European Dream - Alizée - Rêve Européen Alizee Nation: If you or I were Alizee...

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Friday, June 26, 2009

If you or I were Alizee...

This thought occurred to me this afternoon. Out of all the Alizee "forums" that exist, most are geographically based. All accept everyone but still they are centered in a particular area of the world. Are there areas of the world that are more fanatically positive toward Alizee then others? If so, would that have an influence on me on where I would want to have future appearances? Absolutely for me.

Alizee Nation

8 comments:

Ruroshen said...

Hmm. Curious: are you trying to imply here that the US fan sites are too critical for their own good, and that's why we're not seeing any "official" love from Team Alizee? I don't know if that's the case, but I can see both sides of that particular argument...

Paraphrased from a completely different, unrelated conversation about criticism that I've been involved in today:

ARTIST: "I judge my success by how many people “LOL”, not by how many people boo."

FAN: "Quite honestly, more people booing means your work is being exposed to more people. And thus is probably doing better.

"It’s when people stop booing that you have to start being worried."


Not that anyone's "booing" her, exactly...in fact, the vast majority of the communities I've been involved with have been overwhelmingly supportive...but the majority of the criticism I have seen leveled there in the past six months or so hasn't exactly been unwarranted. And while there has been a certain amount of "sour grapes" there, I'd argue that most of it comes from a place of love, and genuinely wanting to see her succeed. And I don't think it hurts to talk about it when the intent is benevolent, even if it may seem a little negative on the surface.

The word 'fan' comes from 'fanatic', not 'sycophant', after all. ;)

I've been told that I've been wrong before, though, so your mileage may vary.

Unknown said...

I knew this would be a difficult subject. I almost didn't post it.

Coming from what we call a 'democratic society' my comments here can be hard to take. 'We' have certain inalienable rights! We have freedom of speech!

Let us not trade tit for tat on statements. Let us look at your overall statement: "the majority of the criticism I have seen leveled there in the past six months or so hasn't exactly been unwarranted" You are absolutely right!

But...
What I am talking about or implying are the Laws of Attraction.

Ruro, say you have a choice between two girls to take say a long weekend somewhere nice. One has a tendency to critique you, not unwarranted of course. It's is actually for your own good. The other just is just a big fan of yours, a real positive and fun person to be around. All things being equal, which one are you going to pick to be around for that one weekend? Not which one is best for you 30 years from now...yeah I know, it is not right, it is not FAIR. Sorry it's just the laws of attraction. I know Ruro you would pick the first girl because "It’s when people stop booing that you have to start being worried." whew, it must be those long winters...

I want to attract this little birdie here for a concert! Not be the foundation for democracy and free speech, warranted or not. A salesman wants to sell something, not be right!

A car pulls up to an intersection, it is a 4 way stop, he has the right of way, he sees that an oncoming car is going to run the stop sign. He pulls out anyway because he thinks, I am right, I have the right of way. Well he was right, dead right. Sometimes it does not pay to be right.

I don't want anyone to change, we are what we are. I am not saying anyone is wrong. I am only making note of the Laws of Attraction and why we may not be as attractive as we think we are.

Good luck on that long weekend I set up for you with girl number 1.

Ruroshen said...

”Good luck on that long weekend I set up for you with girl number 1.”

Heh. Uh, thanks…?

Don’t get me wrong—you make an excellent, well-stated point! It’s only human nature to want to go someplace and support a community that seems to whole-heartedly “get it”, over one that seems to say over and over again “We like you, but…” (Or, perhaps more accurately, “We like you, but we used to like you more, when…”) It’s the path of least resistance. Why roll a stone uphill when there’s a perfectly level path that’s just as readily available?

But what would we have to do to make ourselves that attractive? Create a community that brooked absolutely no negativity whatsoever? Where any comment that was even mildly critical would be instantly deleted, and that commenter banned? Where every misstep (and let’s be honest, there have been a few) is either outright ignored, or actually praised? In my humble opinion, that would either be a really small, inactive community…or an intensely creepy one. Shiny happy people holding hands….brrr!

