love to One Direction.
The 1D brand has done a horrifyingly good job at making the fanbase assume responsibility for everything that happens. Since Day 1 theyâve told the fans was that without them all the success would never have been possible, that itâs all down to them, that they need to vote for them, need to carry the hype, but in reality it has never been about actually empowering the fans - who are mainly young and female. Instead, it has been a way of guilt tripping them and reducing them to Just Fans (not people who are also fans but fans, full stop) - and it has always been about being a âreal fanâ, a âtrue fanâ, a fan who supports everything 1D does.
In return, the band is supposedly doing everything they do exclusively for the fans. Perfumes are realised because they love their fans. A music video is filmed a certain way only with the fans in mind. Tour dates are announced back-to-back just for the fans.
As a result: If the band members are overworked, thatâs all just to fulfill the fan demand. If the band members get mobbed without sufficient security for both band and fans, itâs the fansâ fault. Fans are The Best In The World when they break records and if their album tops the charts, but when they participate in their own fandom culture and use 1D as an outlet for their creativity, theyâre Not Real Fans. If fans criticise band members or the people connected to them and the brand for very valid reasons like racism, sexism or homophobia, theyâre attacked not only by other fans who feel like itâs their job to defend a bunch of guys in their twenties with an entourage of people who work just for them, but also sometimes by the band members themselves, who, like Liam recently, will guilt trip fans into feeling sorry for him because: heâs always just trying his best and giving it all for them.
The atmosphere that has been created puts a lot of responsibility on the fansâ shoulders when they have never had any say in the matter in the first place, and it has created a scapegoat culture in which anything that is genuinely disconcerting about the band - the burnout, the relentless schedules, the media scrutiny, the disregard for social issues such as sexism, homophobia/LGBTQ+phobia and racism, the band breaking up, etc. - has been blamed on the fandom and a lot of the time on various subsections of the fandom that are often associated with or made up of marginalised groups. This extends within the fandom as fans are looking for mistakes other groups of the fandom may have made that can be blamed for the current status quo in the band and the way it is presented and presents itself to the fandom.
The fact that thousands of fans are now apologising and are clearly under the impression that theyâve let their idols down, that theyâve disappointed them and that they should do better by only ever doing what One Direction demands from them is very upsetting. The people who really are to blame are extremely powerful and influential: their label, their management, their PR team, their agents and the companies, brands and firms associated with them. They are responsible for their schedules, for the way theyâre marketed, for how the band membersâ lives have played out in public since theyâve been 16-19 years old, and they know how powerful they are and they are fully aware of what a cash cow 1D - and by extension the fanbase - is and has been for them and how to exploit it.
Please, if you happen to be reading this and youâre blaming yourself or other fans for the current state of the band, consider the people in the background, the corporations and the inconceivable amounts of money tied to 1D.
Itâs not the fansâ job to assure their success and to help them live a happy life at the expense of their own health and happiness.
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