Re: GG: Fans

[Glenn Gould <glenngould@beethoven.com>]

Well put Ms. Clunies-Ross.

Ta for now


> Anne Marble wrote  (concerning the obsessive fan who threatened GG):
>
>>
>> From what I've read in books by former FBI agents and other such experts,
>> GG might have been right to be scared. The psycho fans who think they're
>> married to or dating the star are the most dangerous.  John Bardo truly
>> believed he was a rejected ex-boyfriend of sitcom star Rebecca Schaeffer --
>> yet the only time they met was when he shot her. Ugh.
>
> I'd like to second that. A lot has been written about Gould's tendency to
> have irrational fears , for example his phobias about flying and about
> 'germs'.  His habitual overdressing has been descibed as a kind of armour
> that protected him against the perceived perils of the outside world, and
> even his strange and monotonous dietary habits may have originated in
> response to a terror of vomiting that originated in childhood.
>
> But his fear of an obsessive fan or stalker  _was_  justified, although at
> the time I guess there was not as much publicity about this phenomenon as
> there has been in recent years. The psycho fan doesnt even have to be living
> in a fantasy of being married to, or having a relationship with, the object
> of their obsession.  Here in Britain we have recently had the trial of one
> Barry George,  who was found guilty of the murder of the  very popular TV
> presenter Jill Dando. She, by all accounts, was an inoffensive and likeable
> lady, but she was in the public eye and that was enough for George to have
> seen her and become obsessed with her. He shot her dead outside her house.
>
> It came to light later that he had a history  both of stalking women, and of
> being obsessed with  female celebrities , although I have not read  that he
> imagined he had actual relationships with them. But why he wished to kill
> the object of his passion was not made clear; I would guess that there can
> be no   explanation for this kind of thing that would really make much sense
> to the "normal" run of humanity.
>
> I am not saying that obsessions are necessarily bad. (I am of course talking
> about obsessions about people, ideas, and subjects; not the sort of thing
> endured by sufferers of something like obsessive/compulsive disease).
> Benign bsessions - not the murderous sort! -  can be a delight, a 'grand
> passion',  to the person who experiences them, even if they drive his/her
> poor friends and relations to distraction and a  great tearing-out of hair.
> But I simply cannot understand why anyone should want to hurt someone that
> inspires such emotion in them. The idea that it is  a kind of possessive
> jealousy ( "if I cant have you, nobody else will") seems to me an inadequate
> explanation. In any case, the lady from Texas who threatened Gould evidently
> thought of killing innocent passers-by in order to persuade him to meet her!
> No wonder he declined her invitation.....!
>
> I am  sorry if a lot of this is a bit off-topic. But the manner in which
> certain celebrities such  as GG inspire such passionate  feelings ( read:
> 'obsessions' in some cases!) and even become (dare I say it? ) cult-figures,
> is really quite interesting.
>