This post will include discussion on Sebastian Stan and Annabelle Wallis, particularly at Cannes.
Before I say anything else I need to make the following abundantly clear:
Generative AI is a technological evolution we do not need. It is potentially environmentally devastating, it uses an insane amount of resources that should be used elsewhere and is having serious negative impacts on the communities the data centres are set up in. Using it to summarise information (like books) is making us dumber and removes nuance and the ability to make up our own minds about what we consume. Using it to create art removes the humanity of the art and devalues humans in creative spaces. Companies want to use AI to remove pesky humans (who need fair working conditions, safety, and pay) from creating art and media so they can maximise their profits at our expense. If you use gen AI you are a terrible person. Its not, as some claim, accessibility, its creation for the uncreative. I said what I said.
Now thats out of the way, let's remember celebrities are human beings with feelings?
For as long as there have been public figures, there has been a want and need to gossip about them, for one reason or another. And as humanity developed and cash became King, profiting from gossip became a lucrative business model. It fed the publics need for details, even if those details were false. Innuendo, carefully selected pictures that implied a story, and even straight out fictions sold magazines and eventually add space on websites. Its revolting, but until people stop caring, it is what it is.
Magazines and websites have published photoshopped images in their bid to sell more gossip to the masses, knowingly and unknowingly, and with the rise in AI this will only get worse. People already lie about encounters, create deepfakes, and photoshop images to create a narrative for their own gain. Now they have a more convincing way to do this than ever, thats easy to use, requires very little effort, and gets better every day.
Fans are not innocent in this, but they tend not to be scrutinised the same way when they lie and create fake images. Its seen as quirky, and innocent. But it isnt. Its toxic, parasocial, and deeply worrying. We already have people using photoshop and commissioning art that creates images of themselves and their celebrity crush in romantic or compromising positions. From a romantic stroll to outright explicit pornographic images, its happening. AI will make that worse.
Bet we cant kid ourselves that parasocial fans only exist when they have a crush on a celebrity. There are fandoms for child influences, families, and celebrity relationships that blur the line between fantasy and reality. Fans feeling they have some kind of bond or personal relationship with the person theyre fans of. Fan pages that border on unsettling, stalkers... Its terrifying out there. Calling strangers your parents, strangers children your neices and nephews, creating entire fictional fantasy lives for people you dont know. And then fighting anyone that doesn't agree.
This past few days at Cannes we have had a prime example of parasocial fakery in fandom spaces. But you might need some background to understand it.
In 2022 two things happened within months of each other: Sebastian Stan started being linked romantically to Annabelle Wallis, and he stopped using social media. Eventually it was confirmed that Sebastian and Annabelle were dating, but they claimed a want for privacy and have never openly discussed their relationship or posted each other on social media, which is unlike his past relationships that he frequently posted on his Instagram at least. Annabelle has baited in stories but thats another thing entirely. They've done a few appearances at events, there have been pap walks, but for the most part its been hush hush. Now, the relationship PR strategy both teams use is a fucking shitshow, but again, just the bare bones so this will make sense if youre not involved in either fandom.
Some fans, ostensibly of Sebastian, latched on to this relationship like it was a religion, and they are known as Shippers. They seem to care more about the relationship than either person in it. Very odd. Anyone who doesn't like Annabelle, doesn't like the relationship, or thinks its just PR, are called Anti-Shippers or Antis. Shippers behave like the success of this relationship is inextricably linked to their own survival, and so they just make up all sorts of shit. They have created a rich fantasy, where Sebastian and Annabelle are so wildly in love and happy, so completely perfectly synced, and any evidence to the contrary is met with vile insults and rhetoric. Regardless of what you think about the relationship or the people in it, its deeply unsettling that they behave like this.
Not too long ago, TMZ "leaked" the news that the couple were expecting. There was no official confirmation from either team. Then came a run of pap walks of Annabelle. Still silence. Now, I should note noone is required to discuss their personal life, but there is suspicion around everything thats gone on. Then with Cannes approaching Deadline released an interview with Sebastian where he didn't mention becoming a dad, but the interviewer did. A few times.
Shippers were waiting for some kind of official confirmation, some kind of big loving display, and they decided that Cannes was going to be where that happened. The first official event since the leak, no-one knew if Annabelle would be there, but they were certain that not only would she be, but that Sebastian would be a doting father to be, he wouldn't be able to keep his hands off of Annabelle or her growing bump, that they would be besotted with each other and their red carpets together would be a magical love fest.
That didn't happen. Not even close.
Now Im happy that Cannes mainly stayed about the film and not the baby. They were both there, it was frankly weird, and the more gossip fuelled publications focused on her pregnancy, but for the most part it was about the work.
This didn't go down well with Shippers. They did a red carpet, but it wasnt a love in and Sebastian didn't touch her bump. He continued to barely talk about the elephant in the room (fair, again), and anything that wasn't a posed shot looked like they didn't want to be there together. This threatened the Shippers fantasy. So they just made shit up. First excuses. Then... Well... Take a look.
The first image is stolen from @thetruthfiles-backup and the second is mine
A fan created, and shared excitedly like it was real, a photoshopped picture of Sebastians Instagram, claiming he had posted one of the red carpet pictures of him and Annabelle. He didn't, obviously. But the message was clear: He was so excited and proud of the first official event for his growing family, the confirmation of the pregnancy, that he broke his four year social media embargo to post it. This is what their fantasy required, this what they needed, him to post her on his socials like his exes, especially now she was pregnant. But it didn't happen, so they invented it. Easily debunked, you just need to go on his profile, but still so weird and inappropriate.
Its not the worst.
Stolen from @damnmmmmmmmmmm
These are AI. This never happened. As I said, his hand didn't go near her bump at any point that we saw. But the Shippers needed it. They needed this. The fantasy needed him to be so publicly overjoyed that he wasnt just cradling her bump lovingly, but was kneeling to kiss it in front of photographers. Really showing the Antis whatfor. And this is harder to debunk, if you weren't watching clips, you might think these were real. Its so fucking creepy.
Like a lot of celebrities, if not most, as far as I know Sebastian doesn't want his image manipulated by AI. Particularly not like this. What kind of fan are you where your fantasy about his relationship is more important than his actual thoughts and feelings?
If you are someone attached to a relationship that you're not a part of, especially between two people that dont know you from Adam, that you feel like you need to fake images when reality doesn't match your fantasy, then in with the utmost sincerity: You need to seek immediate professional help. This isnt normal. Its not safe. Its incredibly unhealthy and worrying. Your worth isn't tied to them. What will you do if they break up? How far will you go to protect this fantasy?
And most importantly: How would you feel if the roles were reversed? I genuinely dont think you'd like it at all.
In the AO3 Demographics Survey 2024 - an unofficial demographics survey of 16,131 AO3 users - 49% of respondents reported having posted a work in the last year, and 71% said they "Very Frequently" found new works by looking in their preferred fandom tag.
To see more analysis, including full transcripts of all the data and comparisons to previous surveys going back over 10 years, please view the full results on AO3.
Answer the questions below for a survey. Thank you.
Hi everyone!! I am conducting a survey based on Fan Behavior and Escapism, their public perception and more for a school project and Im in very dire need of responses. If you see this, please take like 2 minutes to fill the form up. I dont want to tag people because that feels like pressurizing, but i will tag every fandom i am in so if you see this- please help me out with filling (and if you can, please reblog to spread the word). Thank youuu.
you've posted selfies and body pics and you definitely aren't skinny lmao, you're pretty chubby. and you talk about food all the time and ate a giant bowl of ice cream on live