(It also strikes me as being more than a tad dishonest, on the face of it—like the artificially perfect world contructed around Jim Carrey’s character in The Truman Show —but that’s me viewing things through the prism of my admittedly Superman-esque boy scout morality, so let’s not go there.)

Alizée is human, which by nature makes her imperfect. She’s also an artist, which makes her output open to interpretation, subjective to the person doing the interpreting. Criticism is gonna happen. It ought to happen. She’s not an infallible goddess, and not every one of her songs is musical ambrosia. (Abracadabra, I’m looking at you.) Fans who claim otherwise always kind of give me the wig, y’know? A whole community built around that notion wouldn’t be one I’d want to be a part of.

And would it even work? Frankly, I'm not so sure. Alizée's a pretty smart cookie. I think she'd see through the illusion, personally.

Are we as North American fans sometimes overly critical? Absolutely. I think that’s partly a cultural thing, but there’s something else to consider. In the twenty years (jeepers, I’m old!) that I’ve been involved in fandom of one type or another, on various levels, one thing has always held true: geeks are just as passionately critical of the things we love, as we are of the things we dislike. Often, much more so.

Alizée’s a bit of a geek herself. I wonder if she gets that?

An interesting discussion! I’m glad you started it. Sorry for the long post!

Lefty said...

You both make good points, although I lean more to Ruro's way of thinking. When it comes to criticism that I consider harsh and possibly unfair, I think it can be narrowed down to a very few people.

Having said that, I think the French sites have been the hardest on Alizée based on what I've read. It may even be somewhat understandable since it was their concerts that got canceled and her attention is directed more at Mexico. I don't see the North American sites as being the most negative.

Unknown said...

It is a good discussion.
I am not picking on one group or another.
I am not picking on anyone or anything.
I am not saying anyone should change or anyone should censor their opinions.
We are who we are and that is the way it should be.

It was only an observation.

My apologies if that observation left you with the need to defend yourselves.

Throwing other geographical areas under the bus is not what I intended either. It reminds me of the crabs in a bucket story.

When a single crab is put into a lidless bucket, they surely can and will escape. However, when more than one share a bucket, none can get out. If one crab elevates themself above all, the others will grab this crab and drag'em back down to share the mutual fate of the rest of the group.

To turn it around a bit it would be interesting to see if anyone thinks if there is any group or area as being the most positive? hmmm

So, Alizee, I say to you...if a simple statement raises such a discussion, it means only one thing, no matter how we go about it...PLEASE, WE WANT YOU HERE!!!

Lefty said...

Just to clarify, I’m not picking on anyone either or throwing anyone under the bus. I was making a statement of what I believe to be fact and there was no emotion involved. If anything, I am quite sympathetic to the French fans' situation, (as well as my fellow USA fans).

I’m thinking about the chicken or the egg argument. One might say Alizée could be inclined to pay more attention to a geographical area where fan sites are more positive and less critical. But the reverse may be true – that the fan sites are more positive and less critical BECAUSE she has paid attention to them. I tend to believe the latter option and it is relevant to my previous post.

And let me say that I don’t think Alizée is picking favorites. She is going where business is good and her career takes her, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The USA and France, and any other area that wants Alizée to visit, may have to do what Mexico did and get more people in their area interested in her. If you build it, she will come...:-)

Unknown said...

It was a tag team match for the ages. Ruro to the left of me, Lefty to the right of me and there I was, stuck in the middle with you.

Lefty came with his usual duct tape and wd40, the force was with Ruro. I didn't stand a chance. Pinned, I had to tap out.

Alizee, Lefty and Ruro are two upstanding gentleman from the Alizee online community, as far a me, well that's another story entirely...

Vineet said...

aw, quite an interesting discussion. and I strongly agree with ur first reply to Ruro. I had to give a thought to what Alizee's nature can be. Analysing her interviews, her personality etc, I do believe that Alizee thinks in a similar way, as u pointed there.

 

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